somebody stop me!

I seem to have developed an annual tradition. Every summer,when crap tv gives way to crappier tv, I start to watch crap tv on rented dvds. Last year it was Grey's Anatomy, the year before that House and the year before THAT it was Sex and the City (yes I didn't start watching Sex and the City until the series was over and then I devoured it like chocolate. I'm always last to jump on a bandwagon).

This summer, it looks like it's Lost. I caught something about it the other night after the Grey's Anatomy season finale and thought it looked interesting so I picked up the first dvd of season one on Saturday night. I'm hooked, well and truly. As of this afternoon (Tuesday) I have watched eight episodes since Saturday evening. And this afternoon I told myself I would go without since Swee'pea hasn't gone to bed for the last two nights and I've just gotten grumpy that my Lost time was messed with AND since Design Inc. and House are on tonight, I don't need it. But as this afternoon got hairier and Swee'pea got grumpier, what did I do? I put him in the stroller and got a new Lost dvd... ahhhhhhh... sweet relief. It feels better just knowing there are fresh episodes that I can watch when Swee'pea sleeps (since he's no longer sleeping in his crib - again - he is a bit of a ennabler in my burgeoning addiction: I don't mind holding him as long as I can watch Lost).

This new addiction means I am getting to know the clerks at my local video store. Last summer it was mostly manned by a young guy with a trenchcoat and a body odour problem. This year my visits have been split equally between a good-looking guy with an eyebrow ring who's so happy and friendly I thought he must have gotten laid - no, fallen in LOVE - the night before I first got served by him. He erased a large late fine from November just because it looked wrong and he was in a good mood; he even went to the trouble of giving me a lie just in case his boss questioned me about the fine getting erased. The second time I got served by him, I decided I just wanted whatever he's been smoking.

The other clerk is a young girl, can't be more than 19, who ends every sentence with either Sweetie or Hon. As in, Did you find everything you were looking for, Sweetie? What's your phone number, Hon? That'll be $2.55, Sweetie. Have a great day, Hon! (She seems to alternate each one.) Given that I have at least a decade, a foot, AND 70 pounds on her, these diminutives rather put me off. (Such words would be perfectly acceptable, desirable even, coming from a 70-year-old Brit but from this wee girl it just rings false and annoying.)

Anyways, the point is I'm hooked on Lost. I'm fascinated with the characters and love learning about them via flashbacks. The eye candy is great, way better than Survivor. And I loved Lord of the Flies, even if it did disturb me. My one misgiving is that the main men maintain the exact same amount of sexy stubble from day to day. If they're going to shave, like Locke does with his creepy straight razor, shouldn't they be clean shaven one day and stubbly for the next few? How DO they do it?