All of us have a means of escape. A way to leave this crazy Penn world, all the drama drama, drama and the work and the pressure. For me, it’s online television. Just me, my bed and my Hulu queue. Late night Mondays are for my ABC Family shows — they go online at 4 a.m. — Wednesday afternoons are Gossip Girl (after reading Daily Intel’s round up, try it) and Friday evenings are for Modern Family, the Office and as much Grey’s as I can stomach before switching to House.
Needless to say, I watch a disgusting amount of television. I’m a pro at surfing Megavideo and using Boolean search techniques to find whole, easily-loaded, and not-Japanese-subtitled versions of the shows and movies I want. I can nearly recite the 21 second commercials that run on Hulu by memory (whaddup Coal River Wind and Because of Camp... ); my favorite are the commercials featuring professional athletes encouraging viewers to “get out and play!” Thanks, Reggie Bush and Serena Williams, for reminding me — I know I'm being a blob. But it’s this blob time, alone and in the dark, that gets me through the week.
Think I'm pathetic? Maybe I am. At least I don't spend hours on Sporcle. Nevertheless, there are certainly more involved and physically taxing ways to escape from the real world. Take the Clark Park Larpers (Live Action Role Play-ers, this week's cover story, pg. 10) — a decade ago, a group of Philadelphians started acting out epic battlescenes in public parks around the city and simply never stopped.
Some people get high, some people Facebook stalk, others have 36,000 points on Food Frenzy. Pick your poison, every one of us needs some kind of distraction. It's impossible to live the ‘work hard, play hard’ lifestyle without it.
'till next week,
SB
