Being laid up, so to speak, has its downsides. Some obvious, some not so much. With my eyes streaming water for months, reading has been next to impossible. Writing has been a true challenge, with small windows of opportunity each day. Daytime TV is abysmal at best, at least for my tastes. I’ve now watched dozens of movies, and am running out of options there, even with Netflix online.
So…where does that leave me? 24 hour news! My sleep patterns are irratic, so thank heavens for CNN. No matter what the time, day or night, they’re there for me at the click of a remote. It’s that or the shopping networks, and admittedly, watching those could become an expensive habit in very short order. At least the news is free.
As a last resort during this period of isolation and recuperation, I turned to CNN. Once I got hooked, there was no turning the channel. Just as the Boston Bomber story was winding down, the Cleveland Kidnapping story broke. And then the Benghazi Hearings. It may sound like a morbid fascination on my part, but truthfully the writer in me is fascinated by the character profiles of all of the key players, victims and perps alike. I am obsessed with learning what motivates people to do what they do…was it a troubled past, a psychopathy or a more prescient matter of pure survival?
Perhaps, just perhaps, my rationale for watching 24/7 news for research purposes is nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse to conceal a deeper problem, and perhaps, just perhaps, cold turkey may be the only viable solution?! I wonder if there’s a Twelve Step Program for people with my affliction/addiction? Just asking…
May. 8, 2013
Judy Richter 