February 10, 2022/February 10, 2025

There was once a time when I was so very engrossed in a novel. I was taken away to another life, another time, totally absorbed in the dramatic events of the fictional lives of characters I had come to love. When the end of the story came (as it always does) I was saddened by the seemingly abruptness of ‘It’s Over’! Didn’t matter if it was a happy ending or sad, it was just the fact, this was no longer a part of my life.

Of course, there was always another book, another set of characters, another story line, but always the same result. Eventually, my eyes and attention span took me away from the books that had given me such a diverse emotional fixation. Today I came to the realization, that ‘Netflix and Hulu’ with their wonderful series have replaced books and are now the source that hold me spellbound into ‘serial binge watching’.

Once again, I experience the old familiar emotions and involvement with the happiness or drama of characters and events, and the complete crash of ‘It’s Over’ when a three- or four-season series is completed and the powers that be decide there will be no further episodes. Yet, I am a glutton for emotional torture, I guess. I am about to search for another series to become addicted to. I remain easily entertained and therefore not unhappy!

Since I first made note of this, Netflix and Hulu have been replaced by a slew of other streaming services. My addiction could not handle the eternal wait for anything new to come along or for a series to continue before my demise from this world. Patience is becoming a foggy memory in my older age. I just don’t have the time for it! I have also found myself going backward into antenna TV. Watching shows that have been going since the beginning of time. Game shows are comforting in their constant sameness, with new faces to see every day. As well as a challenge for the brain. Most of my TV watching now takes place while I’m napping. I find the background noise more soothing that any white, green, yellow or blue noise. I have to be careful, though. Criminal Minds and other such genre are not conducive to sweet dreams.