So the week of no television and no video games draws to a close. And I have to say: “I managed to survive”. For me that’s a good thing, considering that I included no video games in my TV Turnoff Week this year. Given that I have an addictive personality type, I’m sort of surprised that I didn’t let something substitute for my lack of television and video games (although some could probably argue that my time spent on Facebook, would be considered that substitute).
I spent the last couple of days in the company of friends or partaking in events in/around the city of Toronto.
Day 5: The previous night (Day 4) I had spent with my friend Sam, who had not seen since I randomly ran into her on the subway. During that meeting a few years back we didn’t get a chance to talk much apart from just saying “Hello” and going our respective ways. The night we met up however we spent a few hours chatting over dinner and milkshakes, just catching up on life and our current situations.
Forward to the evening of Day 5, I did pretty much the same thing, but this time with my friend Carlos, with whom I went to elementary & high school. We intended to go to the Yoga Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, but due to timing issues, we only managed to briefly walk around the show floor and then went for some sushi. After a good couple of hours in the sushi restaurant we headed out and just walked around the downtown core for a bit, doing some urban exploration.
Day 6: After having woken up from my deep sleep due to my being out late the night before, I resolved to go to the Green Living Show at the Direct Energy Centre on the CNE grounds. The weather wasn’t all bad, it was still nice enough to rock the sandals :). Al Gore was speaking at the Green Living Show, but because I was unaware that he’d be there, I was not able to get tickets. So that’s the second time I’ve missed Al Gore. Despite missing Al Gore, I still had an enjoyable time at the Green Living Show. They had lots of cool exhibits there. My favourite was the Sustainable Condo, which made me think hard about when I move out on my own. Before heading home, I had to pick up a few necessities. This detour, however caused me to miss dinner with my brother, sister-in-law & nephew. Fortunately I did get to see my nephew before he headed home to be put to bed.
Day 7: Nothing spectacular for me to do on Day 7. I could have gone back to the Green Living Show, but decided I needed a break from going out. So I just stayed home and did some laundry and cleaned my room up. The day at home also allowed me to reflect on the week that had just passed.
I’ve seen a lot in the past week. But one of the funny things that I’ve noticed over the week is just how subtly TV has slipped into every facet of our lives. Whether it be the jumbo screens that take up valuable public space blasting advertisement after advertisement, or whether it be advertisements for television on your cell phone. It seems that corporations want us to watch TV whenever and wherever we can, so that they can continue to market to us telling us to buy their products.
Well it’ll be interesting to see how this week goes. I’m not sure if I’ll return to my old ways of sitting in front of the television watching hours upon hours of mind-numbing television, or if I’ll be able to cut it out again like I did last year. I do know, that’ll I’ll probably return to my video game addiction. I have Puzzle Quest waiting in the wings lol. And I haven’t touched my Wii (yes that sounds like a dirty joke) in a while, so I may get back into Super Paper Mario.
