Fond Farewells

I don't have much time. Yet I enjoy watching movies. I really enjoy watching movies. And I really have no time.

The upshot of Netflix is that I can get anime, which is scarce in this town. I can watch stuff whenever time presented itself, which prevents me from returning DVDs late, or unwatched. And with Netflix, I've certainly never had to drive/walk anywhere at any hour to return anything.

Downshot is that I have so little time to watch movies that I end up sitting on a DVD for weeks before popping it into the player. This racks up considerable expenses with Netflix, which becomes more cost-effective the quicker you watch movies and the more of them you watch. Two strikes right there.

Netflix allows you to do all sorts of lovely things like rate movies, find movies you'd never had heard of, and communicate with other folks who also do the Netflix thing. But you know what? I actually did some math.

Here goes. AMS's tv is both boon and bane. I get to watch tv when I want to, and the shows I like most when I go home to a bazillion channels and more time than my brain knows what to do with happen to be things like CSI, Grey's Anatomy, House (of the not at all full variety... couldn't stand those horrible twins when they were toddling babies, and they haven't grown up well, either), Discovery, History Channel, and the like. Channels themselves don't call me unless they are on at the moment. But those seasons of X dramas (where X equals cop, detective, doctor, etc.) really get to me. Now, of course, I don't get to watch them enough to get really hooked, or anything, but I am particularly thrilled of late with House.

If I were to use Netflix to obtain the seasons of it on DVD, it would take me nearly a year of watching an episode a week, religiously. I don't have time for that. I can probably get an episode in every other week, but to hope for every week is a bit much. It would cost me tons of money in idle DVDs sitting around the apt gathering dust. So I can't see that.

And if I were to sort of vicariously watch the things, by say, reading transcripts and summaries online, it would be little more than a waste of time. Reading these things would not satisfy the urge to watch them, and would in fact, be more harmful to the time/money savings.

If I were to purchase the seasons, I would be able to watch them at my leisure without thinking of the money trickling away. But that requires a purchase. I would have these DVDs long after I grew tired of House. Admittedly, I don't see myself growing tired of it any time soon, and not, perhaps, for several years, even. But dear me, I don't buy seasons of DVDs often for a good reason.

Regardless of the lack of fruitful resolution to my House problem, I have decided to bid a fond farewell to Netflix. It is an excellent system, and one I will return to when there is time to actually watch movies. In the meantime, goodbye. I will satisfy the occassional urge to watch movies by walking down to Slide and renting a singular one for that night.

And I'll be considering House. It's the only one of the tv dramas that actually has characters that speak to me. The others are cool, but I find that I am there for that particular story, and that I couldn't care less what happens when the cliffhanger is resolved next week. And none of the character backstories are at all tragic or interesting to me. House is a bit different. In all likelihood, I find the cutting humor to be a draw. I'm also pretty fond of the main guy's acting. Liked it in Black Adder, as well.

But this is, technically, a waste of time.

I have a test due Thursday, a book and presentation due Wednesday, a presentation possibly due Tuesday (that I will have to have ready in case), a lesson plan due Monday, and IH stuff to read. That's the current situation. I'm all but caught up in Scriptures, I'm on par in Nabokov (aside from the paper I get to rewrite...), and am still hopelessly behind in Translations. Nearly the entirety of Part Two is looming, and I will not be getting it done. Priorities are what they are. I have to turn things in. And I can't BS those.

Somewhere in there, I have to scrounge up the time to visit a car dealership and look at a new, reliable car. I'm sure I was, but I certainly don't remember being this busy last degree.

Love and Peace.