LEDGER COLUMNIST

Joe L. Hughes II (joe@gaffneyledger.com) writes feature and enterprise stories for The Gaffney Ledger. Never will I again take the luxury of cable television for granted.

In some ways my life has been a bit nomadic, moving from place to place with the military pulling me just as if I were a dog being tugged along by a leash.

This had never been too much of a problem, as I always would have something to do - get into trouble by mixing it up with some of the other kids, playing football or basketball or even passing time by sleeping.

But as I reached adulthood, some of those things had passed me by and I began to want to do other things. Reading a book was out of the question, mostly because I already had to do that eight to nine months out of the year. Sports still enthused me, but they took too much of my time.

So what did I do, found me a young lady who was interested in all the things I liked to do and watched television - whether it be sports or whatever else.

Now we did not necessarily always agree with what would be on the tube at a particular time (i.e. Lifetime vs. ESPN), but for the most part things were peachy. It even got to the point where I had another television in the other room just in case she got bored.

But unfortunately, those days have passed and now I sit around waiting on the cable man to switch on my television set so that I may rejoin the rest of the world.

Since moving to Gaffney last Saturday, I have been without access to cable. Never before in my life have I felt so out of the loop.

Just last week I was enjoying the fact that Golden State was up 3-1 on the heavily favored Dallas Mavericks. Also, Kobe Bryant's 45-point effort helped propel the Lakers back into the series against Phoenix.

Boy, look at how much can change within a week.

Coming into work Thursday morning, my editor asks me whether I had seen Denver and Los Angeles get eliminated. My answer...

"I didn't even know they were on the brink of elimination."

Never before have I been so embarrassed. I'm a man who prides himself on being on top of things and being a difference maker, but without cable, that seems to be virtually impossible.

The lights are on, the water is running and the stove is cooking - so why is my cable box not buzzing? I have run through my collection of DVDs and am growing more and more tired by the day of playing video games on my Playstation 2.

Back in the day, I was able to ride around to my cousin's house in Winnsboro or take a ride to check out my college buddies in Rock Hill to make the light of day pass by.

Now, what am I relegated to - a blank television set and less than a half tank of gas due to gas prices that are too high and getting higher by the second (look out your window, I bet you it just went up another five cents).

I can go to Applebee's and chill around the bar and act like I want to watch the game from there, but there is nothing like being able to sit on your couch and flip the channels at your own leisure.

Yes, watching the tube teaches you to be lazy, but after you have been gone from a long day of work is there anything else you want to do but sit there and gaze into your television set?

I'm not saying that television is my life, but it definitely makes things so much easier when you don't have anything to do.

By the way, can someone update me on what happened this week on College Hill?