Zombieland

Hey buddies :) 

First, a warning: to put this blog in context I have to give you a list of the amount of work I had to do this week. It's a dull list, just to warn you. It gets good in a bit. 

I had multiple books to read for uni, a 200 page sci-fi novel for wednesday (which gave me two days to read it in as Jake was here all weekend), and a 400 page lesbian novel and 300 page native american novel for friday. (Both of those in two days) Plus I had to write 500 words of my final creative writing piece. However, I also finally got my dissertation back and my friend 'Hannah' has got back from Uganda without contracting a tropical parasite (this time) so that's good. Thus, you catch me at the end of a mixed week. (I know it's only friday but I plan to have a wonderful weekend so that won't count.) 

Ok, list time over. The problem with my busy week of reading is that I have plans to go watch the latest episode of The Walking Dead at my friend Percy's tomorrow. Don't worry, these things are related. I am a massive TV addict. I will shamefully admit this, and even go so far as to confess I am not even that choosy. Made in Chelsea? Love it. Skins? It's got a bit crap now, but don't care. I love the more high brow entertainments too, but my weakness is that I have to see the story through. If I watch one episode, I must watch every single episode of that show until they get cancelled. It's a sickness. However, although I have seen odd episodes of The Walking Dead (which by the way is totally awesome) I haven't seen all the episodes and I deemed it necessary to catch up on 2 seasons to be prepared for tomorrow. Did I get my long list of reading done? I did not. Don't judge me. 

This was part procrastination, as indeed the prospect of reading 950 collective pages didn't appeal, but the whole thing bit me in the ass in a variety of ways. Firstly, the obvious, I was a bit screwed in my seminars. I got the sci-fi book done, and creative writing, but I only managed half of the native american book and a fifth of the massive lesbian one. Today, I blagged my way through the seminars by the skin of my teeth, but I need to use that lesbian book for an essay eventually, and poor Jamie got stuck with me as a partner in the native american seminar and had to explain the plot to me instead of getting to have an actual discussion. Not cool. Friend points lost.  


However, this wasn't the only realisation I had from my WD marathon. When I got home today, deadline free and ready for the weekend, I sat down to watch the last few episodes, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. It wasn't WD's fault, I also made myself watch Grey's Anatomy and 30 Rock, but I didn't even want to watch TV. In truth I only started this blog because I wanted something to do other than that but I know the minute I publish this post I won't tidy my room, or bake, or read, or anything productive or, even, just fun and different. I will watch TV. Why?

TV has turned us into zombies (which, if you've seen WD, is quite ironic). I come home, sit down, and switch on, without even thinking. Whenever I emerge from my room to have tea with Jamie I end up talking about TV shows like it's something that actually happened in my life, or something that someone I know actually said. It's all I have to say when she asks about my day - how depressing is that? Then, when I return to my room, I can't do anything else before I watch something. And do I even want to? Not all the time. I watch programmes I don't even like just to procrastinate but when I've got actual free time TV is boring. Is it that I am just a lazy slob? (Don't answer that.) Or is life so boring or scary or sad that we feel the need to escape into 8 different fictional worlds in a day just to distract ourselves? I even wanted to finish those massive books today - they were actually really good (from what I read of them) - but even wanting to do something else wasn't enough, the box still drew me in. And when you think about how these shows have your time, your attention, your loyalty, you have to wonder; what is this power they have over me? And how, dare I ask, are they going to use it?