Happy F-ing New Year.

I am not making "resolutions".  I am going to keep it real.  This is how it feels on the cusp of 2011:

I feel like a giant black hole opened up and swallowed my apartment, I have an internet cable to connect with the world at large, a cell phone for emergencies, but...THAT'S IT.

I am wondering how to respond to people who keep saying, "You don't have a TV?" and looking at me like I'm from the moon. Worse yet is the ones who don't understand my lack of microwave oven.  I interpret many of their looks as pity; if they had a spare they would totally give me one.  But for the most part (and I'm going to say 95 % of the time) I don't need such things. I have pans that I heat up leftovers in.  I have a toaster oven and a proper oven to melt things if I need to.  I have a sketchy coffee maker that works whenever the Hell it feels like it.

When everyone looks at me like I'm crazy for NOT having the microwave and the TV... I think about the following:
-I'd still have to wash microwaveable dishes
-a lot of things taste like dog poo after microwaving (at least texture wise)
-TV rots your brain.  The adverts alone are reason to avoid it.
-not only that, but most of what i see on TV is unintelligible crap.

Now, there are some good reasons for having these appliances.  I do not think people should go out and set fire to their units.

But TV noise shouldn't replace thoughts and dialog in a household.  And Microwaves shouldn't replace the home cooked meal.

They make things more convenient, yes.  They can help. But, in my opinion, should not replace the standards of life: Sunday dinner cooked from scratch by Grandma or Mother's baked goods. Experiencing life for one's self or reading the words of someone whom you admire.

Obviously, not everyone is an adventurer. Not everyone is a great cook.  But I would bet money that everyone has some memory of a person connected with a food or experience that changed their life.

Food is life, people.  Live it well.  And TV....is not life.  It just reflects a picture back of what someone else wants you to see about life.  Ignore that.  Be true.  Be real.