Nothing short of addiction

I have what most people would consider an "addictive personality." I remember in my younger years thinking that addictive personality meant you were so stellar that people would just be addicted to you. Oh, to be so young and naïve. Suddenly, as I’ve grown up my “addictive personality” has become apparent in the way that I find something I enjoy for the moment and latch on for a couple of weeks I get “hooked” on things for short bursts of time. Most notably: projects and random TV shows. In terms of projects, I sometimes get in scrapbooking fix, and it’s all I can think about, all I want to do, constantly thinking of page layouts and what pictures to put where. Last fall I became addicted to watching “The Office.” Every day for who knows how long, I rented disk by disk, the entire DVD series from Blockbuster. I would watch every night while cleaning my room or just sitting on my bed. I’d stay up until 2 o’clock in the morning, always wanting to watch “just one more.”

Now my latest addiction is the Navy crime show, “NCIS.” I have my Dad to thank for this one because last time I was home visiting he made me watch an episode of his “favorite show.” And one episode was all it took. It’s a pretty easy show to get in to; you don’t need to have watched the past five seasons to feel up to speed. Its like “Law and Order,” some character development, but mostly just crime solving. Anyway, this show has, like so many others before it, taken over my life.

I’ve discovered that through my Netflix subscription I can watch them for free online through the Netflix website. AND, it’s commercial free, which is infinitely better than sitting through commercials on the CBS website. I do find myself staying up till all hours watching episode after episode. Then I dream about them, dream about the characters, and dream about being an NCIS agent myself. I also fall asleep planning how I could possibly be murdered and leave the agents clues to find my killer. Slightly demented? I can see why you’d think that, but it’s harmless, I’m not really worried about being murdered. My roommate and my cat will protect me.

While I can easily get hooked on things, I can also easily “unhook” myself. When I finish the TV series or the project, I’ll feel a little lost for a day, but I’ll get over it. And then I’ll move on to my next fixation. It’s a cycle, it’s a fault and I’m okay with it.