Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Goals, Chinese New Year, and TV madness

It's almost the end of January. How's everybody doing with their goals? I've heard that it takes a good three weeks to settle into a new pattern. It's true for me.
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So far, I've been able to do all the things daily that I wanted to, except on the weekends. I find it difficult to find writing time with everyone at home. I can't get quiet enough to focus. So either I get up early and write or accept that some days are going to be too full. Haven't decided yet.
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But it's the beginning of a New Chinese Year ... so you can start anew now, if you've been having trouble keeping up with your goals. I think it's not wise to beat yourself up about not meeting your goals. Better to say, I will try again tomorrow.
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I'm so happy that Grace Lin will be coming to our local SCBWI conference. I love her picture books and she has penned charming novels: "The Year of the Dog" and "The Year of the Rat." All the little girls I love will be getting a set of these books for their birthdays this year. They are gems. And I do believe they are somewhat autobiographical. So check them out.

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On a completely unrelated topic. I happened to tune in to Michael Medved's show and I thought he was joking when he said our government was postponing the digital TV transition to June. First of all, I am baffled that our govt. is actually giving out coupons to have converters. As though the ability to watch TV is a basic human right. Jeepers creepers. I mean, this has been planned for years, and frankly if people couldn't watch TV for a while, it wouldn't kill them. Again, I cannot believe that with all the things going on in the world, that giving converter box vouchers so that people can watch digitized TV is a national priority.
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In all fairness, I admit that I haven't watched TV for the past 20 years, so I don't know what amazing things I'm missing. Yup, I gave it away when I was in graduate school. Two years ago, our 15-year-old computer monitor died and we decided to replace it with a TV monitor. We do like to watch movies and it is nicer to have a bigger screen. My husband turns it on to watch sports at times, but our children never think of turning it on. They haven't been raised on it, and they have cultivated so many other interests. It's been a wonderful thing not to have a TV.
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I was shocked to hear that the average American spends 30 hours a week watching TV. That's almost like having a full-time job. Imagine what you could do with all that time. Write a book?
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3 comments:

C.R. Evers said...

I agree. Watching some shows can be nice but it can be a real time and brain sucker if it gets out of hand. I cut out t.v. for the most part so I could have time to write and go to the gym.

Bish Denham said...

It's rediculous to hand out coupons! If all those people have TVs SURELY they've heard about the switch as it has been "advertized" all over the place! I'm with you Vijaya, if those people who don't have a converted lose their signals...so what? It's not like they haven't had plenty of time/warning. And you are absolutely right...it's certainly not a right!

As for watching TV...I like getting Netflix!

Vijaya said...

So nice that you can spend some of that time with exercise, C.R.

And Bish, love Netflix. I love our movie nights. We try to get something for the kids every once in a while. It's a treat for them.