I admit it. I'm an addict.

Seriously. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but admitting that you have a problem is the first step in recovering. So, here it goes..

I am a television addict. I use TV as an escape from reality. I come home from work and, instead of cracking open a beer, I sit on my duff and vegetate in front of the TV. I get a little work accomplished while I vegetate, but it's pretty shameful. A person with as much to do as I have should not be sitting around doing nothing. I've got a dissertation to work on. I've got lessons to plan. I've always got a mountain of papers to grade. I've got a house to clean and keep up with. I've got a body that needs to be exercised. It's ridiculous how lazy I am and how the TV sucks me in.

And it's not like I'm watching any quality programming. I'm not watching documentaries or the news or even good movies. I'm watching crap TV. I'm watching stupid realty TV and old reruns of Law and Order: SVU. I even watch crappy reruns of Angel in the mornings before I got to work. Seriously?! How lame is that? Very, I tell you. So not only am I wasting time, I've killing brain cells by subjecting my already fragile brain to such low-quality programming.

There's no excuse for my laziness, and I'm tired of it. Now that I've admitted that I have a problem, it is time to take steps to working through it. So I've challenged myself to give up TV for this week. No TV in the morning before work, and no TV in the afternoons/evenings. Quitting cold turkey is going to be hard, so I've built in just one condition. I'm allowed to watch episodes of Big Love on DVD. This isn't too much of a condition given that I only get the episodes through Blockbuster Online Rentals (meaning they mail the DVDs to me one disc at a time), and I've only got about 10 minutes of my current disc to go. By the time I mail it back to them and get the new disc, it will be Thursday or Friday.

Hopefully this lack of TV will generate some impressive results in my productivity levels. I'll be sure to post with my progress as the days go by.