Internet Party Tonight

"TV party tonight
TV party tonight"

"Don't want to talk about anything else.
We dont wanna know
We're gonna watch our favorite shows."


The song resonates through my head as clear as day. Like I was listening to the grainly old tape itself.


"Be back soon! We are down due to connection issues. We are sorry for the inconvenience."


That was the message the greeted me at the top of my ISP's home page when I sat down for my evening ritual of computer time. I have little time to use the computer and the brief time after my son has gone to bed and before I do is my time to catch up on email, Facebook, my blog and Twitter. Until this unwelcome visitor greeted me above.


Is is a tacit assumption that most readers are not familiar with the Black Flag song "TV Party" so I will explain the lyrics above. The song surrounds a group of pathetic losers who have essentially no lives and do little with their day but "watch TV and have a couple of brews." Their lives are totally devoid of any value and they take great efforts to avoid dealing with the reality of the world. When the TV breaks, their lives fall into chaos and they are forced to actually talk to each other, something they have never had to do before and are at a total loss on how to survive.


When I saw that notice about the internet being down, my first inclination was to actually play video solitaire rather than do something of real value. I realized then how my addiction to the computer and the internet, especially Farmland, had overtaken me. I have been able to cut back my use of Facebook and Twitter to a low roar, but Farmville is a consistent addiction. I HAVE CROPS TO HARVEST, FRIENDS' CHICKENS TO FEED AND GIFTS TO SEND! I need to stay on top of this as I need 2 MILLION COINS to get the HUGE farm. Whithered crops are just wasting money and that just will not do.

My mind pleads for mercy- "My Lord! How have I offended Thee?"

I think his response would likely have been "Do you want the whole list or just the top 10?" Fortunately, I was not that high up in his priority list to warrant a response.

So I am a pathetic loser. I could write these thoughts down now and transcribe them later (which obviously I did). I have done it before, I can do it again. There are always other things that need tending to either way that are of far more importance that electronic solitaire.

Then a light turned on in my head...

...I can still access the internet from my IPod and at least harvest my crops.

And another display in my mental Hall of Lame is opened.

"We stay tuned to the TV set all night-
and every night.
We don't go out into the world at all-
it's such a fright.
We've got nothing better to do than to watch TV and have a couple of brews."
Lyrics: Greg Ginn Performed by: Black Flag