... and then there's reality (Part I)

After a long day in the office spent squeezing information out of my brain and through my fingertips into the keyboard and ultimately, onto a Word document, I need a good mental break.

And since I just spent about seven hours of my waking day staring wide-eyed into the white glow of a computer screen, the most natural thing to do, obviously, is to spend another few hours curled up on my couch staring into a computer screen again.



Ah, the joys of modern technology, where we can watch 10 times as many TV shows as earlier generations did, and not be limited by a certain time or place. Hello Netflix, hello Hulu.

I followed about one to one-and-a-half TV series while in college. I had been following "The Big Bang Theory" quite loyally for a decently long time, and with the advent of the first season of "Once Upon a Time," my wish (no pun intended) to see fairy tales brought to the modern world seemed granted.

(I have since given up on "Once," considering myself more a traditional fairy tale purist than are the writers of that gradually spiraling show. But that's a topic for another day.)

However, I realized after graduating that there's this wondrous thing called a lack of homework. And after more than a decade of spending my evenings concentrating recently-learned knowledge into assignments for the next day, the lack of homework came as a strange sensation. I could now do essentially whatever I wanted, for the first time in oh so long.

It was (is?) simply too easy to come home at the end of the day and turn on my favorite shows -- the number of which, I admit, has increased.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to start on a TV-bashing tirade. I believe there's a lot of value in what can be learned and experienced in many quality series today. The adventures of The Doctor, or the remarkably/unfortunately relevant antics of The Office gang (or the IT Crowd, along similar lines), help add some lightheartedness to a stressful day, or provide inspiration in appreciating the little things of life.

But there's always that "lacking" feeling that I really could be spending so much more of my time doing more exciting things than watching that next episode of that particular favorite show.

Maybe it's not so much cutting out the shows entirely, as it is watching in moderation. Maybe sticking to that one episode that evening, rather than trying to catch up on a handful in one sitting, is actually a smart idea. You know?

Because when you come down to it all, there is so much more to be experienced and loved in reality. The mental break that I may need at the end of the day won't necessarily find its answer in watching a web series.

I think it goes without saying that getting up and doing things (trying a new recipe, calling a friend/relative, decorating that part of the apartment that really needs some TLC, handcrafting gifts, walking around the local library, or even cleaning the bathroom) will make you feel better than sitting like a lump on your sofa for three hours straight.

Sure, reality doesn't initially seem to be as entertaining as Moss and Roy's attempts to deactivate a bomb using Windows Vista, or as breathtaking as the Canadian countryside belonging in a certain modern Jane Eyre web series... but reality has a lot of joyful surprises that can come along if you keep your eye out for them.

Case in point, I was delighted to receive a sizable package from my grandfather today.

(See photo to the left.) 

That was, by far, one of the most exciting things that has happened to me at the end of my long days during these past few months.

And I didn't even have to turn on my laptop to experience it.