I drove to Chicago

The addict at work - 1 December 2006


It's time I come clean about my addiction.

For the past 2 months I've been hooked on something I'm a bit ashamed of. Sure I've smoked a few cigarettes before, even tried drugs once or twice, but this was far worse than anything I've ever tried before. I got hooked early, tried to stop, fell back in and was swept away.

Anyone who has spent any extended time with me knows that I despise television. I don't spend countless hours in front of the tube watching some other form of reality. I'd much rather pick up a book, write a letter or a few words to myself, listen to music, go for a walk, exercise, talk to someone, drink tea on the porch... just to name a few.

This experience of traveling and working in Japan has made me do some things I never thought I'd do.

I got addicted to a television show. I suppose I'm not the only one but I never felt comfortable talking about it until now, now that it's finally over. I even avoided the topic with O, never felt that this was the real me. I don't sit and watch television for hours on end, I don't care about characters damn it! But I fell in love with The Wire.

For those of you who are lucky enough to have avoided this t.v. crack, it is a story about the city of Baltimore and all of the fun that goes along with it. It really is an amazing piece of work and if it weren't so addicting I'd recommed it to all of you.

So I'm embarrassed to write all this. I honestly am.

It started quietly.

Season 4 started in October and a friend suggested that I give it a try. I was trying to pass a little time at night so I downloaded a few episodes, one each week, and started to learn about the story.

It was manageable for the first half of that season but one day someone leaked a pre-release of the entire season 4 on the web. Instead of having to wait for the show to air each week I could download the whole thing and find out everything in a few short hours. 7 short hours.

I filled my quota, watched the entire 4th season in a few days. By the time HBO legitimately aired the 6th episode of the season I was finished. I was ready for more so I decided to look backwards to the beginning.

I downloaded the complete first season, 3 GB of data on my hard drive, 13 hours of The Wire.

It didn't take long for that season to pass. I'd stay up late, not grading papers, reading, painting, thinking. Just drinking a bottle of wine and watching 3 hours at a time. I knew I was hooked. It was obvious when I started downloading the second and third seasons simultaneously while still watching the first season.

Sure India was a bit of a hiccup in the schedule, but I managed to stay on track. I finished the 2nd season shortly after my return and settled in on the third.

Fuck, finally it's over. I'm happy to say that tonight, at 11pm, I've finished the 3rd season. I've caught up with the journey I started on a month and a half ago.

The truly sad part is that the 4th season on HBO isn't even finished yet. Basically, I watched 4 seasons, 50 hours, in the time it takes a normal person to watch half a season.

Jesus, I can't believe I'm admitting this right now.

I have a problem. Wait, I had a problem.

It's over now, I can move on. I don't care about any of those characters anymore, they're dead to me.

I just heard there is going to be a 5th season. Now I just have to wait until next October. Fuck it is going to be a long winter, spring, and summer.