Part 2 of: On A TV Binge

Hey guys,

So as some of you may recall, in my most recent post, I focused on TV/Netflix Binges and how they will slowly ruin your life (in a wonderful, fun, and obsessed fashion). Well, to avoid boring you, or taking up too much of your precious internet time, I decided to make it the first half of a two part post. Prepare for all of the random subjects I have not yet touched on to be unveiled. And alas, after days of aching anticipation, you can finally read the rest of it today.

How to Convince People You Don't Have a Problem

Being completely honest, I Googled this. This and the next subtopic are my friend Patrick's suggestions, so I was going to take any measure I could to find the answer. (Especially considering I promised him fame and fortune after this post...)

Promising results, am I right? I mean, TV bingeing is the new trend! 

Since Google provided no help, unless you want to consider furthering your obviousness and addictions, I will hopefully be able to help all of you from my TV bingeing experiences. 

Depending on which step of crazy you have gotten to in your addiction, there are a few different things you can do. First thing, if you don't want the outside world to know of your addiction and it's a just the beginning of your obsessive escapades, the process is a lot less intense. What you need to do in this case, is to bring up your good old friend, Google, and search specifically what shows and music are recently trending, as well as popular news stories. If you have a great knowledge on what the current situation of the real world is, people will assume that you are paying a lot of attention to normal things and most likely will also assume that you have a balanced life. Just throw in a juicy fact or two and you'll have them convinced. They'll never know that you're watching your beloved show for hours at a time, curled up on the couch, depriving yourself of sleep and a social life. Problem solved.

Now if it's a more severe addiction, more drastic actions will be necessary to conceal you're bingeing. First thing is to try and do what I mentioned for those who are not as addicted as you. Although, if you're at this stage, you might not be able to even look at a separate screen from the one that so majestically displays your beloved show. In this case, I would suggest hiding those replica outfits you made to match the characters you now love in a place no one will find them. (Don't worry, you can still wear them when no one is at home.) Another way to convince the world you don't have a problem is to take a shower and wear regular clothing. This may sound crazy, but honestly, binges do this to you. Sometimes people get so caught up in the anticipation of what's next, they will deprive themselves of basic hygiene habits. Normal people smell good. So, for the love of God, please, go take a shower and wear clean jeans. 

Best Foods to Eat Whilst Bingeing

Another of Patrick's ideas was to create a compilation of things that go best with late nights and good TV shows. So here's a list of my personal favorite foods to eat during the binge. If you want the recipe, click on the title of each food. It will bring you to Pinterest (All of the best stuff is on there) and just click the picture to get more details.

• Eggless Cookie Dough
• For the cookie dough, try not to let it sit too long in the fridge. Make it when you need it, or the texture gets a little off.
• "Glitter Grapes"
• I made these once in a while when my friends and I would go camping for Girl Scouts. A refreshing, tart, better than candy snack! The only thing I do differently than this 'recipe' (it's so easy it can barely qualify as a recipe), is that instead of leave a little excess water on the grapes for the jello mix to stick, I dunk the grapes in Sprite.

• Peanut Butter Nutella Croissants 
• I have not tried this yet, but it reminds me of my trip in England, when all I ate every morning was fresh croissants and Nutella. Try it and tell me how it is!
• Saltine Toffee Candy
• My absolute favorite. This is so simple to make, and it tastes lovely. A lot of people only make this during the holidays, but screw that. Who needs a holiday to eat well?

For those of you who don't have a sweet tooth, here's a few things you can pick up at the store for a great snack.

•  Lays Cheesy Garlic Bread Chips (My favorite!)
• Trail Mix
• Snyder's Pretzel Pieces (Comes in Bacon Cheddar, Honey Mustard Onion, Ranch, Jalapeno, and a ton more)
• Bacon. There is always time for bacon.         

"Somtimes you don't realize how far you are until you get to that last episode."

In the words of my good friend and fellow writer, Emma, sometimes, you'll be finishing up one of those tasty snacks just mentioned, and you'll grab the next DVD or click the next button on Netflix, and realize that the show is essentially at an end. And thus, when the show ends, so will you. It's a horrifying moment in which you cannot deny the fact that you have probably seen far too many episodes and your reality is permanently altered. This is the official slap in the face making you realize that there's no going back. Do you cry? Do you curl up in a ball staring at the last hour of your show because this is the last time you will truly live? Do you plan a funeral for your show? No, you can't do that. That would be admitting it's over. You will never let it be over. Never. 

Signs the Outside World May Identify You as a TV/Netflix Obsessed Person (So they can help you, of course)

Clearly, obsession is a pretty big problem at this point. Even if a friend you know has followed my steps on how to remain inconspicuous, here's some sneaky ways to find out if there is a problem and how you may face it.

First of all, you could start by asking the hard questions. Don't ask about the most popular news story, ask about one from last week. If they stumble and seem shocked at your answer, this may be a tip off to a TV binge session. Another thing you can do is to randomly show up at your friend's house, bringing a bag of chips or popcorn as your entrance fee. If your friend claims that chips are not necessary, because they already have three varieties of that kind, chances are, they are on a TV binge. While you are in their house, see if the remote seems to be flung to the side of the room. Chances are, when you came, it was unexpected, so your friend most likely shut off the TV and haphazardly threw the remote. One more thing that may help identify a person on a TV binge, and probably the most obvious one, is look at what they're wearing and if they smell bad. As mentioned earlier, those who TV binge tend to forget about the real world, and end up wearing wrinkly pj's from 48 hours ago and have unkempt hair. Good luck on your quest in helping your friends. Best of luck.

How to break the binge

Being completely honest again, just for kicks, I was curious to see if the internet had any suggestions on this subject, even though I already have my preconceived ideas of how to fix the addiction, but this is a very serious, very legit wikihow on how to quit your TV addiction. Check it out here.

My ideas in convenient steps:
1. Slowly, open the curtains and let a few rays of sunshine in. No, it will not burn you alive.
2. Get rid of one bag of junk food. Just one.
3. Open curtains all the way.
4. Call one of your friends you probably ditched along the journey of your Tvland escapades.
5. Take a deep breath, and take two steps out of your front door. Breathe the fresh air.
6. Invite a friend over. (Not to watch a marathon of the series you just watched!)
7. Catch up on the current issues of the world. Chances are, you're very much in the dark about what's going on. World War III Could have broken out and you'd have no idea.
8. Go out. Yes, you hear me correctly. Go party, hang out with people, and learn how to be a human again.
9. Practice steps 1-8 until you are immersed back in the true real world.

 

On a TV Binge

We've all been here before. Glued to the TV, depriving ourselves of sleep, social interaction, and fresh air. The black hole of the addiction has literally taken over every aspect of your life and you aren't even sure how you got here. 

TV binges start out so innocently, seeming like a casual way to pass a little bit of time. But suddenly, it's a death trap that can lead to your eventual downfall. I myself have binge watched a lot of different shows - Ghost Whisperer, New Girl, and Supernatural being just a few of them. 

Who doesn't love binge-watching their favorite show/s? It's the perfect way to escape the world for a few hours, days, or sometimes weeks. And what better way to leave the horrid responsibilities of the real world than by pretending you exist on an entirely different plane? 

It took me a few days to figure out where exactly I was taking this post - there were so many ways I could have gone, and I am THE WORST at making decisions. And don't tell me, "You could just cover everything instead of having to pick." because, with a mind like mine, my little rant would turn into a book itself. So I finally figured out my topic: The process of becoming a TV/Netflix obsessed person who binges on episodes like they're going out of style. 

*For the sake of not having an overly lengthy post, the next one I will write will cover: signs the outside world may identify you as a TV/Netflix obsessed person (so they can help you, of course), and how to break the binge.*

How to Become a TV/Netflix Obsessed Person

**DISCLAIMER**

It all starts out harmlessly. 

In my case, my two best friends from college (Diana and Nate) suggested I start watching New Girl, and conveniently, my roommate, Ariana watched that show every time she got the chance, so to say the least, I was blindly surrounded by weird references I didn't understand. Of course I had to figure out what the big deal was, so I started watching it. (If you haven't noticed by the pictures already in this post... I've been sucked in to that show.) The other two of my favorite TV shows, Ghost Whisperer and Supernatural, were introduced to me by simply scrolling through channels on the TV when I was bored, looking for anything that would kill the tedious task of being productive. Naturally, because I came across these shows halfway through them, I of course had to watch another episode so that I could properly judge whether or not it was a good show. And so the addictions began.    

Stage 1: Curiosity Becomes A Habit

The constant question of what might happen is becoming a comfortable thought in your mind. What will the next episode bring? I wonder if this show gets weirder than it already is... Guess I'll have to check out the next episode to find out...

Stage 2: Questioning Your Habit

At this point, you're probably almost done with the first season. With a few more episodes, you start wondering if it's worth it to let your life be slowly taken over by this show. You've watched almost a whole season, so you can at least talk about the show to some extent. Where do you take your life from here?

Stage 3: Dive Full Force Into Show

If you aren't an avid Ghost Whisperer watcher:
This picture is from the episode, Leap of Faith (See the connection??)
 Long story short - deep water, and Eli can't swim,
but he wants to jump in anyways. (This spoils nothing, I promise)

You submerge yourself in the show. Watch it without stopping. All of those questions you were just asking yourself moments earlier are all just trivial things now running in the back of your mind. Besides, the first season of most shows don't always encompass the entirety of the show's point anyways. Now you can properly judge the show and understand every reference all of your friends and the internet have made and finally understand them.

Stage 4: Avoiding Any And All Social Interaction With Thinly Veiled Excuses

Look, going out sounds fun, and I know it's been a month,
but if I stay home tonight, I have a chance of finishing
seaso-- *cough* I mean, I might have a chance of catching a cold...

You have finally gotten through a few seasons without interruption. Your new life goal is to set a personal record for the amount of episodes you can cram into a 24 hour period. Your friends keep bothering you to go out, but they don't understand that you are a go-getter, a persevering person, who will not give up on this show until it is finished. In fact, you begin wondering why they don't have the same outlook on life that you do. I mean, what are they dedicated to? Making up plans on a whim? Please.

Stage 5: Believing The Show Is Reality, And The "Real World" Is A Lie (Trust No One)

Because you've spent so long on a different plane of existence than your average person, suddenly the "Real World" is less and less lived in. Therefore, the show has become your new reality. This stage is a huge contributor to your obsession if you are watching anything involving folklore, like Supernatural, or any drama shows in general. This "Real World" has no idea about what really goes on around them. Everyone has secret motives. I mean, have you seen the latest drama on TV? And are people dumb enough to believe that they're the top of the food chain? Watch one episode of Supernatural, and you'll be convinced otherwise. There are waaaaay more than ghosts out there. How do I know?  Well, if it's on this show, it's definitely real.

Stage 6: Trying To Convince Those Around You of Stage 5's Honest Truth

To the few friends you have left at this point, you try with all your heart to convince them that you should trust no one. With these secret motives you are learning about more and more throughout the show, you know you have to save who you can before it's too late. The only reason you're warning people is because you care about them and love them. You just don't want to see them get hurt.

Stage 7: Not Being Able To Connect In A Conversation Without Using A Reference To "Your" Show

To the rest of the world, you're weird jokes and commentary during regular conversations are disturbing. (Unless they binge watch the same shows) No matter how hard you try, you can't seem to stop talking about how something relates to "your" show. If someone talks about pie, you will go on a rant of how exactly it appeared in the most comical of ways (Or perhaps pineapples for Psych fans). Or, you might try to compliment someone's outfit by saying, "That is so something Jess would wear. I love it!" But if the person you're talking to hasn't seen New Girl, she might just think you're accusing her of stealing some girl's outfit. 

Stage 8: Forget Trusting The World, You've Got Your Real Friends 

By real friends, I mean, the characters, the very real existing people in your show. (If you look hard enough around the world, you know sooner or later you will find them.) After scaring away most people with your quirky connections to your show, you figure that you're probably better off with the people who really care, the people you have formed a bond with and sacrificed time away from your friends to be with them: the people on your show. This is usually where the obsessive buying of nerdy merchandise comes into play...

Stage 9: You're screwed.

If you've survived this far, and gotten to this unnerving stage of addiction and unhealthy obsession, congratulations on your perseverance and dedication. Sadly, this is kind of the end of every road. That is, until you've caught up with everything and don't have any more seasons to watch. I mean, I guess you could try and find a new show, but nothing could beat the moments you just shared with those incredible characters... Sorry, not sorry. You'll just have to wait and pray that something will come up and be half as good as what you just watched, and hope it lasts a while. At this point, you're lucky if you remember how to live outside of Netflix, On Demand, Amazon Prime, or that illegal website you found to calm your nerves when the next episode didn't come soon enough on a legal site.

Part Two is soon to come! Comment if you have any other ideas of things I could write about related to TV Binges! Hope you enjoyed it :)

Love Always,

Amber <3

Coming Home for Summer/Breaks: There Are Rules Again?

There comes a time for a college student to move back home for a while, whether it be for a holiday break or for the whole entire summer. I remember in High School, how much we lived for those breaks, how the weeks in waiting for those glimpses of freedom were the most dreadful ever. Anything was better than stepping foot into that prison of a place called school.

But now, it's more than halfway through the summer, and I can't wait for it to end.

That's right, I said I can't wait for it to end. 

One of my best friends on campus,
Diana, with me after pedal boating!

College, the magical land where pizza shows up at your dorm door after midnight and it's totally acceptable. The beautiful place where PJ's are worn all hours of the day. A place where being crazy adventurous, having fun, and eating tons of delicious cheap food is its very own religious ritual. Oh, and the best part: no rules. So why would I want to give that up?? 

Posted below are a few highlights from my first year of college!

First time on a real canoe expedition. Thank you college
friends for forcing me to do this!
(Peer pressure can be a good thing.)

Official 10th Anniversary of Mean Girls. In college, it's totally
acceptable to wear what you want when you want, and don't we
look damn classy?
Pictured: Me, Diana, Nate, and Josie :)

College is the one place that I finally felt totally free.
(Unless we're talking about my wallet, then that's another story.)

Anyways, coming back home for the first time was a lot weirder than I expected it to be. I mean, rules? No pizza place that delivers past midnight? I can't do my laundry at 1am so I can have clean underwear the next day without waking someone up from the noise? And where the hell are my beloved vending machines?

What kind of warped portal had I just been sent through?

As the oldest kid of my family, I was the first bird out of the nest, so to speak. So not only have I had to adjust to coming back and having my summer roommate become my 11 year old sister, but my parents had to readjust to their sassy kid moving back under their roof. Let me tell you, it has been an adventure. 

I feel like as a college kid, coming back home can sometimes make things a lot more frustrating. After living on our own for a whole year, one would think we have enough life experience to know how to be self-sustaining, right? Well, back to the subject of my last post, some people, especially family members, refuse to accept the fact that we're real, live, actual adults. And that, my friends, is why some still decide that we can't function without their rules constantly hovering above our heads. 

So what do we do about this dilemma? Honestly, and as usual, I don't have an exact formula. I mean, technically, if we're the perfect little angels of children our parents always dreamed of, we could always just clean up that four-foot high pile of laundry that's been staring at us for a month, but that's not as fun. So here are some tricks to fool your parents into believing that you've done your 'responsibilities' at the exact moment they want. (You can save the real cleaning and other such things for when you feel like taking care of it later. Or never, for that matter. I don't care.)

1. Does this look familiar?


Here's your solution: Hide in every crevice of your room. Under your bed, in an empty backpack, behind a bookcase, and my personal favorite, suitcases. (No one will ever have to know besides you and me.)

2. Oops, you forgot to unpack your backpack after the semester ended.


Here's your solution: Either burn all contents in a ritual-like rage, or simply zip up your backpack and empty it later. It's that simple.

3. Have clean dishes to put away?


Here's your solution: Make them dirty. It's a shame you didn't know the dishwasher was clean, because otherwise you wouldn't have put a spoon with peanut butter, a plate of leftover mashed potatoes, and the remnants of last week's lasagna in the dishwasher. Oops.

4. Have to fold the clean laundry your mom just did for you?


Here's your solution: Fold your laundry terribly. Maybe you just can't fold that towel into quarters neatly. Make a quiet comment to yourself (in your mother's presence) about how you wish you could fold laundry like her. And just like that, your laundry will literally fold itself.

5. Have to take out the trash?


Here's your solution: There's a few things that you could do in this scenario - hire a raccoon, preferably not a rabid one, to eat your mess, or you could build a garbage can zipline from your second floor window to the outdoors so you will never have to carry your trash out again.

6. Need bonus points to convince your parents you really are a great kid?


Here's your solution: Clean up your mess from your campout on the couch last night. Yes, even the half open bag of Doritos. Find the energy to put it back in the cupboard. If you're lucky enough, your parents will forget you moved back in with them and you can lead a long, happy life, free and in charge.

Just for entertainment, I found this on Buzzfeed. It pretty much sums up all of the things we go through when we come back home. It's smile-worthy for sure!

Hope these tips work. Good Luck!

Love Always,
Amber <3