step away from the light

so after long deliberation, i decided when we move into our new apartment this weekend, we are going to finally get… cable. i have been, thus far, committed to keeping my children from over-indulgence and bad habits learned from the smart-mouthed, wise-cracking, too-grown-for-their-own-good kids of disney and nickelodeon tv. don't get it twisted, they have begged for it on a regular basis because, save reading rainbow, between the lions and seinfeld, “regular” tv these days has little to offer children. they finally wore thin the skin on their knees and, over about the last 4 months, they started answering themselves for me. they ask no one in particular as they flip the 5 channels that come in clearly thanks to rabbit ears, "mommy, are we gonna get cable soon?" then, in a mimicking mommy voice, they lament, "not this month, sweetie. maybe before you're a teenager.")

they’ve lost their tolerance for toddler-tuned programming on PBS. in that last hour before bed, I admit what a treat it would be for them to watch a half hour of something THEY choose. (if they can survive the dramas of divorce, they can intellectually persevere over one episode of “that's so raven,” senses fully intact.) so, while i hope we get our money's worth, i hope the time we do spend on the couch, mind-controlled by the tube doesn't stifle the creativity we've found in all of these months without it.

i also asked myself, as i push myself forward into my next screenplay, how can an aspiring screenwriter NOT HAVE CABLE? chalk it up to the economy, being broke and my still relatively new status as head of household, trying to wisely stretch my tiny pay check over the most appropriate bills (like rent, childcare, insurance, utilities, and my monthly massage).

aside from the movies, i recently missed my younger sister on her debut as a contestant on the TLC reality show to find their 3rd member. (brandy has always been the child who takes on adventure and will try anything once. her first week in nyc at nyu, she got signed to do a billboard ad for nike. that's how her universe works. can i be brandy for a day?) anyway, i plan not to miss the rerun of the show. or another season of def poets. i can't front... i am most excited about the return of UPN (been missing "girlfriends") and bravo (inside the actor's studio is "tha bomb!") in my life. hgtv. bet. lifetime. doesn't oprah have her own channel now? documentaries and videos and movies, oh my...!

so if you don't hear from me in more than a week, send over an exorcist to cut to cable cord and tell us to step away from the light. i don't think my new apartment building is built atop a graveyard so the likelihood is that we would have become possessed by the spirits of time warner cable.