There comes a time in every relationship when your love is put to the test. The tests can be small, medium, or “what do you mean you’re his wife?” I faced such a test on Sunday.
You see, I love Breaking Bad. My boyfriend loves Breaking Bad. It’s appointment television for us, and we sit down and watch it together regardless of what else might be happening in our worlds—except for Sunday night. The boyfriend had to be out of town. Now, on a normal Sunday evening, this would not be particularly vexing. But this Sunday night was the finale of the series.
What to do? What to do?
We made the ultimate sacrifice: we decided to wait and watch it together on Monday night when he returned.
Do you know what that meant? No Internet, no TV, no radio and no hanging out in public places for 24 hours in order to avoid the dreaded spoilers. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I even planned to avoid reading emails until after seeing the show, just in case something about the finale was referenced.
And I did it! It was tough going at first, but I did it—and as a surprise to absolutely no one else, I was wildly productive during those unplugged hours. I didn’t just get writing done—hell, no! I did errands, donated clothing, cleaned, did laundry, and washed down my balcony. I even re-caulked part of my shower. RE-CAULKED A SHOWER, PEOPLE.
Could I do this each day? Probably not. Scheduling posts in advance is relatively easy, but it’s hard to engage people when you aren’t online. Plus, you have Pinterest, so I’m not sure you really need me to tell you how to remove old caulking. Also, my hands did shake a bit for the first couple of hours.
What did I learn from all of this? The first lesson is obvious: always plan your flights around television. I mean, that’s a given. But the second lesson is: if you are forced to avoid nearly all forms of communication and entertainment, you will get actual work done—something I should probably keep in mind as deadlines loom.
So, now that I’m back, what did I miss?