Day 110: Who needs TV when there’s streamlining?
I remember saying to a man once who asked me if I watched a particular show on tv, and I said, “we don’t have tv”. He was very impressed with me and my household because he thought we didn’t indulge in hours watching a box. As he was complimenting me, I quickly stopped him and said, “we have computers and iPads…”. He was, like, ‘oh’.
I actually still have a tv in my bedroom, but I only keep it because it takes DVDs and VHS, of which I still have many. Only periodically do I pull one out to watch, like Bruce Lee’s, Enter the Dragon, or the Blues Brothers.
Truthfully, I didn’t get into streamlining until about 9–10 years ago, and that was when I was going through a transition in work. As I was letting go of my private homecare work to pursue my acupuncture work, my last client who had been with me for 9.5 years, died at 100.5 years of age. We were quite close. I had spent so much time with her that I didn’t know how to be NOT working. So, I discovered that I could binge watch Netflix from my computer. And, even better, I did not have to wait for the following week to catch the next episode. I was in heaven. I started with Nip/Tuck (fiction). Yup, I watched tons of reasons why women, and some men, chose plastic surgery. Some very far-fetched reasons why these people chose to do certain things to change their body in hopes of looking younger and keeping the idea of aging away, or making a fantasy come true. Like, the Ken and Barbie couple who wanted their nipples removed because the Ken and Barbie dolls didn’t have nipples (the dolls didn’t have other parts, either, but that wasn’t addressed — ‘Ken’ didn’t ask for a castration).
I liked that you could pause a movie, and even shut your device off and when you came back to it, there it was in the same spot waiting your return, like a faithful dog waiting for you to get home from work. And, no commercials unless I wanted to create a hold and run to the kitchen. After Nip/Tuck, I was hooked. I don’t remember the next series that I watched, but I would do the same thing and binge watch episode after episode. AND THEN, I discovered other like stations; Hulu, Amazon Prime, now Apple TV, and other TV type stations. Some of them interrupt for commercials. That was a main reason I didn’t want TV, especially to watch drug commercials, or political commercials. I’m disappointed that Hulu is doing the political commercials, and it is only one-sided. I also don’t like that they get you hooked on something (my words and opinion) and then move it over to a cable network, which you have to purchase — like OWN — if you want to continue watching. I won’t do that.
I don’t need 180 channels. I don’t like following a time that I have to be tuned in to see an episode, or a movie of something, because I forget. Usually, it comes around again, but I still want to be the one to decide what time I watch something, and what I choose. And, I like that I can even take my iPad to bed and watch it sideways. Not a good idea, but I do it until I fall asleep, or move it to some brainwave training YouTube video/audio. Yes, it all perpetuates my sleep disorder issues. It’s 1:00 AM now.
I started watching the episodes on Apple TV called ‘The Morning Show’ with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston as anchor/co-anchor on the show. It’s actually quite good but when I watch how even their acting emotions of their characters, I can’t help but wonder how exhausting it must be to be them on the show. I got Apple TV free for a year when I bought a new phone. My son upgraded his phone and got a free year of Disney.
As all media type entertainment goes, it is just another addiction if you let it become that. It fills up hours that I could be doing something more constructive with my time. And I’m learning about that. I binge at my studies and other types of work at home, as well.
It has been two months off of work, so far, for me, and I have at least two more weeks before I can go back. Hence, why I’ve been learning online and have really accomplished a fair amount of things. But, my discipline of keeping to a schedule has really gotten messed up with this shutdown. And, with all the different things I am seeing that we need to put into place to re-open service salons and spas (because I do that, too), I am a bit nervous about it all.
It’s so going to be different, and I think that some things are going overboard. Everything is becoming a no-touch atmosphere — take the pens away, take the magazines away, don’t have coffee or tea for your customers who are waiting their turn to relax before their service. As a matter of fact, it sounds like we will be having our customers waiting in their cars until the staff calls them in for their appointment. Well, in MN that won’t be so easy to do in the winter, and actually, the hot summer won’t be so fun, either. In any case, they will more than likely keep their car running in order to stay warm, or cool. So much for emission control, and not having your car idle for longer than three minutes…. No hand shaking and no hugging — yet, since I am also a massage therapist, what’s the point? I will be touching much more than their hands. The acupuncture guidelines (or are they mandates?) are saying similar things. So, I guess that means we don’t use pens as business promotions, or have dishes of breath mints around. My business calendars are expiring away because I can’t put them out or give them away. What about the retail on the shelves? Do we take that away? For salons and spas, that is a major upsell to the services given. No free samples, no wine tasting at the liquor store, no gatherings in the neighborhood associations to keep our community businesses going. There were so many good ideas and plans that have now become squashed.
Someone on Medium wrote an article (I didn’t read it but caught the headline) about why people are opposed to the shutdown. I fully understand distancing or some isolating, but if we are allowed to go back to work because the governor is saying it feels safe to do so, why all the rules and regulations? It is either safe, or not. And if viruses are airborne, all it takes is one cough or sneeze to create an unhealthy environment in a room. We will be working harder for less clients because of the full room cleaning after each person. Our Board of Cosmetology (in MN) is already quite strict about sanitation practices. It seems to me that we know what to do. I, personally, have not heard of any therapist, esthetician, hair stylist, manicurist, or the like get sick from seeing back to back customers. If this virus was going around several months prior to our March 17th shutdown, shouldn’t I know at least ONE person who got sick? I am on more than one FB Group following these service providers, so I think I can be safe in saying that. I already wash my hands 20, or more times a day just at work.
Now, it seems, there is too much fear. Fear is a Liar. We are either safe, or we are not. We are either carriers, or we are not. Pestilence will never go away. Even Jesus said that while on earth, and plagues do happen throughout the whole of life. Practicing good hygiene, common sense, and taking care of yourself to stay healthy and nourish your immune system is probably your best bet. But, not all do, and that will spread disease. I just watched a man walk out of a popular department store, take off his mask and spit on the ground, twice. WTH?
