NO TV UPDATE - And Something About Books

Shep makes no bones about the fact that In Watermelon Sugar, by Richard Brautigan, is his favourite book. Yesterday a little package arrived for me containing that same book - THANK YOU, SHEP! I started it last night while I was waiting for my students to arrive and I was immediately drawn in by his writing style. It's not what most people expect to find when they pick up a book, but thankfully, I'd been prepared for Brautigan by the fact that Shep introduced me to Brautigan's poetry as well, which is really rather good too.

No TV

Kate's doing an extra shift or two so she won't be home until Thursday. I am very tempted to extend my no-tv thing until she comes home, but I know I will probably switch on for CSI. Let's see how it goes. I have found that in leaving the TV off, I have got more done. More dishes, more washing, more writing, more preparation for my creative writing workshop. I've chatted to my sister and Dori for ages on the phone at the weekend. My friend Simon from Nottingham (I know two Simons. The purple one and the one from Nottingham) rang up and we also chatted for ages. I've chanted, written out workshop ideas, done yoga. And above all I feel energised, inspired, creative, joyful. And food tastes better.

Here's a breakdown of the major stuff:

Monday: Yoga. Came home and chilled out with a book, which I finished reading that night

Tuesday: Caught up with the washing and the dishes, modified some of the stuff I was doing for the creative writing workshop, did some writing

Wednesday: Taught my class, read some of In Watermelon Sugar, enjoyed some time with the kitties.

Update on the No TV Thing and a Strange Tale

A Strange Tale

Our cats love people with cat allergies. They swarm around them like they are made out of catnip. They especially like people who don't like cats at all. Especially Lucifer, with his friendly and affectionate attitude. (Wouldn't expect that from a cat named Lucifer, would you?)

Yesterday, the Buddhists (6 of them) arrived for Kosen Rufu gongyo in the morning. One of the members had made it clear to me that not only was she allergic to cats, she was cat phobic. (Also known as Ailurophobia, Elurophobia, Felinophobia, Galeophobia, Gatophobia, and, well, Fear of Cats). As a result, my poor furry little children were kicked our of their home. (Which was fine until it began pelting down with rain.)

The point of this whole elaborate back story is this: a rather curious thing happened when I went to meet this lady and her husband. The cats trailed along with me, as is their habit, but the moment this woman was within 5 feet of them, they all scattered in as many different directions as there were cats. Each had a look of horror on their faces. After the Buddhists left, the cats were really skittish about coming back into the house. Noodle and Mischa were especially affected, with Mischa choosing to remain outside in the pouring rain until 9pm. (The Buddhists had left at 12:30pm). Noodle went from chair to chair, wide eyed and cautious, sniffing everything. Even though the spot where this woman sat was a favourite cat spot, they each avoided it. Around 10pm or so, Zakky finally caved in and made himself comfy on the cat spot.

Cats are really good at reading energies. And mine are particularly sensitive. I wonder what it was that spooked them so much about this lady?

My Four Days (so far) of No TV (sort of)

Thursday Night: (EDIT: Also went to an aerobics class after work. Was... ok.)Kate didn't want to just sit on the couch all evening doing nothing. She's not an avid reader like me, so that was not an option. And neither of us were in the mood for option 2. So, the TV was switched on and we managed to catch one episode of the L-Word on FTN. We hadn't seen the L-Word before. Well. It was rubbish. I have now removed the L-Word from our LoveFilm list. What utter crap.

Friday Night: Kate was still at home and we found ourselves in a similar situation to the night before. We watched NCIS and Law & Order. (EDIT: Also watched a film called Persona by Ingmar Bermann. I will review it later. We have no fucking clue what it was about.)

Saturday: No TV. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't watch it. One of the Buddhists brought over a video machine and plugged the whole caboodle in and I have no idea how to do this stuff. The plus was that I was finally able to watch a video, a movie called Fire, which I had bought 4 years ago. I didn't watch it alone - Noodle was with me. It wasn't so rubbish. Blogged a bit, tidied the house and read. Chanted.

Sunday: I have noticed a change. I have no desire to turn on the TV (I couldn't even if I wanted to because I have now no idea how to reconnect the freeview box and DVD player). In fact, I am feeling seriously creative. And energised. And I didn't realise how little attention I was giving my food before because I used to just sit in front of the TV and eat my supper. In the morning I had the Kosen Rufu gongyo session, then a planning meeting with some of the other Buddhists. After they left I did some tidying and pottering about the house, sat down and read until I finished my book. Chanted. What joy! I even feel happier now that I am not watching TV. Three more days to go.