Hooked

Sometimes there just isn't enough time to do all the things I want to do, or have to do, in a single day. Inevitably something gets left undone. It's frustrating, but still a lot more satisfying than filling in time doing things I don't really want to do, or worse still, sitting around trying to think of ways to fill in time, which is something I've ended up doing all too often in my life.

So yesterday I got up at around 8.00, breakfasted, read the paper, showered, bathed my toe, and worked from 9.30 to 11.30. I then made lunch, watched a bit of baseball (go the Yankees!), chatted briefly with my brother in Bhutan, then worked for another couple of hours from 1.00. At 3.00 it was time for my weekly Skype session with Erik. We talked for an hour about the Kisokaido Project, the Situationists, old girlfriends, the function of art, Erik's burgeoning career as an artist, and the digestive system of pandas. After that I did another burst of work until 5.00, when I started making dinner. Keiko got home and we ate at around 5.30 and watched TV for a bit until it was time for Keiko to go to her yoga class. Between 7.00 and 8.30 I read a few chapters of The Game of War and watched an episode of The Wire. I then watched a bit of Sumo until 9.00. After that it was more reading until Kaido Tekuteku Tabi at 9.45, followed by another episode of The Wire and a few more chapters of The Game of War before bed at 11.30.

I usually try to blog either during a break from work during the day or between finishing work and making dinner, but work is pretty busy at the moment, and yesterday I was just too rushed. I could have done it later, but I have this rule that I don't work in the evening, and for some reason (probably because it involves the same routine of walking into my office and concentrating in front of the computer for an extended period of time) I unconsciously place blogging in the same category as work. Plus I'm getting so much satisfaction out of reading The Game of War and watching The Wire that I want to spend as much of my free time as possible doing these two things at the moment.

I have the DVD of the first season of The Wire courtesy of Grant. With the exception of comedies like The Apprentice and The Amazing Race (obligatory mention of dubious New Zealand connection: hosted by Christchurch-born Phil Keoghan), I'm not a great fan of U.S. television, and the thought of watching an entire series of some cop show on DVD didn't appeal to me at first. Even Grant's description of The Wire as "television as art" didn't convince me. Probably because I've doubted his judgment ever since he told me how much he enjoyed Titanic. But I relented and popped the DVD on the other day when I had a moment to spare, and I've been hooked ever since.

Critics have called The Wire "the best show on television". It's also been described as realistic, novelistic, and "somewhat angry". Television audiences haven't been so kind, with ratings failing to match those of other cop shows like The Sopranos. Some critics felt The Wire was testing the attention span of its audience, but I love the complex characters and slowly drawn-out plots. And the acting, by a mostly African-American cast reflecting the demographics of Baltimore where the series is set, is top notch. Television as art? Maybe. Television as great entertainment? Definitely.

Distance walked today: 0km
Total distance walked since blog began: 78.4km