I can’t watch the coverage right now.
Does anyone else feel this way? Does anyone else feel they need a break from this horror-that they have to see anything else-even old reruns of “Designing Women?”
Yep.
I’m going into overkill mode… Business as usual my fanny. Its become Pete and repeat of everything… and just when I’m starting to feel a bit sane… they show the crash for the upteenth time. My head hurts… I’m thinking of hauling my TV out to the curb. Too much emotion at once… I need moderation.
Solution: I’ve turned my TV off. Get on the web can’t seem to escape it here either.
Time for something productive I believe.
Maybe tonight I’ll rent movies, though I’m sure its going to be fun… They’re probably nealry as bust now as the gas stations were on the 11.
Glad to know I’m not the only one who needs a break.
Don’t feel bad Guinastasia. I couldn’t take any more continuous coverage last night either. Every time I turn on the TV I am scared that something else is happening. Last night I watched a DVD. This morning I watched about 30 minutes of the news while getting ready for work and I am listening to a Franz Schubert CD now. I will check the news periodically, but I can’t take it 24/7 any more.
My brain needs a break from mourning and fear and my eyes need a break from crying.
Guin, I think your reaction is normal. God knows I feel the same way. My husband has a higher tolerance for this, but even he is needing to get away for awhile. When we aren’t watching the coverage we usually have the TV turned to the Arts Channel.
By the way, anyone else heard of this? Various public TV and cable channels download 8 hours of classical music/ballet/old movies etc. and show them at various times during the week. It’s extremely interesting if you like the arts, and a great way to “dip your toe into culture” if you haven’t been exposed.
I believe this channel was founded by the gentleman who was the Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer marketing genius. It’s all privately funded, no commercials allowed. If you do get it, check it out.
I’m finding it very soothing right now.
I reached that point yesterday. I came home after two days of non-stop (except while sleeping) news coverage. All day at work I listen to the radio, watched coverage all waking hours at home.
Last night about 6pm I’d had enough. I couldn’t watch one more second. I turned on an old Friends episode. I found I couldn’t watch much more than 15 mins of that either, so I played SIMS for about 45mins to clear my mind.
One thing I noticed while I was watching Friends was that I found the first commercial break very surreal. After almost 48 hours of NOT seeing any ads, the first one almost didn’t seem real.
I think it’s normal to need a break. I was home sick on Tuesday, and by about 4:00 I told Mr. Athena I couldn’t watch anymore.
He, on the other hand, watched the damn TV for two days straight, and I don’t think it’s doing him any good. He’s frightened, upset, frustrated that he can’t DO anything, and very low on patience. He went for a run in the park yesterday, and got chased by a large, barking dog. He isn’t great with dogs, and even for people who are, having a large dog barking, chasing, and growling them isn’t a great experience. But he ended up in a verbal fight with the owner, and just about threatened to shoot the dog. <sigh>. He came home and told me the story, and when I suggested that he maybe overreacted, he got in a fight with me. <sigh again>.
This round the clock coverage is interesting, I guess, but sometimes I wish they’d take a break when there isn’t any real news to report. How many more times do we have to see that plane crashing into the building? I’ve seen it enough now that I’ll never, ever forget the image. Take it off the TV, please.
You are all very right. I’m startig to get shrt tempered and worn out too. Last night I satyed up late to watch South Park for the first time in two seasons because I knew I needed a laugh.
Unfortunately, I live and work on an important Army installation, so early this morning I woke up dreaming that we were being bombed and invaded.
Once I got back to sleep, I dreamt my wife was cheating on me.
I could really use a nice cold beer, man.
I’ve felt the same way, Guin.
I have Dish Network, and on over half of my non HBO type channels, all that is on is endless news and speculation about the tragedy. Even on BBC America.
I tried to watch Home for the Holidays last night, and it just depressed me more, even though I like that movie a lot.
I spent the entire day on Tuesday either watching the unfolding news on CNN or listening to it on NPR. I think that we all need a break, if only for an hour.
I work in a prison. Last night we rented movies to show on half of the TV’s to give everyone a break from watching news coverage of their hometown being attacked.
Hell we got let out on Tuesday at 10 am since I"m a gov worker so I watched it all day on Tue. I got sick of it after a few hours and watched X-Men just for a break.
I’ve started just flipping channels now and watching all sorts of stupid movies and cartoons to get away from it.
I took a small break last night to watch Seinfeld. Of course the New York city setting made it difficult… The smallest things set you off…
I quit watching and listening yesterday. The killer ape was just too close to the surface–closer than it’s been in over a decade. I’ve been playing neopets, watching cartoons, and working since, trying to cool off.
Thankfully, my son is addicted to the Cartoon Network and so I get breaks from it when he’s home because, while he knows about it, I don’t want my kids bombarded by it.
Another “as little news today as possible” vote checking in. On the ride to work this morning, we listened to the only radio station without commentary (easy listening jazz - not too bad, but not my normal fare). All day today I’ve been playing mp3’s and not visiting anything but the Straight Dope and Dilbert online. I’m sure we’ll be glued to CNN again once we get home, but for right now… I am not nearly as tense as I was just this morning, due to this self-imposed temporary almost-censorship. 