Sensory Reduction Experiment

[papayahed]

I've been toying with this idea for quite some time but I never seem to go through with it. I am giving up cable TV, tomorrow I am returning the equipment. Tonight I am sitting on my butt and Watching Ghost Hunters.

I hope to hell this doesn't make me a better person.

[jekan blazer]

i dont get it... what are you doing?

[1n50mn14]

I don't even own a television. It was the best choice I've ever made. Trust me when I say you'll go into some serious withdrawal, but movie rentals are your best friend. Get ready to waste more time on the Internet! :lol:.
Seriously, though. Good luck.

[Niamh]

like i said... i went seven months once with out a tv and it ws brilliant. i read more, painted and wrote. now i hardly ever watch tv. maybe the odd movie.

[Scheherazade]

Good luck! You know where to find me when you are bored!

:D

[Nightshade]

if I am not homless. free calls to USA, I can torture you worse than TV if you miss the feeling of being brain numbingly bored! :brow:

[Shalot]

Instead of TV and beer tonight, I went to an EFT/tapping thing tonight. EFT stands for emotional freedom technique and we did this rebalancing tapping technique. It made me feel peaceful, although, toward the end I kind of lost my focus on it. I was wearing a dress (the one I wore to work today) and we were tapping our feet which was the last body part we tapped, and this meant that I had one foot up on my other leg. Luckily, I wear bike shorts under dresses (don't ask me why - I'm just more comfortable that way) but I couldn't help but wonder who I was flashing anyway. And then the girl next to me had been wearing these old leather shoes in the heat all day today and she had quite the foot odor going on. Maybe, before tapping, they should have a healing aromatherapy foot bath coupled with the inspirational instrumental CD. Then, we should do the tapping. But, this was a free tapping session and when you bring aromatherapy into it, the price goes up.

So, if you get restless, you should look around for crap like that to go to. I'm feeling all happy and stuff. Much better than I would feel if I had been watching TV.

[ShoutGrace]

As the kids are want to pronounce; mad props, papaya! A gentle, edifying and ultimately beneficial plague upon your house! Please update us on your withdrawal experiences. Seems like there are a few success stories around here with regard to this experiment.

Shalot, good to see you :). I have to confess that I can't conceive of going to a foot tapping session :D, but it may be a good idea to get out of the house. When I stay around a T.V. for any length of time, I inevitably wind up turning it on and blowing my entire evening, despite the best intentions of leaving it alone.

I will have to wait until the NBA playoffs have completed before I give up television.

When I do, though, the rule will be that I am not allowed to turn it on again until I have successfully converted one of the old computers that I have sitting around into a D.V.R., after which time I will only be allowed to record shows of off the History Channel, Discovery Channel, and PBS. If I can successfully do that for 6 months, then I will allow myself to expand my recordings into other news outlets, and the occasional comedy.

[papayahed]

Instead of TV and beer tonight, I went to an EFT/tapping thing tonight. EFT stands for emotional freedom technique and we did this rebalancing tapping technique. It made me feel peaceful, although, toward the end I kind of lost my focus on it. I was wearing a dress (the one I wore to work today) and we were tapping our feet which was the last body part we tapped, and this meant that I had one foot up on my other leg. Luckily, I wear bike shorts under dresses (don't ask me why - I'm just more comfortable that way) but I couldn't help but wonder who I was flashing anyway. And then the girl next to me had been wearing these old leather shoes in the heat all day today and she had quite the foot odor going on. Maybe, before tapping, they should have a healing aromatherapy foot bath coupled with the inspirational instrumental CD. Then, we should do the tapping. But, this was a free tapping session and when you bring aromatherapy into it, the price goes up.

So, if you get restless, you should look around for crap like that to go to. I'm feeling all happy and stuff. Much better than I would feel if I had been watching TV.

uh oh, that sounds like something that could potentially make me a better person.

So did foot odor girl realize she had the foot odor problem? At that point I'd have to fore go the foot tapping and keep my tootsies planted on the ground where nobody could smell them.


As the kids are want to pronounce; mad props, papaya! A gentle, edifying and ultimately beneficial plague upon your house! Please update us on your withdrawal experiences. Seems like there are a few success stories around here with regard to this experiment.

Shalot, good to see you :). I have to confess that I can't conceive of going to a foot tapping session :D, but it may be a good idea to get out of the house. When I stay around a T.V. for any length of time, I inevitably wind up turning it on and blowing my entire evening, despite the best intentions of leaving it alone.

I will have to wait until the NBA playoffs have completed before I give up television.

When I do, though, the rule will be that I am not allowed to turn it on again until I have successfully converted one of the old computers that I have sitting around into a D.V.R., after which time I will only be allowed to record shows of off the History Channel, Discovery Channel, and PBS. If I can successfully do that for 6 months, then I will allow myself to expand my recordings into other news outlets, and the occasional comedy.

The cable box is sitting next to me on the couch, TV off. However I am having misgivings already. Last night the Red Wins won their conference and are in the finals, how can I not watch??????

[Emil Miller]

if I am not homless. free calls to USA, I can torture you worse than TV if you miss the feeling of being brain numbingly bored! :brow:

It's precisely because I got brain numbingly bored watching television that I have stopped watching it. A person can only take so much of an insult to even a limited intelligence. It's more difficult to ignore if you are interested in sport though.

[papayahed]

Good luck! You know where to find me when you are bored!

:D


if I am not homless. free calls to USA, I can torture you worse than TV if you miss the feeling of being brain numbingly bored! :brow:


k' I'm bored.:blush:

[Nightshade]

ahh but are you at work?
because I cant be calling up work....although I couldpretned to be your long lost cousin from I don't know we could choose a country...
oooh and a whole soup opera background.
Right so, my mum ran away got hit by a flying cocnnut and got amnesia married and alien adn I have super powers!! :eek2:

[motherhubbard]

I don't watch TV very often. I get the weather in the morning and I watched four Biggest Looser episodes last season. I have the dish network and all I get are the local channels, it's something like 9 bucks a month. It's a local channel thing but you get all of these other free channels with it like University of California TV where they have lectures all day and Pay Per View. The coolest channel is Dish Earth (212 if your interested). They just show a picture of the earth as seen from the satellite that feeds my dish and play the greatest music from the 60s and 70s all day and night. We have that on all the time.

[Taliesin]

I quit TV years ago to have a stable and loving relationship with the Internet. Haven't looked back since then.

[Nightshade]

MAybe if you dont dwell on it , you will forget the TV ever exsisted?

[PoeticPassions]

I went without a TV for about a year once. It wasn't so bad. I still rented movies and watched them. But sometimes when I was all alone (I lived by myself) I did miss just having the TV on in the background... especially since I lived in kind of a scary place.

Good luck with it!

[Scheherazade]

k' I'm bored.:blush:
Considered taking knitting up as a hobby?

:D

[breathtest]

I don't even own a television. It was the best choice I've ever made.

I seriously respect you for this. I have always tried to stay away from the tv for as long as i can but i always give up way too quickly. I need to try meditation or something to pass the time and learn some self-control and restraint. Only then will i be ready...

[papayahed]

I don't even own a television. It was the best choice I've ever made. Trust me when I say you'll go into some serious withdrawal, but movie rentals are your best friend. Get ready to waste more time on the Internet! :lol:.
Seriously, though. Good luck.

OK, I cheated a little. I got home from work last night and I didn't want to do anything but sit....and watch TV. I didn't have anything good from netflix soooooo I hooked up the cable. The box is gone but that coaxial cables are still there so I decided to see if my cable was still activated - it was. Oddly enough nothing good was on!! I flipped for about 45 minutes and turned it off.

I need a radio. I can't believe of all the electronics I have I don't have a normal everyday radio. I need my morning news and weather.

[Emil Miller]

[QUOTE=papayahed;729166]
. The box is gone but that coaxial cables are still there so I decided to see if my cable was still activated - it was. Oddly enough nothing good was on!! /QUOTE]


So what's new?

[Niamh]

you should take up painting...
Or just see if anyone is online to talk to for hours...

[Emil Miller]

you should take up painting...
Or just see if anyone is online to talk to for hours...

Or alternatively, take up writing a novel about the different people you meet here on the LitNet, there is masses of material there and you might even be a future Nobel Prize winner.for revealing the internet's impact on the creative process.

[papayahed]

[QUOTE=papayahed;729166]
. The box is gone but that coaxial cables are still there so I decided to see if my cable was still activated - it was. Oddly enough nothing good was on!! /QUOTE]


So what's new?

This time I was stealing and it felt a little dirty.


Considered taking knitting up as a hobby?

:D



you should take up painting...
Or just see if anyone is online to talk to for hours...



I spent about two hours at the craft store yesterday looking for a hobby. I almost came home with a glass bead and glass jewelry maker set, a mosaic tile kit, and a book about acrylic painting techniques then I put it all back and got the Chochet starter kit (sorry Scher the knitting kit was $5.00 more and the Chochet kit had a cute top on the cover).



Or alternatively, take up writing a novel about the different people you meet here on the LitNet, there is masses of material there and you might even be a future Nobel Prize winner.for revealing the internet's impact on the creative process.


erm, a book full of run on sentences and bad grammar - Hey! that's a great idea!!:lol:

[Nightshade]

OOOH crochet!
I wonder where my needles are? That is what I was supposed to get back to doing now that uni is over.
:nod:

[papayahed]

After an afternoon of trying to crochet I have a small, uneven, jacked up square of yarn.

[Shalot]

After an afternoon of trying to crochet I have a small, uneven, jacked up square of yarn.

at least you managed a square. I bought an easy-to-learn- to-crochet kit from Target and wound up with a wad of tangled jacked up yarn. My husband is still making fun of me for it. i'd say square > wad. So, good job! :thumbs_up

[Nightshade]

After an afternoon of trying to crochet I have a small, uneven, jacked up square of yarn.

Practice makes prfect papaya! You got that far in a single afternoon, and that is BRILLIANT!
Ive never manged to get the hang of circles, then again I never really had the paticence to sit down and apply myself to trying reaslly.
:rolleyes:

[Scheherazade]

Papaya> That is excellent! Carry on crocheting... I do both knitting and crocheting and the latter is easier, no doubt.

If you have any questions, ask me (admitedly, I am not familiar with the terms in English but we can learn together! :D)

Now that I am done with the assignments, I am (sort of) free to knit once again! Yay! :D

[Nightshade]

Papaya> That is excellent! Carry on crocheting... I do both knitting and crocheting and the latter is easier, no doubt.

If you have any questions, ask me (admitedly, I am not familiar with the terms in English but we can learn together! :D)


Hummm maybe you could explain the concepts of circles to me?

[Scheherazade]

As long as you explain to me what you mean by "concepts of circles"...

;)

[qimissung]

I have to admit to watching about an hour a night, a little more on the weekends. I wish we would turn it off more. Unfortunately we get used to the sound.

I admire those who've quit. Good luck, Papayahed. You are a better woman than me.

Although I don't quite get how replacing T.V. with the internet is better.

[Nightshade]

So no Oprah?

[papayahed]

Although I don't quite get how replacing T.V. with the internet is better.

I haven't figured that part out either.


So no Oprah?

Who?:lol:

[papayahed]

SCHER!!!!!!!

What does this mean:


AFGHAN (multiple of 2 + 1 t-ch)
Ch 129, with MC.
Row 1 (RS) Sc into 2nd ch from hook, ch1, skip 1 ch, *sc in next ch, ch 1, skip 1 ch; rep from *, end 1 sc into each of last 2 ch.
Row 2 Ch1, turn. Sc into first sc, ch 1, skip next sc, * sc in next ch-1 sp, ch 1, skip next sc; rep from *, end sc in last ch1- sp, sc in last sc.

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/cwe-2colorAfghan.html

[Mariamosis]

I have been cable free since October of 2006!

[Scheherazade]

SCHER!!!!!!!

What does this mean:
Ch 129, with MC.
Row 1 (RS) Sc into 2nd ch from hook, ch1, skip 1 ch, *sc in next ch, ch 1, skip 1 ch; rep from *, end 1 sc into each of last 2 ch.
Row 2 Ch1, turn. Sc into first sc, ch 1, skip next sc, * sc in next ch-1 sp, ch 1, skip next sc; rep from *, end sc in last ch1- sp, sc in last sc.
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/cwe-2colorAfghan.htmlI can't see that website you posted but I think you are supposed to make a 129 chain stiches. Then you skip and stich into the second one and keep doing this till the end .

On the next row, you stich one and skip the next one (on opposite number, I believe).

The explanations on this site seems pretty straightforward as well:

http://www.bhkc.co.uk/data/crochins.htm

[papayahed]

I can't see that website you posted but I think you are supposed to make a 129 chain stiches. Then you skip and stich into the second one and keep doing this till the end .

On the next row, you stich one and skip the next one (on opposite number, I believe).

The explanations on this site seems pretty straightforward as well:

http://www.bhkc.co.uk/data/crochins.htm

What do I skip?

[Scheherazade]

The stich... You crochet on top of one and skip the next stich.

Can you post a picture of what you are making so that I can have a better idea, please?

[papayahed]

I have been cable free since October of 2006!


Nice!! Do you miss it??


The stich... You crochet on top of one and skip the next stich.

Can you post a picture of what you are making so that I can have a better idea, please?

This thing:

[Scheherazade]

Seems pretty straight forward. Have a look at this site:

http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/faq-search.cgi?store=/stores/eyarn&faqKey=362&language=

I will try to be online this weekend so we can knit-chat! :D

[Niamh]

Although I don't quite get how replacing T.V. with the internet is better.


I haven't figured that part out either.


Because you get to meet such wonderful people and talk to them instead! :D

[Mariamosis]

Nice!! Do you miss it??

I missed it for the first few weeks, but now I wouldn't have it back if it was free!:)

[papayahed]

ok, my cable is really gone now. I tried this morning and all I got was fuzz - tomorrow I search for my rabbit ears!!!

[Virgil]

I've been toying with this idea for quite some time but I never seem to go through with it. I am giving up cable TV, tomorrow I am returning the equipment. Tonight I am sitting on my butt and Watching Ghost Hunters.

I hope to hell this doesn't make me a better person.

To be honest, I don't watch TV at all any more, other than sports. I gave up on the pay channels of cable last year and don't miss it a bit. I would love to throw the whole TV right out the window, but my wife would get upset. :D

[Niamh]

dont even think of heading for this bunny ears!
what you need is to get some pots and plant some nice summer flowers.

[papayahed]

dont even think of heading for this bunny ears!
what you need is to get some pots and plant some nice summer flowers.

Done that.

[kilted exile]

dont think your rabbit ears will work - analogue is now switched off isnt it?

[papayahed]

erm not sure how that works. How do I get network TV then?

[Nightshade]

bunny ears? why????
are you going on a pub crawl/hen night thing??
:confused:

[kilted exile]

erm not sure how that works. How do I get network TV then?
need a digital/analogue converter box



bunny ears? why????
are you going on a pub crawl/hen night thing??
:confused:
:lol::lol::lol:

[papayahed]

So, I need the converter box. I guess I'd better find one of those coupons.

[Niamh]

Done that.

get more...
and some paper and pencils and draw your plants...

[Nightshade]

I am lost....
wait ANtenna!
You aree talking about indoor antena ( anteeni? attenis?) :confused:
why didnt you just say so in the first place.
Yes digibhoxes
they arent spensive, much . or you cna get a topup box, whihc are cool tooo. because they have harddrives and you cant stores stuff and stuff.
but I think dvd recordes do tyhis too
or you cant get them digtvs . You know with the smilig alien and the tick.... wait no that is here. maybe you dont have an alien on yours. Poor you.

[papayahed]

I just read up on the converter box. I don't need the box because my TV is already digital but I need the antenae for reception. I think. anyways I have one in a box somewhere so it won't hur to try it out.

[Nightshade]

I know what YOU NEED!!!
its the wire thing.
They go in the wall
not a wirey antena
but a cable line thing. like a usbport byut the tv kind. Not scart the other kind. You know scircle with a pin in it?
Thats what you need!!

[JuniperWoolf]

Bunny ears still work in Canada I think, but whenever I watch American tv they're talking about digital converter boxes. But hey, do you really want to go back to television so bad? You're over the hump! I think I'm going to quit too, tv and computers (but I'll keep my video games for now... I can't part with them yet) I've tried giving it up before, but the stupid greyish-black glass stares me down and I always give in. It's like an adiction that almost everyone has, like some effed up farenheit 451 thing. I don't watch regular tv because it makes my brain hurt and enrages me. I ONLY watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns, or South Park.

P.S., Talk about choosing a bad time to quit watching tv. IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE PLAYOFFS SEASON!

P.S.S., Looks like we're rivals. ;)

[Nightshade]

I know what YOU NEED!!!
its the wire thing.
They go in the wall
not a wirey antena
but a cable line thing. like a usbport byut the tv kind. Not scart the other kind. You know scircle with a pin in it?
Thats what you need!!

It was badly pt, but I did kind of know what I was going on about. You need an antenna cable. It fits into the antenna soccet built into the wall. I don't know how digital tv comes out of the walls but they do.
:F

[papayahed]

Bunny ears still work in Canada I think, but whenever I watch American tv they're talking about digital converter boxes. But hey, do you really want to go back to television so bad? You're over the hump! I think I'm going to quit too, tv and computers (but I'll keep my video games for now... I can't part with them yet) I've tried giving it up before, but the stupid greyish-black glass stares me down and I always give in. It's like an adiction that almost everyone has, like some effed up farenheit 451 thing. I don't watch regular tv because it makes my brain hurt and enrages me. I ONLY watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns, or South Park.

P.S., Talk about choosing a bad time to quit watching tv. IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE PLAYOFFS SEASON!

P.S.S., Looks like we're rivals. ;)

It looks like we are!!



I miss the morning news, I could always check the internet but I like having it on when I'm getting ready fro work. hmmmm maybe I should visit this radio idea again.

Where can I get me one of these:

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8196/boomboxproject2.jpg (http://img19.imageshack.us/my.php?image=boomboxproject2.jpg)



It was badly pt, but I did kind of know what I was going on about. You need an antenna cable. It fits into the antenna soccet built into the wall. I don't know how digital tv comes out of the walls but they do.
:F


ohhhh, now I get it!!! I don't have an antenna socket in the wall.

[papayahed]

Tomorrow I'm calling and getting my cable back!!!!

[Scheherazade]

Tomorrow I'm calling and getting my cable back!!!!So, did you?

[papayahed]

Not yet, but I'm close.

[Niamh]

Dont give in Papaya!!!

[papayahed]

Since I've given up cable I was thinking of upping my Netflix plan. Currently I pay $11.99 a month and I'm on an obsolete plan. If I upgrade to 3 movies at a time I won't be able to go back to my original plan but would have to go to the $13.99 plan. (If I upgrade I'll be paying $16.99).

It's not so much the money but I feel like I'm sticking it to the man by remaining on this obsolete plan and I hate to give it up.

[Buh4Bee]

I am so there with you man. I gave up TV too. I was so sick of the slim selection and so few intelligent shows. I HATE reality TV. Commercials drive me crazy. For me, commercials can make me as mad as when I experience road rage driving down in NYC.

The TV sits there and calls to me sometimes. I look at it and it stares back at me with the possibility of maybe saying something intelligent. I haven't turned it on yet, but it really is an experiment in sensory reduction. The radio is always on NPR.

Now, I do get Netflix. I'm watching a series from HBO, Rome. I finished the Sopranos maybe a year ago. This was a great addiction. I also click into Hulu when I really need a fix and watch South Park or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Might try that.

The Forums are a lot of fun. You wouldn't believe how addicting they can be. I just joined and I'm on this thing for hours, p*ssing hour away babbling. Sometimes, I am writing or responding to more intellectual threads.

Anyway, sorry about the sports man. I can imagine being cut off from that is a drag. Good luck with the resistance factor and maybe it is making you a better person.

[papayahed]

pffffwwww. One week down.

[Niamh]

its only been a week?

[TurquoiseSunset]

Wow, people here are very much against t.v., huh? I'll confess and say that I watch one, maybe two hours of t.v. a day, but then I don't have to cook or clean and I don't go to bed early so I read a lot anyway.

I have a few other minor home-hobbies as well. None of my friends know this but I do cross-stitching :blush:. I know some people think it's for grannies, but I like it, I always have...ever since Needlework and Sewing class in the 4th grade :D

I feel I can admit to this since there are people here who knit and crochet...so I don't feel alone :D

[Emil Miller]

Wow, people here are very much against t.v., huh? I'll confess and say that I watch one, maybe two hours of t.v. a day, but then I don't have to cook or clean and I don't go to bed early so I read a lot anyway.

I have a few other minor home-hobbies as well. None of my friends know this but I do cross-stitching :blush:. I know some people think it's for grannies, but I like it, I always have...ever since Needlework and Sewing class in the 4th grade :D

I feel I can admit to this since there are people here who knit and crochet...so I don't feel alone :D

Carry on knitting and crocheting, at least you are using your brain, a requirement that has long been abandoned for watching television, and will end in a positive result. Only the brain-dead watch 90% of television output anyway.

[Scheherazade]

I wonder if I can still make big hair? Maybe I'll try this weekend since I can't watch TV.:lol:How is the big hair project coming along?

:D

[papayahed]

Wow, people here are very much against t.v., huh? I'll confess and say that I watch one, maybe two hours of t.v. a day, but then I don't have to cook or clean and I don't go to bed early so I read a lot anyway.

I have a few other minor home-hobbies as well. None of my friends know this but I do cross-stitching :blush:. I know some people think it's for grannies, but I like it, I always have...ever since Needlework and Sewing class in the 4th grade :D

I feel I can admit to this since there are people here who knit and crochet...so I don't feel alone :D


I'm not against TV. I love TV, however I get sucked in and end up watching a marathon of america's next top model all afternoon.


How is the big hair project coming along?

:D

oh ha ha. I've come to my senses.:lol:

[TurquoiseSunset]

Carry on knitting and crocheting, at least you are using your brain, a requirement that has long been abandoned for watching television, and will end in a positive result. Only the brain-dead watch 90% of television output anyway.

I do feel there are some t.v. shows that aren't that bad. Some of the educational types are fine...only some, mind. I hate those shows where the topic is a historical event or a planet, but the whole show is all speculation and no 'meat'. Why waste money making them, honestly?

[Emil Miller]

I do feel there are some t.v. shows that aren't that bad. Some of the educational types are fine...only some, mind. I hate those shows where the topic is a historical event or a planet, but the whole show is all speculation and no 'meat'. Why waste money making them, honestly?

OK so what you are saying is that some shows are mediocre rather than bad, why not recognise the fact and consign them to the (s)crap heap?

[TurquoiseSunset]

No, what I meant was that there are good shows. They might be few and far between, but there are some.

So my point was that t.v. isn't all bad; it depends on peoples' choice of show.

But, whatever, we all have our opinions on the matter :p

[Buh4Bee]

Ahhhh, I think people were talking about big hair... I can still do it!

I'd make a joke about using my free time while not watching TV and spraying LOTS of hairspray, but I couldn't admit that.

[papayahed]

1 month down. I think I'm over the initial hump and I just realized that hulu will update me when new episodes of my favorite show are available.

[papayahed]

Hey! I made three months!!! However, cable is being installed tomorrow. This weekend I rearranged the furniture and knocked the antenna over and can't get good reception any longer, it doesn't make sense. Anyways I'm tired of fighting with the antenna everytime I want to watch the news so I'm getting the minimum basic cable package.