Because My Degree Says So

I canceled cable on Friday and there was this massive line up at Shaw headquarters. This is apparently normal. In my head, I was going to be able to just run in and drop my digital box off and it would take less than 2 minutes. I was on my way to a meeting, so was rather taken aback when I saw the sign that said "Please Take A Number".

There were 10 people ahead of me, and it seemed to be moving SO slowly that I feared I was going to have to leave to make it to my meeting. Haven't these people heard of the internet? Or a telephone? Granted, the mean age looked to be about 72. People who are in their golden years apparently prefer face time with regards to customer service. How old timey!

The only reason I was there in person myself was because if I had canceled cable online, I would have had to give a months notice, whereas dropping it off myself meant I had to give 2 days notice. I wanted to suck every last inch of free HBO that I could out of my awesome year long free deal before going back to being cable tv free.

It's not worth the cost when I only really watch small handful of channels - HBO and Movie Central, AMC, Showtime, and BBC. And, unfortunately the cable tv companies don't let you hand pick the channels you want without all the other crap that comes with it. Which means I end up watching things like Survivor or The Bachelor Canada {was it just me that was shocked that he picked Bianca and Whitney as the last two? I mean...really}. I keep up with the Kardashians. It's an endless abyss of tripe, as my husband scornfully notes whenever I get busted watching something as banal as "Nashville" {no shame, I love Connie Britton}.

He says hilarious things like "it makes me love you just a little less when you watch these shows". He is especially self righteous about crappy television and it's top 40 musical equivalent. If we had a high horse, he'd be on it. I love this about him, even as it makes me want to roundhouse him in the face, because it's true. All he is saying is that we don't HAVE to accept banality - we choose to accept it. He prefers substance, and how can you argue with that? It's really hard to defend why you think watching Honey Boo Boo will keep your sociology skills up to date.

"It's a study of CULTURE, James. Even if you don't like it. It's a VERY interesting social observation". - ME (who has both an art history major and a sociology minor, basically proving to EVERYONE that I am an expert on good taste and culture, obviously).

And then we argue about me leaving the lids off of things.

Ah, marriage.

But he's right (also about the lid thing, it's like I have a deficiency with regards to that). And so I waited in line for 25 minutes to cancel cable, and it's not at all bittersweet, thanks to the internet and Netflix. Which basically means I can still watch whatever I want, but I am unlikely to track down the "tripe". I'm definitely not going to be streaming episodes of Cupcake Wars or Hells Kitchen, I can tell you that much. However, the same can't be said for Homeland, which is the bomb (heyo!), or The Walking Dead, Dexter, Girls, Game of Thrones, Californiacation, aaaaaaaand probably Nashville. And maybe the next Bachelor Canada.

Oh, and I still read a fair number of books by the way. I am currently reading "Warm Bodies" by Isaac Marion, which is told from the perspective of a zombie that feels things. He falls in love. He starts getting more human again. It's hilarious. And yes, I realize I have a bad addiction for young adult fiction (See my obsession with: The Hunger Games, The Divergent series, His Dark Matter trilogy, and the City of Ember series), in fact, it's almost as bad as my historical fiction addiction (See: pretty much every other book I read), but some of it is so awesome. And I am still technically a young adult......I think. What's the official cut off for that? When do you become old adult, and what do you read then?

I'm considering auditing a few art history classes to both brush up on my skills and to elevate my state of cultural competitiveness with my spouse, while maintaining that it's both acceptable and darkly artistic of me to engage in mainstream viewing patterns. This blog post is my thesis.

And I said good day.

xh