We don’t watch much TV at our house. I record some reality shows for when I have insomnia but no words to write. I record some shows from TLC and the Food Channel for when my boyfriend Jeffrey is out of town.
He will watch Chopped. He will sit next to me and read while I watch Long Island Medium. But Say Yes to the Dress? That is a guilty pleasure reserved for middle-of-the-night wrapped in the red-velvet-cake-blanket solo viewing.
Jeff has Netflix. He loves film noir. He used to rent old black-and-white movies and watch them while I was at work. Occasionally we’d watch something together – The Station Agent, Baghdad Café, Being Flynn… but I always had the time and desire to write. Always had the time and desire to submit.
Enter The Shield. I don’t know who told us about this show but I love them and hate them. This is an old-style police show that was on HBO from 2002 through 2008, I think. Michael Chiklis rocks and CCH Pounder is awesome. This show is violent in a way that I don’t normally watch and I can’t take my eyes off it!
We only get two discs at a time. All we think about is when the next disc of violence is coming. We have been known to get dressed and drive to the post office at 9 at night to turn one in so that we get the next one in queue quicker.
We are sick and hopeless people. We are on Season 5. Maybe when we’re done I’ll start writing poetry again!
Really and truly we are both still writing. We are both still submitting. And we have a submission window that opens January 1st. I still go to work everyday. I still make my son’s lunch in the mornings. I still go through the motions, while waiting breathlessly for the “mail report” telling me what was in the mail and whether or not we got another disc.
I used to wait for acceptances. Now it’s the square red envelope that gets my heart racing.
And now it’s Saturday night. We’ve watched five episodes of The Shield today and finished the disc. It’s raining. No more violence until Monday.
But tomorrow? DUOTROPE!!!
Tobi Cogswell is a three-time Pushcart nominee and a Best of the Net Nominee. She confesses to being a Food Channel junkie but doesn’t cook much. Her latest chapbook is “Lit Up” by Kindred Spirit Press. She is the co-editor of San Pedro River Review (www.sprreview.com).