TV Comedies

I think I may have posted about TV series on DVD before, but I've been watching a lot of TV comedies and wanted to post about them specifically.  After getting hooked by my roommate, I tore through the six seasons of How I Met Your Mother that are available on Netflix and look forward to catching up on the recently-finished season seven, maybe in time to watch the show live this fall.  Toward the end of the sixth season, I calculated how much time I had spent watching HIMYM and found it was around forty-eight hours.  That's a lot of TV, especially considering each episode is about 21 minutes long.  When you invest that much time into a TV show you start to feel like you really know the characters and really care about what happens to them.  You share inside jokes with them (which the creators of HIMYM do a great job of incorporating into the show), and remember their past failures and successes.

I realized that I had started to apply lessons from the show to my own life, and was surprised at how often a situation on the show would reveal something helpful to me in my own relationships.  It's a comedy first and foremost, but the part that keeps me coming back is the heart behind the jokes.  It's the imperfections of the characters that make me sympathize with them, and their dreams that help me notice when I have set my own dreams aside, and encourage me to pick them back up.  While I was watching HIMYM, it was something to look forward to after a long day at work.  I would come home, say hi to my roommate--he was usually working in his room when I got back--and collapse on the couch with a snack, escaping into the sitcom world for forty minutes or so before having to make plans, cook dinner, clean, organize, and put on my adult face.  There were definitely days where the episodes of HIMYM that I watched were one of the high points of my day.  It sounds kind of pathetic, but it's not so bad.  The show was a way for me to escape while also reflecting on my own life and what I needed to do.

More recently I've been watching Community on DVD.  My sister gave me season two, which she preferred to season one, and having finished that I've moved on to season one to catch up.  It took a couple of episodes to get into, but I absolutely love it now.  It's one of my favorite shows ever.  It's the show among all others that most reliably makes me laugh, and laugh deep, rich, good laughs.  It mixes utter absurdity with believable human drama, and somehow makes it all work.  Some of the characters act jaded and cynical but still possess a redemptive innocence and hope which along with the humor keeps me coming back.

As somebody who tends to avoid or postpone conflict when possible, I love the way that characters on Community dive into conflict, and throw each other into conflict all the time, with nary a thought for the consequences.  But they always work through it and learn from it.  The show reminds me that conflict is important and can be really productive.  It doesn't matter how you get into it--it's working through it that makes things better and gives you understanding.  And while I can't always jump into conflict in real life the way the study group at Greendale Community College does, it's valuable to see how they work things out, and to laugh with them along the way.

A Note on Extended Absence

Dear Readers,

You may note that it's been rather a long time since my last ducky blog post.  Ironically enough, on July 23rd, 2011, the very day that I picked up the blog after an absence, I had an accident that derailed my plans and until now I have not gotten back on course, duckwise.  On that summer Saturday I posted about false herrings, sat down with my roommate and watched the movie 28 Days Later, and then set out on a bike ride which went horribly awry.

There weren't many cars on the road but I wanted to do things properly, so about a block away from my apartment I signalled a left turn.  Leaning into the turn with my left arm still outstretched and pointing, I had only one hand on the handlebars.  Whether I hit an oil slick on the road, my new rear tire was still slippery and not yet worn in, or I just became overconfident I'll never be sure, but WOOSH! the bike whipped out from under me and WHAM! slammed me into the ground.  With my right hand on the bars and my left still in the air, I had no way to catch myself and landed chin-first on the decidedly unforgiving pavement.

Fortunately, I had my cell phone with me and my roommate was at home, only a minute from where I pulled myself from the asphalt.  He drove me to the hospital emergency room because my jaw felt weird and hurt a lot, and I was bleeding somewhat profusely from the chin.  It turned out I had fractured my mandible on the left side.  The broken piece was tipped almost 90 degrees to the inside and the bone was out of the socket.  I got stitches for my chin and had my jaw wired shut for a few weeks while the bone healed.  During that time I ate all my meals through straws, indulged in milkshakes pretty much every day, and learned a lot about patience and accepting help from others.

When the wires were removed, my tongue was stained black from this mouthwash they gave me to help prevent cavities, and I could barely open my mouth.  I had rubber bands for several more weeks before being freed entirely.  Then it took a little while before things felt more or less normal.  The doctors did an excellent job of setting the bone, but my bite is slightly different than it was before the accident, and it took a while to get used to how it felt to chew.  Now things are pretty much hunky-dory.  My jaw clicks a bit on the left side if I move it around, and it's not as mobile as it was, but it works fine and looks normal.  I got back on the bike, but I confess I don't ride as much as I did before the accident.

I'm deeply grateful for the support of my Lady Duck Friend and my family during the broken-jaw ordeal, and for the encouraging words of friends near and far.  It meant a lot to me, and I firmly believe it helped me heal more quickly.  I hope to resume the duck blog, but will not be posting every day.  I'll try to do at least one or two each week.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the ducks to come!

False Herring

First off, I'm sorry that this blog has lain dormant for so long.  I knew that when I moved houses the blog would take a hit, but I never intended to give it up entirely.  Maybe it's more realistic to do one or two posts a week rather than one a day.  I'm not sure, but I'm intending to get back in the saddle with some fresh new posts, starting with this one.

I think the phrase "false herring" came to me when I misspoke one day, meaning to say "red herring."  I liked the way it sounded, and was convinced that it offered some nuance of meaning that the standard phrase did not.  I have yet to figure out what that nuance may be, but I use the term in my private inner monologue to refer to activities, objects, or desires that lead me away from what I really, deep down, know that I want and need in my life.  Perhaps the pursuit of another shiny guitar is a false herring, since my time would be better spent playing the ones I already have.  Perhaps watching a TV show that I don't really care about is a false herring, because at the end of the evening, I will wish that I had done some writing, read a book, or caught up with someone on the phone instead.  Some people probably know exactly what they want at any moment and have an easy time expressing that to others.  I do not.  So I'm training myself to look out for those ersatz ichthyoids and avoid them in favor of, um, genuine herrings.  Well, you get the idea.

Watching Baseball

My dad loves watching baseball, and from an early age it's rubbed off on me. Some people say that baseball is too slow to be exciting, but any fan will tell you that those people don't know what to look for. I'll be honest and say that I don't follow baseball too much, but I enjoy watching when I can. My friend is a huge Phillies fan, and I've had a lot of fun following them with him, learning the players and a little bit about their strengths and approaches. We've noticed that Phillies fans have a reputation for being boorish and rude, but hope that we can help disprove the stereotypes!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hula Hooping

This weekend I got to try my buddy's hula hoop. It wasn't like the ones I played with when I was little. This one was much larger in diameter and weighted instead of being a hollow tube of plastic. It had a satisfying heft that counterintuitively made it easier to keep it going than the lightweight kind. I gave it a whirl and found I was better than I remembered. Then I kept going, and when I stopped I was out of breath with a huge smile on my face. My joy came not from pretending to be a kid again, but from falling into the moment and not thinking of anything but the gyrating hoop around my waist--spinning meditation. That and the endorphin rush of shaking all around!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Support

This week events both positive and not-so-positive have reminded me how important it is to have a strong support network of people you love and who love you--friends, family, significant others, friendly co-workers, etc.  In the good times, it feels great to be able to experience joy and excitement with other people.  Sharing can intensify happy emotions and also, interestingly, help to diminish unhappy ones.  When events take an unexpected negative turn, talking with other people really helps me step back and put things in perspective.  I feel very lucky and grateful to have people in my life with whom I can share the good and the bad and keep on trucking together.  Thanks for propping me up, being sounding boards, offering advice, sharing your good news, and trusting me with your bad news.  Together we're better!

Scrabble

This week I've become fairly addicted to an iPhone game called Words With Friends.  It's basically Scrabble, played like chess-by-mail via the interweb.  I can challenge friends anywhere to a game, then my phone lets me know when they've made a move.  I can take as long as I want to make my move, and so on.  My LDF was playing it with her sister all the time, and I finally grew curious.  I had no idea how hooked I would get.  I've always enjoyed Scrabble, but never been a fanatic.  But this game really gets me.  I have to exercise considerable willpower not to play when I need to be doing other things.  As an addiction, though, it seems pretty innocuous.  It was a free download, and if anything it's challenging the verbal portion of my brain, increasing my vocabularity.  If you have free time, I highly encourage you to look into Words With Friends.  It's available for Android as well as iPhone, and also on the computer, I believe.  My user name is GingerDana, and I'm ready to play you!