Confessions Of A PopCulture Junkie/Reality Check

Last night, I was curled up... post-work... relaxing with some Blue Lady Bird tea, set off with a drizzle of honey. I had just finished watching an episode of Will and Grace (Jack was determined to get a loc of Patti Lupone's hair so that he could complete his stage diva wig)- and was now guffawing at a re-run of The Parkers being shown on BET when all of a sudden, my TV turned into a snowstorm. Now I just assumed that something non-weather related had happened outside- (the weather was beautiful so it wasn't rain or anything)- or that perhaps there was some sort of bad connection. I waited patiently for my TV to return to clear figuring the problem would work itself out. Alas, nothing. Now I don't have a cable box or anything- (things grew sour between Comcast and I a year ago. I cancelled my cable subscription and gave all of the equipment back along with the finger)- so I started to become concerned. My TV is fairly new so it couldn't have been it. It was then that I started to panic a little bit. I washed my hair to calm my nerves a little and wrapped a towel around my head, turban style. Needless to say at around 9:30pm, I got an unexpected knock on my apartment door. Slightly annoyed, I went to the door (looking a wreck) and yelled, "Who is it?" twice ... I still couldn't quite make out the reply, so I risked it and opened it anyway (I had pepperspray nearby so I needn't have worried about being attacked), and there standing in front of me was a short Hispanic man with a mustache, salt and pepper hair, and (insert building anger) a black, polo style Comcast shirt on! He proceeded to say in a thick accent, "Hi, sorry to bodder you, but I got an order to cancel the cayble for apotmeent 209." Befuddled and annoyed I answered, "I don't have cable" Telemundo then said, "Yes, eet said eet was active so I cut it off..." Now at this point, I could feel my towel start to unravel from where I had it tightly tucked in behind my head and my annoyance start to grow. "Look," I said, "I have no idea what you're talking about... I don't even HAVE cable anymore." Telemundo just shrugged and proceeded to hand me some stupid-ass, photocopied flyer that had rates on it, and at the bottom it read, CALL NOW! Luis M. Aguirre (w/a local phone number). Now I don't know what the fuck Mr. Aguirre did to my TV connection, but I was pissed. I stood there staring at him for a little while, then he said, "I sorry, eet was our meestake, but we were so busy, so you got it for free." I had NO idea what dude was talking about so to avoid raising my voice, I very calmly said, "whatever" and shut the door in his face. Standing there, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes... I saw all of my trash tv staples flash by before my eyes like a Vegas marquee ...Surreal Life ... Strange Love ... Simple Life ... American Idol ... LAW AND ORDER SVU!!!... I started to have a panic attack. What to do, what to do... Resorting back to my pre-adolescence, I called my mother and proceeded to whine and cry to her, "what will I do, I can't get my local channels to work, how will I watch the news in the morning, sniff sniff... blah blah fucking blah" Then I said, "I don't know why I bother, I can't seem to win for lose... blah blah blah cry cry whine." My mother listened patiently, then at one point after I got testy with over a suggestion she had made, she told me "Hey, don't get grumpy with ME, I didn't do it" finally, after some consideration she just said, "Well, call your building's manager and tell him he may have cut something wrong and messed up your reception... you shouldn't have to pay 50 bucks for STANDARD tv." Then she told me... "Hey, there're people worse off than you." At that point I finally gave up my whine party and opened up a recent copy of Marie Claire. There was an article about child slaves in Ghana. At that point, felt foolish. My mother was right... there ARE people whose lives are 10 times worse than mine and I'm crying because I can't watch Strange Love. Yes, I think that Comcast made a grave mistake, messed up my damn tv reception and chopped a wire they should not have chopped, yes I think they want to make my life miserable for cancelling my subscription... but I wont call the building's manager, because it's not worth it. At this point, this is the only dark cloud in my life. I'm not miserable, I have a wicked studio apartment that I love, I am fully employed, I get to travel to cool places, and more importantly I have great family and friends. It's not like I can't listen to music or read. Besides... I've got Second String to keep me company.