Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

For the first time in my adult life, I have cable. And I'm discovering just how much you can learn from it.

I have a couple favorite networks. One of them is TLC, in particular the home decorating shows like Trading Spaces and When You Were Out, and to a lesser degree, Clean Sweep. I've watched quite a few episode of What Not to Wear, although it's grating on me. Not only are they particularly nasty to the people they're making over, but they're putting them all in very similar clothes.

Last week, though, I've discovered a show called A Makeover Story, where the hosts are nicer to the people being made over and where they gear the clothes selections more on the people's personal taste.

Using some of the knowledge I gained from these shows, last week I reupholstered the dining room chairs and found a flattering pair of jean shorts. Reupholstering wasn't difficult. We bought the material and a staple gun (mine wasn't heavy duty enough). Then I removed the seats from the chairs, cut out the appropriate size fabric and then used a staple gun to fasten it underneath.

As it turns out, we have a lot of extra material. We overestimated to begin with, and one of the chairs is just not savable. It has some broken welds in the back, and I think I know why. I had to get rid of another chair from the same set, one I sat on a lot when I was close to my top weight of 220. They both had the same problem. At least two of the chairs from that set were still in good condition. They must have been the ones I wasn't sitting on!

The jean shorts took awhile, partly because I was shopping in a thrift store, where the selection was limited. I wanted a pair of shorts that came down about mid-thigh and were a dark wash. There were certain things I had to pay attention to regarding the way they fit, to make certain they were flattering, including having large pockets in the back. After trying on a number of different pairs, I found one that worked perfectly.

The Gryphon's favorite network is The Food Network, which he is happy to watch for hours on end. He's gained knowledge from there but hasn't made any specific recipes. He'll get ideas for techniques or ingredients and use them to formulate his own recipes, which typically turn out very good.

Some things you learn from cable aren't necessarily useful. For example, by watching The Daily Show on the Comedy Channel, I learn that there's someone else out there who takes a critical look at the news. It's refreshing, because so often when you're inundated with the same messages again and again, you wonder if you're the only one who sees through them.

Then there's Adult Swim on The Cartoon Network, where I've learned about a variety of ground-breaking, inventive animated shows. One of my favorites is Robot Chicken by creator Seth Green, which uses claymation and stop animation to illustrate jokes and skits, none of which are longer than they have to be.

I resisted having cable for a long time, first because of the expense and then because I worried I'd become addicted to it. But there's really not much danger of that; I only have so much free time for television anyway. And since I work second shift, I only get to watch evening shows I remember to tape.

But now that I know there's at least a few things worth watching, I may make a point of seeing what else I can learn from cable.

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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