Not a writing post but about the life of this writer
I knew it was coming. I knew my cable/internet/land line bill was about to go up in January, and by golly, it did. By $40. I also knew I’d promised myself a new TV in preparation for the final season of Game of Thrones. It was to be my last major expense from the money I’d inherited from a friend, the rest being set aside for day-to-day living on into my dotage.
The bill arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago. All right, now what? The deal was I would get a smart TV and figure out how to milk as much out of streaming services as I could while keeping my out-of-pocket lower than my previous charges from my cable/etc. company.
But what about broadcast stations, I wondered. I live in an apartment. We have no antennas and are prohibited from putting one up on the roof for ourselves. Inside antennas are questionable affairs, and they’re kinda, well, ugly as well—wires and flat pieces of plastic—ugh.
So, one day I decided to head over to my local Best Buy and handed my viewing plans over to a salesperson. He showed me a couple of 43” models, and when I settled on one, I set up an appointment for full installation. The two guys arrived on the date in question, and within a couple of hours, I had me a brand, ass-kickin’, ultra HD television set. It’s HUGE. And god, do Daenerys’ dragons look cool.
I did my research. I already had Netflix, but Hulu turned out to have a great deal with a nearly perfect plan including all the broadcast stations in my area plus many cable stations. I did the math and found I was still below my old cable charges. And…I’m getting everything in ultra HD now, rather than plain old HD.
Then there was the TV in my bedroom. I tried an antenna. It didn’t work. So I’ll be hooking it up to a Roku stick which should arrive sometime this week.
Oh, did I mention I’m also giving up my land line as well? Who needs both a land line and a cell phone anyway?
But…there’s still the thing. You know, the thing. The thing that says I have to call the cable company and tell them I’m done with their bundle and I only want the internet. Then unplugging the boxes and the phones, returning the boxes to the company and packing the phones up. I dread this part.
I promise. This week. Or next week. Or even the week after. I am, after all, paid up through the beginning of March.
Why, then, do I feel like I’m about to jump off a cliff?