All right. Sit down as I tell you a good story

I was never much about giving up something for Lent. But two years ago my roommate said, "what do you think about giving up TV?" And I was like, huh? But I thought about it and, considering I wasn't the only one doing it, decided to give it a shot.

So the first day, I get home from work (before my roommate), and unplug the cable to the TV, thinking I'll get a laugh when my roommate tries to break his fast and watch TV. A day goes by. Two days. On the third day my roommate asks me in the most nonchalant manner he can muster, "So... did you notice the TV is broken?" Got him!

After I explained I unplugged the TV he laughed and said he hid the remote on the first morning to keep me from watching TV! LOL! (Of course, it works out swell for him since he knows where he hid the remote!)

We started hanging things overtop the TV, such as decorative rugs. It really helps dispel temptation. At one point I stacked six Bibles on top of the rug on top of the TV (in four translations, no less!). This really riled my roommate; he accused me of heaping on the guilt!

Later I found the remote sitting out, so of course I took the initiative to hide the remote myself. Another few days goes by. My roommate storms up the stairs and says, "Alright! Where's the remote!" Assuredly, edifying conversation ensued, how we should stick to our commitments. I ultimately relented and showed him where the remote was (behind the kitchen Tupperware).

But this wasn't the last of it. A few days later, while my roommate was out working, I went into his room, into his closet, cleared out a space behind his hanging dress shirts, got the 32" TV, and lugged it into his closet, behind the shirts. I arranged things back the way they were and left. So my roommate came home and within minutes, noticed the decorative rug draped over the now-empty TV stand with (again) the stack of six Bibles.

Boy, you should have been there! He was a mess of anger and hilarity. Over the next few weeks he tore that poor townhouse apart looking for that TV but he never found it! Well after Easter the TV remained hidden. It wasn't until we were moving out in September that he found the TV in his closet, and boy, again you should have been there! LOL!

Fun times. The whole Lenten season I didn't watch any TV. I'm proud of that. I mention it in my profile that the first two weeks were extremely tough for me. I literally felt like I was going through drug withdrawal. But then it cleared up and I've been TV-free ever since. That was two years ago.

If you've thought about kicking the TV habit, I highly recommend it.  Besides the obvious benefits, it can also be a ton of fun :D