LOST

Back in January, it actually snowed here in the metropolis of Southern Pines. We've seen it happen here before, but on one otherwise unremarkable Saturday it started coming down and showed no signs of stopping... at least for a couple of hours. I was excited to have a good reason to snuggle up inside in my sweatpants for the day, especially because January is generally one of my busier months at work (though lately I'm starting to question my logic on that - which month isn't super busy?). Jonathan and I were enjoying the day when the unthinkable happened: I got a phone call from the rector telling me that CHURCH was canceled the next day because of the snow. Which of course meant that the adult forum, my after-church meeting, and youth group were canceled as well. This event was perhaps superior to any Christmas morning that I have ever experienced. I love church and all (obviously) but there is nothing like being clergy and finding out that you are spending a Sunday morning at home in your sweats with a cup of coffee. Suddenly, rather than scoffing or judging my fellow Southerners, I was simply elated to live in a community that closes up shop for days following a little snow. It was amazing.

That Monday the town was still closed down. No school, no church, nothing open or happening. It was still exciting to have a third day off, but understand that Jonathan and I are normally extremely busy people. We aren't accustomed to having three days in a row in the house. By that Monday cabin fever had started to kick in a little, and we were getting restless.

Desperately looking for something to do, we turned to our recently purchased Roku, which was our last major purchase before the Stuff Stand-off. Roku gives us access through our television to all of the movies that are available for instant viewing on Netflix.com. Sounds incredible, right? We thought so too. But as it turns out, Netflix isn't stupid, and all of the movies available for instant viewing really aren't the movies you really want to watch. Not that I don't love the 80s or anything - because boy do I. But I also like watching movies from this decade, and movies that actually made it to the theater. We felt limited in our options that day.

The one thing Netflix does offer is every season (save but the current one) of the show LOST. Jonathan and I had never seen it before, and we'd been curious. We had noticed that there was a slightly cult-like following to the show. Having a whole new day stretching before us with no activities planned, we went ahead and pressed play on Season 1, Episode 1. And the rest is history.

Fast forward to today. Just over three months later we've plowed through 5 seasons of the show, and we're determined to catch up to this current season before the series finale which we think happens later this month. And I'll tell you what has been lost: lots and lots of hours, a good deal of sleep for me, and any effective medidation time. You see, I tend to latch on to images and intense plots in a pretty serious way. I can't watch a show like LOST and then crawl into bed and fall fast asleep. Not when planes are falling out of the sky and the Others are coming and they don't know what year it is. I lay in the silence at night, or again in the morning, and even sometimes at church on Sunday (I admit it!) and think only of my friends on that island... replaying the scenes in my head or wondering what will happen next. It's completely ridiculous. But I don't know what else to do but just keep watching. Then, at least, it will be over, and I can get my life back.

So what does this have to do with the Stuff Stand-off? I'm glad you asked. The other day while Jonathan and I were watching just one more episode, we saw the episode description "in the landmark 100th episode..." Um, 100? Out of curiosity, we did some quick math. "So we've spent over 70 hours watching this show since January?" Jonathan asked. I cringed. "It's no wonder we've been bragging about how easy this Stuff Stand-off is," I said back to him, "who has time to shop?"

Here's the lesson here, folks: It is remarkably easy to replace one obsession with another. So easy, in fact, that you might not even realize you've done it until it's too late, and the whole first part of the year has come and gone and you've spent almost all of it glued to the television wondering how the hell they're ever going to get off that island. I remember many posts ago pondering how we might spend our time now that we won't be shopping and renovating our home, but I did not think that LOST was going to come into the equation. I more thought that we'd go for walks, visit museums, or find different activities to fill our days.

We'll plow through the rest of this current season, because we are really eager to see how this show will end. But I can't wait for it to be over. And we'll be a little more cautious moving forward that the things we do fill our time with aren't going to quickly slide into obsession.

That said, I have to go. I could have watched a whole episode in the time it took me to write this!