Pop culture and I are apparently not on speaking terms. I called Homer this evening and he said he was on his way to an Oscar® party. "The Oscars® are today!?" I had no idea, which is odd because for the past many years I've had a ritual of watching them and calling my friend Karla during the commercials to kvetch about them. She'll be disappointed I wasn't there to answer the phone.

It really shouldn't be a surprise I didn't know. My TV is rarely on. I only follow two shows. Other than that, it's only ever on for Netflix rentals.

I'm starting to wonder what else I've been missing. Is Anthony Edwards still on ER? What is the current ratio of Law and Orders to CSIs?

My television watching is becoming even more sporadic now because our set is dying a slow and lingering death. The picture tube is going bad so every now and then the screen fades to black and doesn't come back. The first time this happened I was watching an episode of OZ and the fade coincided with a fade during the show. It took me a few minutes to realize it wasn't suppose to be that way. "That's funny. They had a blackout in Em City, but no one's talking about it."

I wonder what it would be like to just not have a TV. It's not like a really need it. I might actually do some...oh I don't know...reading which is suppose to be...you know...Good for You™. I haven't read a book since I started taking the anti-depressants last year. Once I did, my mind felt weirdly carbonated and I had a hard time focusing on anything. I couldn't get through a magazine article or a long blog post. Forget about a book. Even though I've been off them for almost six months, my attention span hasn't been the same.

Of course that hasn't stopped me from buying books like I do read them. I have a ton of books just waiting to have the bindings cracked. They sit piled in four tall stacks on the floor next to my night stand. (Note to self: buy a book shelf!)

I think I'll be back to reading soon though. The other night I was feeling a bit restless and picked up my copy of Augusten Burrough's Magical Thinking from one of the stacks. I thumbed through it. Read the table of contents, the acknowledgements, the dedication page. You know...everything but the actual fucking book. But that's progress...right?