Wednesday, June 17, 2015

This Is What Addiction Looks Like: Game of Thrones

Note: there's nothing about writing here today. Not a peep. Unless you count the fact that I WROTE this post? No? Right. Sorry. I got...distracted. I'll try to drag myself out of the television for next week. Really, I promise. 

I held out for as long as I could - either four years or nineteen years, depending on if you count from first book publication or TV premiere - but it's finally happened:

I'm drinking the House Stark Kool-Aid. Smoking the Westeros crack pipe. Hooked up to an IV of Blood Magic.

In other words, I've joined the legions of people who are completely, thoroughly, utterly addicted to Game of Thrones.

I'm talking the HBO series, here, not the books: as a proud bibliophile, it's embarrassing to admit, but I've been scared away from the books by the sheer size of the volumes. They're freaking long, OK? And I've always worried that if I started reading them, I wouldn't be able to stop until I'd read all of them, which would takes months and would mean I'd never read anything else, and, even worse, that I'd hit the point of utter desperation so many fans have felt, when they reached the end of the fifth book only to find that George R. R. Martin is the slowest writer the world has ever seen, and realize that they'll have to wait an unbearable, undetermined amount of time before they can get their next fix.

Now that I've started watching the TV show, I know - I was right to be afraid. Because now I reach the end of one episode and find myself thinking, "Well, the next one is only another hour, I can squeeze that in, right? It's just one hour less of sleep." Or, you know, five.

So now I'm sleep deprived and running behind on a ton of tasks (not good, considering what's coming up in my life,) and even when I'm not watching TV it's still ruling my life. I'll be cooking dinner or working with client, and think, "Hmm, what's Tyrion going to do about [insert life-threatening dilemma here]?" Or, "Oh god, I can't get over it! I keep seeing the scene where [insert important, beloved, heroic character here] died, over and over again."

I was going to write more, but, you know, EPISODES TO WATCH.

See?? I'm sacrificing social and recreational activities, and my relationships and work are suffering. I really am addicted.

OOOO the theme song is playing! Gotta go!

Do you watch Game of Thrones? Read the books? What are you addicted to these days?

22 comments:

  1. LOL! I know what you mean. We're terribly binge watchers. I haven't watched Game of Thrones though, mostly because we avoid shows with certain content... So maybe the books are the way to go for me, eh?

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  2. Heh. I read the books. It's frustrating because they just stop after book five. The TV series is now overtaking the books (minus several huge plot elements that appear only in the books.)

    Enjoy!!

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  3. LOL! I was exactly the same way when I first started watching. I got through the first three seasons in about a week. I've started reading the books but I've only gotten through the first two so far. They are loooooooong and I usually take forever to read something anyway so it's going to take me some time to get through them all.

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  4. Oh funny how that works eh? I have not seen Game of Thrones because I don't have HBO or Netflix but I do feel your pain or is it lust? I have been addicted ("Lost") to TV shows where nothing else matters. People are hungry, the house needs cleaning, Dogs and cats falling in love-Oh the madness!! I still had to watch the show. When they have done a marathon-I would watch it and my eyes became the swirly black and white freakiness that I have seen on Wile E Coyote. I figured since he is a super genius, then there is no harm. So enjoy every bit of this because soon you will be falling asleep trying to watch it:)

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  5. I read the first book and it depressed me. I think I'll fair better with watching it, assuming I ever find the time. My sis-in-law owns the series, so I'll be borrowing it sometime. It's just so hard to actually watch anything, because that means I have to be stationary long enough to do so. Someday, though... I will watch it. :)

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  6. never saw it (I have the attention span of a flea!) but my friend read the books and loved them, I'm just like you though, I'm afraid I'd get sucked into them and read nothing else for months!

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  7. I've read the books, and watch the show. We get HBO for three months a year so I can watch it live.

    But yeah...it's been a long, hard wait for that 6th book.

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  8. Treasure those addictions! It's wonderful when something speaks to you so much. Look at it this way---it's in the babieses best interest that you indulge now as opposed to after they arrive, yes? So you're doing a good thing. :)

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  9. I started reading the books when they first came out so I was frustrated long before the show started. The show seems off the rails now that they've passed the book timelines. Next season will be crazy.
    Susan Says

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  10. Welcome to the addicted. I've never read the books either but I am enjoying the show.
    Just don't get too attached to any characters...

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  11. I've never read the books or watched the show. I don't have HBO. But I am interested in watching it sometime and hope I can catch up on all the goodness so I can be addicted too. ;)

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  12. My husband has read the books and tried to get me to read them, but I watched the show first and then couldn't get into the books. So for the first few seasons, hubby was smug about knowing what was coming, etc. Now, though, he's at a loss. 'Cuz the show has caught up to the books and has changed a bunch of stuff anyway.

    I'm not a super fan. I sit and pay moderate attention while the husband is riveted. I guess I'm not addicted because I could not watch it and not miss it.

    I find there's always one or two story lines I'm enjoying and a few I'm not or am, at least, indifferent to. But things change enough and the plots move enough to keep me from wandering off entirely.

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  13. I read most of the first book before I allowed myself to crack out on the series. Yeah, still looking for book 2, but have book 3 in the wings. Can't wait until the next season hits DVD. (see, I'm sorta patient!) And, you deserve to watch some shows considering what is about to descend on you :) You can read while newborns sleep/eat. It might be rough at first, but soon it becomes easy. I read a TON before my son learned to crawl. Then, it was all over...so yeah, read while you can!!!

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  14. I've heard the TV series has changed a good bit from the books. Cold be a whole new experience to read the books.

    It's good to have an addiction like this every now and again. Makes life interesting.

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  15. I've loved the books since 2000, enjoyed the first two seasons of the show but kind of got tired of it in the third because it just didn't match what was in my head, and I figured I'd rather get it all from the actual writer than filtered through the lenses of TV and others' scripts and all that. And besides, the book is always better. :P

    But look at it this way - eventually, the series will be completed, then you can read it if you want and not have to wait. Your kids will probably be out of the house by then, so you'll have plenty of time. ^_^

    Also, this: https://youtu.be/GC-ZmlwBWKM

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  16. I'm a huge fan of the series! I read the books years before the TV series started and actually met George R.R. Martin. (We will not mention that I lost my voice, couldn't talk, and turned red!) I am without anything so far this summer. I might have to start on that Daredevil series on Netflix. :) Have a great weekend!

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  17. G.R.R. Martin is not the slowest writer the world has ever seen. If I tried writing a book that long, I'd be dead and buried looong before I hit "the end." :)
    I'd like to watch the series, but generally I only have time to watch shows that my wife wants to watch too, and she's just not interested. Too bad.

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  18. Ha! My husband LOVES that show! I tried to get into it but couldn't (but then again, I was daydreaming like I always am, so it's not the show's fault...). I love Orange is the New Black, Power, Homeland, Suits (Suits is my fave!), Scandal, Being Mary Jane. I'm a TV show junkie and I'm not ashamed. I should put that on a tee shirt...

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  19. I don't like big, bloated books either, but I have been curious about the show.

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  20. My husband and I started watching the show a few months ago and just caught up right in time for the last episode of this season to air. It was the first we watched at the same time as everyone else. But now it's going to be forever before it starts again! I did go ahead and buy the books, and I'm about to start them when I finish the book I'm currently reading. We'll see how it goes! I don't read a lot of high fantasy, so I hope I like them.

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  21. LOL I envy you as I wish I could start watching GoT over again and binge watch again! I ended up buying the books too and read through all five in record time. I kind of idolize George RR Martin now. Have fun watching!

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