Mr. TV, when did I become so addicted to you?

I miss my tv! And yes, I realize how pathetic that sounds. I read somewhere once upon a time that many people watch an average of six or seven hours of tv a day. If that's true then I wonder where these people are. I know I do not have a spare six or seven hours each day to watch tv unless I want to give up sleep (which I don't) or not work (which I wouldn't do) or perhaps spend every non-working non-sleeping moment watching tv (and let's face it, that's not practical, even then I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a spare 6 hours in a day). So all you people that watch that much tv, what's your secret? Perhaps they are not working? Insomniacs? Feeling ill? Have to watch tv for work? Are children who do not like to go or unable to go outside? Regardless, I guess I should not judge them because lately, I'm missing not having a tv. Now, I will admit on snow days or days when I'm sick and a few lazy summer days, I may spend too much time in front of the "tube." When someone got me into "Lost" a couple of years ago, I spent 10 hours one day watching season one on DVD. Sad huh? So I've had my moments, but as during the school year, I don't usually spend more than a couple of hours watching tv each evening and approximately 20 minutes watching tv each morning , I never thought I'd be bothered by the fact that I can't watch tv. Well, I suppose technically, I could watch it, but it would just be static. I've lived in my new home for a couple of weeks and still have not called the cable company to get my cable hooked up and thus be able to watch tv. I bought the place a few weeks ago, but it needed some work so it was a few weeks before I was officially moved in and thus didn't see the point in getting cable until I was fully living here. I moved in about two weeks ago, but I was going on vacation last week so I didn't see the point in getting cable hooked up if I wasn't going to be home to enjoy it. And now I'm back home and haven't called, and as it's a weekend, I imagine there's no point in calling now. I go back to work Monday and I'm not sure how late these people work so I'm wondering if I'll even be able to get it installed any time soon because I'm not taking the day off from work to wait for the cable company to come. Of course since I'll be working, I won't have as much time to watch it as I do during the summer so maybe I won't mind so much (yea, probably not likely). Much of my life I didn't have cable, we got a few stations, but we didn't have cable from about the time I was five until I was 20 or 21. We moved when I was about 5 and my dad called the cable company three times, but they never showed up so he decided to just not get it. We could still get a few stations so life was peachy. We had cable at college so I had it then, and one year, I think it was my junior year of college, my dad got sick of not being able to watch all his Red Sox games so he decided to try for cable again (this time they showed up) so I could enjoy it on Christmas vacations and summer vacations. I didn't have it my first year of grad school (thought not for lack of trying; some issue with the landlord so we couldn't get it because he didn't want them drilling a hole or something). I've enjoyed my tv and having cable tv for the past few years, though truthfully most of the shows I watch are on the "free stations." Unfortunately, I can't even get the free stations as I don't have rabbit ears any more so I get NOTHING, just static. Now I keep busy, I have a decent social life, I like to read, watch movies, and I still have boxes left to unpack so why in the world does not having tv stations bug me so much? I think I've come to rely on it too much. Each night after work, I would usually watch the news while I relaxed for a few minutes then got ready to go to the gym. (I feel so out of touch with the world since I can't watch the news, I don't get a newspaper anymore--used to peek through one at the old place, and my internet is 50/50 at the moment). I'd check the weather each morning when I got up. Since it's rerun season, I'm not watching any of my shows so that's not a biggie, but each night I like to set my sleep timer for 30-6o minutes and watch a few minutes of tv before I fall asleep. Last night after I unpacked, did laundry, and put some things away, I wasn't really in the mood to read so I just wanted to watch tv for a few, of course I couldn't so I watched a movie instead, but I had tv on the brain. I spent last week on a cruise and watched very little tv (we mostly put it on to check cruise information) and I survived just fine, didn't miss it at all, but yet back home I'm feeling the need for the tube. Even now as I write this, I'd kind of like to have the tv on in the background. I came home from dinner with some friends tonight and had an urge to put the tv on. When did I come to rely on tv so much? Am I an addict since I can't seem to live without it? And will I get it back before the new seasons start? If not, I'll certainly be able to make a good dent in my Netflix list. :) So for now, I'm off to watch a movie then perhaps read some more of my book.