TV. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

My family and I have very different tv watching habits. (Heck, HUSBAND and I have different habits, but I will get into that in a minute.)

At home, the TV is on. Mom uses it like I use music. Background noise. Something so the house isn't quiet. Dad watches movies a lot since he's retired. (They have cable, so they get movie channels.)

I have come to the conclusion that the title above can fit my TV watching.

The good. Obviously, this is me, and others (coughHusbandcoughcough) wouldn't agree, but that's why they have Nielson ratings, right?

I like Criminal Minds, CSI: all of 'em, Law & Order, Perry Mason. (Detect a theme here?) While they are 'cop' shows, several of them have puzzles, or I guess the whodunit part. I try to work out the 'bad guy', and how they came up with it. I get "The Cleaner", Mom records it for me, as we don't have cable. I just like the story line. (The main character, Benjamin Bratt, has absolutely nothing to do with it, either. Ahem. Nothing. Am I protesting too much? No, he is not the reason I watch the show. Now... Heh... ) I enjoy Nova NOW, Merlin, Mental, House, Lie to Me, and probably one or two others, that I catch as I remember to record. (I get up early, so staying up to watch shows is really not possible. I would doze off before ever they showed the opening.) Most of these get recorded, and watched later, as I find it nicer to watch when I have time, rather than trying to get them watched on any sort of schedule. This can lead to a week or three of no TV, than a marathon weekend when I watch several in a row.

The Bad. I probably watch more than I should, but my preferences seem to be... sharpening? Narrowing? Something. I try and watch a program or two that friends talk about on shows they watch. For example, one of my friends loves "reality tv". (A mis-named item, if ever there was one.) To humor her, I watched "There Goes the Neighborhood". To sum it up:

Bunch of folks stuck inside of a walled area, the houses seem to be lacking electric, and they do silly little games, and who ever wins said silly little game, gets to pick two families to be eliminated from the group, whereupon, all the others vote between the two to get rid of them.

Yeah...

What, may I ask, is the point?

During the episode I watched, they kept saying, Oh, it's just a game, but were plotting like they were going to be executed by torture, not just kicked off a show. One gal was just over the top crying because they'd eliminated her family.

I guess I don't understand the idea of everyone working against one another. This is... stupid? short-sighted? idiotic? I don't even know if I have the right word. I just wish they would have one where the point is working together. Have all the groups work to win the money. I do understand competition, but does every game on anymore have to be so backstabbing? Let's just say, I watched it, I know what it is now, and I have already erased the dreck from my DVD.

If you, dear reader, love these shows with an all consuming passion, would you please leave me a note in the comments as to why? I am serious. You have to like it, or you wouldn't watch. Obviously, I am in a minority, as the shows not only are popular, it seems like there is more of them on the TV of late. (I will not even go into the Marry the Millionare and other ones, my stomach has its limits. Not going there, not even wanting to sit down and watch a show.)

Several members of my family (guys and gals) watch soap operas. I have nothing for or against them, I only put them on bad, because I don't get into romances all that much, and it seems like that it's almost all who is with whom, what they are dying of, or who found out her 3rd cousin had a sex change and is now dating a goat.

You know, the usual stuff.

In all seriousness, I have sat down and watched a couple that I used to watch, and it just strikes me that stuff I watched back in 8th grade, during summer vacation, is STILL GOING ON. When I was in college, a bunch of friends and I would watch soaps. However, we would watch it, by turning OFF the sound, and adding our own dialouge. Some days were hilarious, some were, well, disgusting, but I think our group had a lot more fun. Except for the days when someone would come in and really want to watch the soap. All good things must end, I suppose.

The ugly. Remember what I said about Husband and I having differing views on TV shows? He likes This Old House, The New Yankee Workshop, Motor Week, that kind of thing. (I don't mind them, so I might or might not watch, depending on if I have a dying need to find out what the host will do with 2 x 4's and drywall patch.)

Anywho, he, on the other hand, rarely, if EVER watches my 'cop' shows. (Notable exception, we are both Perry Mason nuts.) He is not a blood and gore type guy. I find this sort of funny, I can watch most of the goriest episodes, see the autopsy with no problem, Husband is out of the room, and on the computer within seconds. I, in fact, warn him if I am going to sit down and watch one of these shows, the poor guy will turn white and look like he's going to lose his lunch. He has even thought me by turns, goolish, or crazy, as I would love to be one of the dead guys on one of the CSI:'s. (Or Criminal Minds, either would be cool...)

This not to say my husband is squeemish, however. He's the one that showed me how to butcher chickens, he has hunted deer in the past, and some of the movies he and I have watched together are definitely not Disney-esque. But the odd thing, show a plane crash on the news, and he can look at it, and not have a problem. I am ready to barf any and all contents of my innards. I guess I know that the folks on the table on the 'cop' shows are going to get up, wash off the gore 'n goo, and have a beer. The folks on the news, not so likely. So.

The point of this? If you invite me over for TV, don't make it Survivor. Or I will vote myself off the island.

I can't believe it's not strawberries! Ah, but it is!!

In the land of DIY, I think this is probably cheating, but ya know, I don't care. I got 30 pounds of picked, cleaned, cut and tubbed berries. I just had to put them in LITTLE containers. And with a helpful (read: Dam* it, husband, wait 'till I get the tubs out), husband, I was able to get... I believe 22 containers of strawrberries. With enough left over for the traditional "dinner" of Strawberry Shortcake. And some for brekkers. I am quite pleased. Even if I had to scrounge every last container in the house... I am not going to need much in the berry department this year! (She smiles, while turning slightly pale, realizing she has no tubs left for applesauce this fall.)

Ok, should I start a petition to legalize dumb slaps for anyone who asks who I am voting for this election? Ahem. I am not going to answer, first off, because I DON'T KNOW, people. It's what, 17 months away? Haven't like, two or three people already said they were running, ran out of money, then left? Several that say they might, maybe, possibly, think about running... Perhaps. But haven't entered yet?

And besides, I don't generally tell who I am voting for anyway, as I have found it's a most excellent way to start an argument. But I digress. I think anyone that isn't a pollster should be dumb slapped, if they ask more than oh, 3 months before an election. (And I think that might be stretching my patience). And the pollsters? Tar and feather. All year. ANY TIME. We are West Coasters, and I don't know how many people here have said, gee why should I vote, they said X is already ahead in the polls at 6pm (pacific time). Well, I know that because of Hawaii, it would make it hard, but I feel there should be a total black out until the next morning. Or at least until ALL POLLS in the US are closed.

Oh, and I would like world peace, calorie free chocolate, and to win the lottery, too, as long as we are at it. 'Cuz I don't believe dumb slaps, black outs, or calorie free chocolate is gonna happen. Too bad about the chocolate...

On one other note... I have to say I poo-poo women who have seven zillion pairs of shoes, or purses. I laugh. HA! How wasteful! HA HA!! How silly! HAR HAR! What would posess someone to have that many?

Then did I fall off my perch!

I cleaned my craft room. I started organizing my needles. I stopped counting at thirty pair. (That does include double pointeds, but not my circulars. It also doesn't count my needles presently stuck in projects, or set with projects. The numbers could be astronomical...)

I just bought some #3 longs, as I was not going to use the ones mentioned a few blogs ago, and the patteren called for #3s. So. Needles. Um. I have uses for them, and except for 2 pair, I have used them all. Uh, and they look nice... Uh.

So, did I tell you about this neat website?

http://www.signatureneedlearts.com ?

They have this fascinating swirly finial on the end of one type of needle. Uh. Hey, at least they take up less space than shoes.

Heh.

Erk.

Dang. Busted...