Empty storehouse

I've been taping Star Trek: The Next Generation since the summer because I had no interest in it when it first came out in the 80's and 90's. At this point, I think I've seen most of the episodes, but I've realized that I have a problem: I didn't pace myself. During the holidays, they're not broadcasting any shows, and since I've seen everything on the tapes, the video storehouse is empty, so there's really not much decent TV to watch.

I was so excited that I had so many TNG episodes taped, I stayed up very late to watch them almost every night. As I was going through sleep deprivation, I kept telling myself to be careful, because if I kept watching so many at a time, one day I would have nothing left. And the day has arrived.

It's sort of like spending too much money: you know you should budget, but then you're tempted to spend a lot of money at once, and then when the time comes when you need money for a rainy day, you don't have much left. The same can be said about groceries before a snowstorm: you know you should pile some up because you'll be stuck when the snow comes.

But there's also another problem: I neglected Deep Space Nine because I thought I wouldn't like it, and then when I decided to give it a try and tape those episodes along with TNG, I'd only acquired a few by the time the holiday programming rolled around. If only I would have given DS9 a try even a month before! Then I would have those episodes to enjoy during the holiday season.

So now I'm without both, and soon I won't be able to stay up late anymore because I'll have to start driving a distance to the radio gig, which means early mornings and early bedtimes. It's an entertainment crisis!

Oh yeah, the new year will also bring a programming change:

"[Next] Generation" starts January 8 on G4; it will continue to run on Spike TV as well with time-period restrictions keeping the programs from running in the same daypart. Spike TV will continue to run other "Trek" spinoffs including "Deep Space 9." "Trek" will begin on G4 in the second quarter.

So now my taping schedule will be more complex. Oh, such problems of we who live in comfort!