In Which I Explain The Fragility of Human Nature and the Outside Influence of Vice

This is a blog I’ve been dreading to write, but it must be done. Two weeks ago, I decided to take a mental excursion from the procrastination spawning influence of movies, television, and internet video for the extent of the month of March. And while I had some difficulties with the distractions in places like my mom’s house (where the TV is always running) I made amendments to the month long pledge to cater to the inconveniences of those diversions. It worked for the most part for the first couple weeks. However, over time, I began to realize the reasons I had for not taking in visual entertainment weren’t coming to fruition; I was not writing enough like I planned, I wasn’t straightening out my apartment, I wasn’t reading faster… The entire mental experiment turned into a total bust of unconstructive nonsense. What the hell was I doing for two weeks if I wasn’t watching TV? Was I sleeping more? Was I reading too much news online? I still haven’t figured it out. As I’m typing this, I’m replaying the last two weeks in my head. What did I do?...

I read this book in its entirety:

I got halfway through this book:

I did quite a bit of journaling in this notebook:

I listened to a good amount of music.

I filed my tax return. (Getting $893 back. I'm rich, bitch!)

I listened to a couple of podcasts. (All of which involved Kevin Smith)

I wrote two pages of my first novel. (I'm now on page nine; I started in November 2011)

I wrote five pages of a new screenplay.

I came to an epiphany about ‘Inside Tito’s Trunk’.

And I did two loads of laundry.

That is not an impressive list of accomplishments for someone who has cut visual media out of their daily routine. And the reason it’s not impressive is that I COULD HAVE DONE ALL THIS STUFF IN BETWEEN WATCHING MOVIES AND TV!!!

Sometimes life is frustrating. Deal with it.

What did I do in between that list of activities? Just sit around and do nothing? I must have been. I have no explanation other than that.

So needless to say, I said “FUCK IT!” to the pledge. I’m admitting my own weak will and taking back what I swore two weeks ago about not watching television, movies, or internet video. And that decision was cemented when I chose to watch this on YouTube and I think a lot of you would agree with me that it was totally fucking worth it:



Although, there’s been one benefit I’ve noticed from this last two weeks of not watching anything, it took away the urgency I normally feel whenever I want to watch something, which is a feeling I hope lasts. Because for quite some time, I always felt rushed to hurry up and watch something so I could hurry up and watch the next thing and so on. But I don’t feel that way very much anymore. I’m not jonesing for a Netflix fix or a Hulu hit even though I have many episodes of my favorite shows to catch up on. So if there’s one thing that this experimental boycott did, it was to diminish my reliance on the gifts of entertainment to give my life flavor. So even though the pledge is no longer on the table, I’m not going to rush to the nearest screen to watch last night’s episode of ‘Community’ even though I’m really excited to watch it and it will most definitely be the next thing I’ll be viewing.

Best fan art ever!

Now that I got that out of the way, let’s move on to the next two things I gave up for the month of March: cigarettes and alcohol. Last week, I covered how I ended up smoking two cigarettes at my mom’s house and I came face to face with how deep my addiction to those ridiculous sticks of tobacco went. Well I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t smoke more (because I did) and I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t drink (because I did that too). This is a fine example of how bad habits are enormously difficult to kick and aren’t made any easier when you go on a public forum (like this blog) and post your intentions to kick said habits. The reason why I posted what I posted a couple weeks ago about smoking and drinking was to give some true incentive to myself in order to really destroy the cravings I had for them. It was an attempt that failed drastically, but not entirely. By unburdening my soul about my less than attractive inclinations, I can re-read what I’ve written here as a reminder to myself about what my goals and what my priorities are. There is no excuse for what I did and what's done is done. So let's move on towards a healthier tomorrow.

And even though my TV pledge has been personally revoked, the pledge to cut back on the sauce and to cut out the smokes is still in full swing and will go beyond the month of March. I will continue to update my progress week to week as time goes on. But don’t fret, readers, in between these long winded diatribes about cigarette addiction and excessive alcohol consumption, I’ll post more interesting and funnier blogs about the bullshit we all love to experience…

By that, I mean movies, food and awesomeness.