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!