Screaming at the Moon

I used to love watching tv by myself. When I was a young teen, I saved up enough babysitting money to buy a small little tv for my own private showings for shows probably few others really wanted to watch. For example, I loved Days of Our Lives. When I went to Becka's wedding in LA, my running partner/friend, Sara, set me up with her cousin who had a reoccurring role on Days. That's right--not just an extra who was in the background, but a talking actor who appeared over a story arch! Actually, that 7-hour, stuck in L.A. traffic blind date now places for the bronze in my long blind date competition. But, those mega outings may be stories for other posts. Back to the mythical yet real friend, the T.V.

Nowadays, I find it hard to watch TV by myself, but I love to watch in community. I go over to Sara and Matthew's to watch Amazing Race or So You Think You Can Dance (also, we have watched the new Battlestar and other fine shows). I have seen Top Chef and Project Runway with a group of dessert-loving friends. And, I used to watch the Thursday comedies with another friend. It just seems more fun to hear not only the laugh track play, but hear what your friends find funny. Plus, it is a cheap "date".

My mom was in town last week. She is a fan of Dancing with the Stars. We sat down to watch the finale and remained in our comfy repose to watch the premiere of the Bachelorette afterwards. When I lived in New Jersey, I went to my neighbor's house to watch the Bachelor. She had the best low fat ice-cream selections and it was great to just walk across the hall to visit. Since I've lived in Seattle, I really haven't watched the Bachelor/Bachelorette. Ok, I have to admit that I was home in my PJs the night of the recent Bachelor wedding (the guy was from the Seattle-area). It was nice watching a wedding in my fat pants with popcorn (and Luke) by my side. Would it be too much to ask if my single friends would televise their nuptials and let me watch from my sofa? Too much?

Anyway, I was quickly drawn into the Bachelorette. She was cute and fun; honestly, I just wanted something to work out for her. Of the suitors, my faves were the guys with dogs. There was one who had been a teacher, moved home to watch his mother die, and was now on the show. When he got his one-on-one time with her, I just started screaming at the tv: "tell her about your dead mother". My mother's comment was that most of the guys seemed catty.

Last night, I went over to Ursie's to watch a movie. Her tumbler, Jessie, was up late and U and I got to talking so we didn't start a movie, but we did watch some Food network and MTV. There were some trashy teens on Parental Control (I won't even describe how much is wrong with that show), but U and I wanted to scream some sense in to those young women. U did resolve to tell me that if I ever started to bleach my hair that I would need to get my roots done before she would send me on a dating show for national audiences. Thanks!

Anyway, at times when you feel like screaming at the moon, it is nice to scream at the TV....with friends. Thanks TV. Thanks friends. You are loved.

UPDATE: I was watching Glee on my laptop (ok, in bed). It made me remember Ursie's best remark. At the end of Glee season 1, we were watching when adorable teacher kissed quirky school counselor. Ursie got up to check on the kids, threw the remote at me, and said, "you can just sit there and rewind it as many times as you want!"