I was in line at Long's Drugstore today.

"That's quaint," I said of the box of film the elderly man in front of me was buying.  (He has more gray hair then I have, thats all--maybe I'm elderly too.)

"It's for my Leica," he said, "I'm not getting rid of it.  It takes beautiful photos.  You just point and click--beautiful photos."

I laughed.

"The young folks who work for me ask me why I still buy film.  It's a Leica!" he said, "And I'm an Aardvark."

(See http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2007/03/baby_aardvark.php for more aardvarks) 

 I was buying 6 rolls of scotch tape--he passed judgement right back at me.

 "I have to buy lots because the kids don't like to share."

"Isn't there something more high-tech you could use?"

With the antenna I flipped through about 60 channels.  The Asian ones with the martial arts stories looked the most interesting.  But overall I was underwhelmed.

For the past 9 years I owned some little set I bought for $79 in 2000.  Even the basic cable wasn't hooked up.  I used rabbit ears (really cheap ones so we pretty much only got ABC, WB and Fox--Fox is very important because one of my sons loves the Simpsons & Malcolm in the Middle.)

But with the digital change over and the fact that this summer I'm not going anywhere or doing anything (and they'll be no extra money because summer school was cancelled) I figured I might as well join the zombies.  At least my kids will enjoy it.  (The summer after I got divorced--about ten years ago--we watched Cartoon Network non-stop.  Back then the Bravo channel showed foreign and art films.  Last night I watched Kathy Griffin for the first time--not the same thing, not by half.)

Last summer my older son watched every episode ever made of That 70s Show on my computer.  (So weird to watch a show about teenagers in the time of one's own teenage-hood--complete with pot circle! Weird!)  This year he can watch it again on the T.V.--supersized (screen is 32 inches, but my place is very, very small--picture seems huge!)

I've tried watching the thing on my own.  With cable (just a bit more than basic service with my internet connection) I've got about 500 choices of what to watch.  Well, some things repeat about three times on other stations (maybe this will disappear when the change-over happens)  but heck--even at 250 choices--that's really way to many choices for me.  The channel surfing is exhausting.  I went online to see the evening schedule and it took about ten minutes to read through it all.  Then I wrote down the stations I wanted to look at.  What an enormous use of time for little pay-off.

I'm an Aardark, like the camera guy.

I haven't watched much television in the past ten years.  I love to rent movies.  (The big screen is awesome for that--just saw Milk and Cadillac Records and Dirty Pretty Things--Benjamin Button and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (to watch with my 16 year old) are next.)  

How did everyone adjust to the appearance of all those choices (even though many of the choices aren't worth choosing?)  I think I'll stick to movies and reading.  (Last month:  The White Hotel, Water for Elephants, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao--a fantastic book!)

Or maybe I'll just get more addicted to OS.