My Girl, Leah, at Blockbuster Video!

Kitchen sink: heaping
Diswasher: loaded
Emotional state: fabulous
In the Attic: A new addiction: Lost

Binta's dad showed up yesterday (after a mere 77 days since his last visit). So I was once again faced with the challenge of "What to do With My Time When I do Not Have to be a Responsible Parent." I'm sure I've mentioned it somewhere here before, that this situation does present itself as a challenge for me. It seems that spending so many days as a full time parent of a three-year-old interferes with what I can remember that I used to enjoy doing back before I became a mommy.

What I decided I was craving was some serious time relaxing in front of my TV, watching hours and hours of a television program on DVD. Specifically, the program: Lost. It's one that I know I would not be able to watch in Binta's presence. I've heard fantastic reviews from good friends with great taste, and have been planning for some time now to jump on the bandwagon and try on the show. So, sometime back in September 2005, I placed Season One on hold at the King County Library. Yesterday, I remained number 32 of the 408 holds. The library system shows 29 copies, however, 3 copies are marked as "lost." (If I weren't so damned anxious to watch the show, I might enjoy the irony there.) Although I am very close, I decided last night that I couldn't wait any longer, and would just get a start on the first few discs. After all, there are 6 in the set, and I'll only have 1 week with the library copy.

Plus, I got some child support money yesterday. Blockbuster, here I come!

The disappointing news upon arrival was that Blockbuster had only discs 1, 3, 4, and 6 on the shelf. I knew that I had enough time to complete about 2 discs, since I would have Monday evening and all day today without Binta. Skipping disc 2 was unthinkable, so I picked up the first disc from 24, another program that I've been thinking I need to see, based on recomendations. That seemed like a good plan: sample a little of each. A potpourri of drama based TV.

If anyone reading has seen the first 4 episodes of Lost, he will see the flaw in my plan. I placed disc one into my DVD player, and was not able to turn it off until I had watched all 4 episodes, followed by the first two again, this time with the audio commentary turned on. I was so wound up and agitated from the show, that by the time I climbed in bed well after midnight, I couldn't get myself to sleep for at least another hour.

This series is incredible. From the first minute to the last, the writers did not let me down for a second. The plot is filled with mystery and twists that are so sharp and sudden, causing me to gasp and cry out. The characters are at the same time likeable and horrible, and amazingly complex. Each episode teasingly provides just enough background information about the characters, to keep you guessing about their motives and revising your opinions of them. At the end of the 4th episode, all I could come up with was a mournful: "Nooooooooo!"

Waking this morning with a Lost-hangover, I looked at the DVD of the television show 24, sitting sadly on my table, unopened, with the Blockbuster receipt sticking out from the case. I knew I could not take on a new program, filled with new characters and plot lines. Not with the questions and mystery already in my head. No offense is meant here to either Kiefer Sutherland or any fans of 24. I simply knew that I could not give 24 what it needed from me as a viewer, as I would be too distracted with what I had experienced the night before.

I wondered if Blockbuster would be willing to trade that disc for the second disc of Lost. After all, I hadn't watched it. I just explain my mistaken logic in getting both discs, the effect that Lost had on me, and the fact that I had never even unsnapped 24 from its little case. It made sense to me.

And I guess it made sense to Leah, the store manager at Blockbuster Video. I hadn't even quite finished my story when she smiled and said, "I can trade that out for you, no problem." And when we discovered that disc 2 had still not been returned, she even called another store for me. She traded 24 for disc 3, and I went off to get disc 2 from the Fairwood location.

I have just come down off of 8.51 hours of Lost TV. Twelve episodes in all. One-half of the entire first season. My head is spinning, I am jumping at every little sound I hear, and I am hopelessly content.

Sometimes, it's the little things.

Thank you, Leah. You made my day.