Some Random Addictions

I was thinking today about the fact that we all have our addictions. Some people are addicted to love or sex, some to drugs or alcohol, some to twinkies or chocolate.
Most of my addictions don't seem that harmful, but who am I to judge?
1. Books: Working at a bookstore is quite possibly one of the more detrimental things I have done to my finances. It is nearly impossible for me to go a week without purchasing another book to add to my collection. Most of the time I will read the book, but quite often I don't. The book gets put on a shelf for me to admire and dream about reading one day when the mood strikes me. I am forever taking home stripped mass markets (we only need to return the front covers and so I take the books themselves from the recycling bin). These mass markets are pulpy messes that balloon when exposed to the slightest amount of moisture and refuse to sit like good little books on my shelves. I tend not to read most of these. Publishers send us advance readers copies of various books they'd like to read, fall in love with, and promote the hell out of. These are not copies destined to be sold and when no one else wants them, and even sometimes when they do, I am quick to shove them into my bag and stack them neatly with the rest of the books I am hoping to delve into.
My room is silly with books.
2. Television: Without a doubt my greatest addiction is television. I watch everything. Well, not everything, I have some limits (Two and a Half Men!) There is always something on I want to see: an episode of Spongebob Squarepants, the other Discovery program on black holes, a Friends rerun I have not seen in a few years, the new South Park that will undoubtedly mock a very current affair, yet another show about the great white that will tell me how misunderstood it is, Tyra Banks announcing America's Next Top Model or on occasion a well crafted, well acted show like Battlestar Galactica. All of these and more. I need them all, and I'd have an IV directly into my bloodstream if I could. I mock those naysayers who tell me how bad TV is for and how it pollutes my brain. Sure, some shows do and those are the final resorts, when I'm too tired to sleep, too tired to read, too tired to think. But there are brilliant television programs on that can inspire, amuse, and educated. It is one of our greatest common mediums and has provided much social lubricant over the years.
Of course, though, I do love a good football to the groin bit just as much as the next man.