Thirty-two hours, listening to NPR on my drive in this morning, this is how much time the average American spends per week watching television. Thirty-two hours, this is pathetic? What is so worthwhile to spend 32 hours watching per week? This is 128 hours per month, and 72 days per year. How is this possible? What is going on?

In my life thus far, I have never bought a television, ever. This is not to say I have not watched TV. I have. Starting in high school, I have progressively watched less and less though.

Obviously there was a TV in the house growing up, two actually. One was a black and white older than I was. Now, here in Charlotte, my landlord actually has flat screen, a nice TV. She has a few shows she watches. Honestly, I have no clue even what they are.

Personally though, about the only thing I find a TV useful for is watching a movie every now and again. If I do watch a movie, it tends to be a cheesy 80's flick. There really is no substitute for the likes of Animal House, One Crazy Summer, Ski School, Ski Patrol, Better Off Dead, Caddyshack and my all time favorite, the Blue Brothers. Still, this is not something I do all that often.

The realization of how I wanted to spend my time came in high school. During runs, there is a lot of time to fill with conversation. A teammate was always talking about the latest in pop culture. For him, this mostly included television shows and movies. Although I did not know much about what he was talking about, I did not mind much either. It filled the time. If it got boring, I just thought about something else.

As time passed, he became increasingly amazed at my complete lack of knowledge or interest in any of this. Somehow I became a project. He began what could best be described as lobbying. He began lobbying with me to try and get me interested in current shows on TV and any current movies. I was not highly receptive or a very productive project. As he persisted, I became increasingly annoyed. Finally, when he was lobbying me one day on a run, I had pretty much had it and responded, "Listen, I am more interested in living my own life than watching somebody else live theirs." This put an end to the lobbying.

Although I my response was not very thought out, it really is the way I feel about television. Television is so bleeding boring. There is so much more to do than sit on the couch and watch somebody else live their life.