Bad Habit

Awhile ago I extolled the virtues of my DVR. I still love it, but it's caused me to develop some bad, maybe more annoying than bad, habits. It's not very often that I can just sit down and watch an entire uninterrupted TV episode. "Katie Time" only lasts for about 1 hour in the afternoon and from about 9pm until I go to sleep.

In order to maximize this window of opportunity, I have started watching the end of the shows first. I press play, then stop, then skip to end. If I like that particular ending then I'll watch the whole thing, but if I don't like how it ends, I restart it and watch it on 2x fast forward. Isn't that terrible? I don't do it for everything, certainly not for How I Met Your Mother or So You Think You Can Dance, but when I first developed this "habit," it was only for one or two shows that I DVRed. They were for things that I had taped thinking maybe I would watch it if I had the chance.

Somehow over time it morphed from seldom, to occasionally, to semi-regularly, and now it's full blown. It's rare that I watch an entire episode from start to finish. On the plus side, I'm saving time, not rotting my brain with fantasy land ideas, but I also feel like it has affected my level of patience- with everything. When people are talking to me, I just want to 4x fast forward them to the point. Like, "I don't have all day, only three hours are mine, so please don't waste them with drivel!"

That doesn't mean I don't like having nice, stimulating, productive conversations with someone who understands more than 20 words, because I do! But yesterday, for example, I went to Circuit City to pick up a few things for my camera. I had a list of exactly what I wanted, because I don't have the luxury of browsing, and proceeded to pick out my items. I'm not exaggerating that at least 10 different sales persons stopped to ask me if I was finding everything I needed. I'm all for good customer service, but I wanted to scream to everyone, "I am fine! Thank you! If I need your assistance I will let you know! I'm not a witchy-bee, I'm just on a schedule!"

And then other times I want to take my remote my control and press pause on life.  The really beautiful moments keep flying by, they never last long enough and I only get to experience it once. With a DVR, it's okay if you miss something because the phone rings- you can either rewind it and watch it again or you can press pause and it will stay frozen in time until you to return.  If you really loved something you watched, well, you can rewind and start it all over again.  There's no such thing as a lost moment with a DVR.  Why can't I do this with life?  Please, smart geniuses at MIT, invent one of these mechanisms for me. 

I blame my DVR for this, for wanting to skip to the end to make sure it turns out okay, and then go back to the beginning to actually enjoy it. To delete all the things that stink, to pause and stare at gawker moments without shame, and to rewind/rewatch/redo everything that is worthy of "Katie Time." I really don't see a way to fix this, but I'm all open to suggestions!