The other day my very good friend sent me a link to find out how much of my life I had spent watching TV. I already kind of knew I would be above average (I love television). The basic premise is that you put in the shows you have seen every episode of and it calculates how much time it was. For example 'Friends' had 236 episodes, each at approx 22 minutes long, so that would be 5,129 minutes, and that works out to 3.6 days. I knew I was in trouble (especially as I have easily seen each episode 10 times).
So I made my list and was getting some big results. I had to stop. I got to 34 days and I was nowhere near finished. It was saddening to say the least, so much time spent on my arse in front a bunch of pixels. I always have the feeling of 'where did time go', like it felt 1997 was a few years ago - I cried when I realised it was 17 years ago. Now I know where my time went!
Don't get me wrong, I am not about to turn away from the box. I have evidently invested too much time to back away now. I have been sucked in to the magic that is television. And lets face facts; we are truly in a golden age of television right now - we have never had it so good. A big chunk of our pop culture comes from television as much as we don't want to admit it. It is the greatest form of entertainment.
However, I need to step outside. My pasty white skin needs to feel the sun beat down on it. I need some colour in my cheeks other than the patchy red that seems to radiate at any given social moment of my existence. I need to see nature, everyday I see the same beige walls and the same concrete buildings. I want to feel sand, grass, pebbles and dirt under my feet. I want to feel the sea breeze blow through my hair and to smell that very distinct smell of an uninhabited place. So this summer I am making a vow to myself, I will go outside. I will see something that isn't man made. As weird as it sounds - I don't need mod-cons to get me through the day. We always hear our parents boast about the days where they would leave the house at sunrise and go back at twilight, having spent all day running free, no computers or phones were needed - they had friends and Mother Earth. Lets recreate that magic so we can rub it in the next generation's faces.
Whoever wants to go on a roadtrip, whoever wants to go the beach - let me know. I'll bring the food. Just to sweeten the deal I may even wear shorts, my knees have never seen the sun - who doesn't want to experience that with me?
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