"Television", my best friend and worst enemy, or perhaps Love?

My friend's name "The Television" is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots, meaning "far sight": Greek tele (τῆλε), far, and Latin visio, sight (from video, vis- to see, or to view in the first person).

So how did this strange personality end up sneaking into my livingroom, and out of nowhere become the one appliance that is eating up my electricitybill?

Years back I was introduced to "The Televison" by my mum. He was fun. A bit fat and bulky though, not very nicely looking, but caught my attention straight away. I was not even a year I imagine. I dont remember getting to know him, but like my best teddybear, he was just there all the time and considered a part of the family.

The first couple of years of our relationship, he was not available all the time, Sometimes I went and looked at his face, bright coloured squares in a circle... When he gave me that face, I knew it wasn't time to play, so I'd come back later. Usually around 6pm he was in a good mood for at least ½ an hour, and he had many funny faces that made me laugh. And every December he would tell me a spacial story every night, right up untill Christmass Eve.

I loved him.

In my teens he was invited into my room. Or to be honest, I got a small copy of him.. My New friend "The Television 2" was not as big as I liked him to be, but he was better looking, and I got the option to controll him from distance. It felt good to be in charge and being the one letting him know when I wanted to play. "The Television 2" also was more fun. He could change his mood, He would sing, dance, entertain me several hours a day, so all in all he was funnier than my original friend "The Television".

"The Television 2" followed me for many, many years. Even though he didn't change his look at all, he got more intelligent and showed me even new sides of himself. Suddenly he tried to sell me weird stuff, he made games where cars and other fancy stuff could be won, persuaded me to come back every night at the same time bedazzling me, and introducing me to new people, let me into their fancy lifes in Beverly Hills or New York, showed me poverty and wars, taught me about different cultures and made me interested in seeing the world.

I got curios and wanted to see some of the things he showed me, but in real life..
So for quite a while I left him behind and took off. He was still there at home, every day waiting for me. Even after long adventures in Ecuador, journeys to Cuba, Mexico and other exciting countries, he was there. Whenever I got back, he would stand there, in the same spot, and bedazzle me with even more exciting things, and strangly enough I couldn't get bored with him. He always had some new story to tell me.

But as the years passed, I realized he was getting older, and he was kind of small, only 14"... and I started to look at other "Televisions"... They were nice looking, much bigger than "The Television 2", in better shape/slimmer, actually much slimmer, and so elegant, mostly dressed in black.
My friends, colleagues and family all wondered why I was so attracted to "The Television 2", cause they all had bigger, newer or slimmer "Televisions" them selves. They made fun of him and I did too I guess... But always with a smile:)

I kind of hated loving him..

I started feeling tempted... Should I really get rid of my best friend and change him for somebody newer and better looking? A new model??? But then the guilt hit me... NO, I couldn't just let him go after all we had been through.. 15 year long and true companionship with "The television 2". Probably the longest relationship I ever had with anybody (or anything) except from my family.

It was inevitable.. Nearly a year ago I invited "The Television 3" into my appartment. He was big, 40", hansom, dressed all in black, shiny, elegant and with a fancy name! And he gets very well along with other friends of mine like "The Laptop 4", "The Camera 3" and "The DVD Player", not to mention my fiancee, where "The Television 2" was more of a loner.. So all in all I am very happy. He also introduces me to even more people, more countries and teaches me new things all the time.. In fact, he is so nice that I sometimes find it hard to leave him. He is ready for fun 24 hours a day and he never gets tired like me..



Though lately I do tend to get tired of him... Some days he tells me the same stories or sings the same songs, over and over again. As if he forgot that he already told me! He loves my livingroom and has taken over almost the whole look of the room, as if he owns it. Maybe it's because we have been spending quite a lot of time together lately. Think I started developing a kind of Love/Hate relationship with him.

Can't live with him, can't live without him!

Sometimes I try to leave him for a while, but then he always have one last thing he wants to tell me, so I sit down, and once again I feel drawn into his world... Time flies and before I know it, its time for bed. I hate him...

You might wonder what happeded to "The Television 2"...? Well, I just couldn't let him go after 15 years of true companionship, so I invited him into my bedroom! Despite his old grey look, fat tummy and rusty voice, he is the last thing I look at before i sleep, and the first thing my eyes meet in the morning.

About doing NOTHING!

On what was suppose to be yet another relaxing Sunday afternoon, I realized that its time for something new. I need something to fill my day, something to devellop my writing skills (and my English) and last but not least a bit of activity to keep my brain busy... Therefore this new - and for me exciting - Blog!
For the past month (or two... actually soon to be 3!) I've had the priviledge to take time off from work, take a deep breath and a big step backwards and have a serious look at my life.

The first couple of days of my retreat I was not really able to rest (keeping in mind that I was used to working up to 50 hours a week), and within little time I found my self on a plane to Kenya, going to visit a very dear friend for 24 days. I had the time of my life, finally accepted it was time to relax, saw The Big 5, enjoyed time with my fiancee and went back to Denmark full of a new kind of energy that I hadn't felt for a while.

The whole concept of travelling to Kenya, was to do something 'special' for myself, something that I wouldn't be able to do if i worked 5-7 days a week, and while enjoying the beautifull savannah in tha Masai Mara National Park, admiring the big smile of a Masai-guide, watching the most beautiful sunrise or being face to face with a lion digesting a wilderbeast, I realized that doing NOTHING would fit into that cathegory as well.

So after a couple of days back in DK, time became such an unfamiliar factor. Didn't really do much during the day, and when talking to friends or family, they would suddenly all ask me: "So what have you been doing today?" And with a big guilt in my mind, I would answer "Nothing..." or fill in exciting stuff like "oh.. I did dishes, laundry.. bla bla bla"

But why is it that we humans (or "workaholics" like me) seem to not being able to relax, or feeling comfertable doing NOTHING? And why is it that when somebody is doing NOTHING they will soon be labeled as lazy or unintelligent, or people may wonder if you are suffering from a depresseion, got fired or caught a lifethreathning desease..?

Is relaxing such a bad thing, resting within yourself and taking time to do NOTHING?

That's what I've been doing now for a while, well needed, and I'm starting to like it, admitted! I do know that I cannot continue like this, and I do know that I will get bored at some point, not to mention the bedsores from laying on the couch all day... But right now it feels great and I feel blessed to having the option to make that choise for my self. And when asked, I answer "NOTHING" proudly!

I have finally accepted the calm dailyday and turned the restlessness into something constructive. I have never spent so much time with my self, and I've come to learn that I'm quite a nice person being one-on-one:) I will probably never get the chance again to "waste" time this way once back to work, so I feel gratefull when waking up at 9 am, turning in bed onto the other side and ressurect at 11 am after watching the matinee-tv-programs like "dr. Phill", "Oprah" and other talkshows that only "stay-at-home-mums" have the time to watch.

So when friends and family - and other busy human beings - rush out the door in the morning, miss the bus, work all day thinking to them selves if the day will ever take an end, I sit here with a smile (and my behind gone numb) on my couch, with my lap-top, blogging and enjoying the perfect coffee blend personally brought back from beautiful and unforgettable Kenya..