CaseyW

I never watched Spartacus but I heard it a lot. Not heard about it Heard it. Literally.

In 2009, I was living in this six bedroom house in Austin with five other guys that I didn't know much about. My housing options were limited at the time. And it was a nice house close to my job and the rent was cheap with no lease. So I tolerated the roommate situation for a couple of years. Anyways, my bedroom was the closest one to the living room. I'd been living there about two months when we got this new roommate named Billy.

He was in his mid-20s. Very redneck-y. Small but wiry. Drank a lot of canned beer while chewing tobacco at the same time and was the kind of little man who was always looking for a fight. I never did figure out what Billy did for a living but I soon discovered that he liked to sleep all day and stay up all night drinking beer and watching television in the living room. And the more he drank, the louder the TV got.

He discovered Spartacus when it first started airing and was obsessed with it. So for about a week straight, I got to hear all night long the sound of gladiators grunting and swords clashing and men screaming words of war at each other. All accompanied by loud, triumphant music that evoked the thrill of mighty gladiators and ancient Rome and sex.

I asked our landlord, one of the roommates who actually owned the house, to talk to Billy about the volume but that only worked until Billy started drinking again. Which was every night.

So one morning after a particularly loud Spartacus-filled night, I got up and went into the living room. I found the remote control and got to the part of the cable box menu where you can put parental locks on a channel and I entered some random digits and locked up the Spartacus channel and its On Demand counterpart. Then I never said a word about it to anyone. My landlord knew but never said a word to me. He just told Billy that he'd called the cable company and they were working on it, that something must be wrong with the line.

Never had to hear Spartacus again and Billy moved out a month later. The landlord returned that cable box and got a new one so everyone else could watch that channel at a reasonable volume again.

CaseyW

Cool. I'll be happy to give you my opinion on any of those shows. I don't love or even especially like all of them. Sometimes it's hard for me to admit defeat and stop watching something once I'm a decent ways into it. But I do guess that I at least like most of them. Masters of Sex and Girls spring to mind as two shows that I still mainly just watch out of habit or because of the aforementioned boobs.

I'm actually watching The Night Manager now. Third episode. I thought I was further along than that. It's not on that list since it's just a mini-series.

Bobbieka

Going to sleep now, I think. Casey, if you hit 5000, wake me up. Kidding, screen shot would be good. Night all.

CaseyW

Sweet dreams, Bobbieka! I won't get to 5,000 tonight. I'm betting now it'll be my morning check-in here tomorrow. I'll go do my usual morning rounds on the Newcomers forum first tomorrow and then come here when I hit 4,999.

Sorry to the rest of the class for all the TV talk tonight. But we've had some great recovery talk as well today and this evening!

immri

Your Spartacus story was hilarious Casey. I know what you mean about admitting defeat with shows, I used to be like that too. Now I'm mostly the other extreme and if something doesn't give me a good vibe immediately (slow or fast paced doesn't matter, I just know the feel of what I like) I abandon it. Girls is one exception actually, I liked it at first and now I still feel as though I should like it more than I do, so I keep trying.

Goodnight bobbie!

Yeah sorry to the rest of the class I've made us all just share dog pics and discuss tv shows. I hope everyone knows you can post anything anytime though, I don't want anyone to feel like they're interrupting our silly chats if they have something serious to say.

Missy7

Ok guys...finishing day five.

I'm pretty quiet on here but I guess I walked into a trap today.

I was worried about fabela having to make a tough decision about the dog. If her vet was advising her I didn't feel we should make her feel bad and risk triggering her.

So I was roundly chastised.

Got it. No more opinions from me.

But I won't threaten to quit participating or blame those of you who disagree for making me feel uncomfortable.

I was simply working from her vets advice.

I'll be here, sober tomorrow

Dee74

I'd like to think that everyone has a voice here, but that having had their say, we can all move on.

Use the ignore feature if you have to - whatever it takes for us all to focus back on the real reason we're all here - recovery

That's not a go at you specifically Missy - I'd just really like to move on now, y'know?

D

Missy7

It would take something pretty bad for me to block someone...

immri

Missy I'm sorry you feel that way, and I know I contributed to that. I know you weren't coming from a bad place but some of us have heard a lot about that dogs behaviour and I flat out refuse to believe putting him down is the answer. If that's what her vet said frankly she needs a better vet. Many of us are passionate about this, and I'm sorry you got caught in the crossfire of that.

Hopefully we can all move on now
Congratulations on day 5

clearlyheaded

I just finished watching Flight. Wow. Didn't realize what a powerful movie that was.

Missy - congrats on day 5! Keep up the good work!

immri

I love that movie!

CaseyW

I'm glad you're here and glad you're sober today and I look forward to hearing from you again tomorrow, Missy7. I do hope you don't feel afraid to express your opinion on other issues in the future. This was just an extremely emotional one on both sides. I'm going to respect Dee's wishes and not go into any more detail. But once again, I am glad you checked in tonight. I had been hoping you would.

I plan on watching Flight very soon. I have had a copy downloaded since we discussed it a while back. Hope you sleep well tonight, clearlyheaded.

I'm headed to bed. Thanks to each and every one of you for keeping me sober one more day. I'll wake up tomorrow with 11 weeks sober. That's truly a miracle for a drunk like me. To those of you who are still struggling, hang in there. Don't quit trying ten minutes before the miracle happens. This way of life is worth it.

immri

Night Casey, Im about to go watch rectify, will let you know how I like it. Thanks for keeping me company and being much wiser and more diplomatic than me, as usual

CaseyW

I hope you like it. I watched the first 10 minutes of the first episode again about an hour ago just to try and remember what the vibe was like in the beginning. Maybe it's because I know the characters so well now, but I really liked it again from the start. Almost wanted to keep watching the whole episode. Night!

Mish

Awww I love him xxx

Mish

Awww love this one too. xxx

Mish

Scrotal Recall ???

Mish

We call them "****" in Australia. Can I say that on SR? Feel free to censor me D xxx

Dee74

probably best if we move on from those too, I think guys...

D

immri