The Great Experiment: No TV for a Week. You may think this is an easy assignment, but try it! I'm an active, creative person, but I found myself turning on TV during meals, then saying to myself," I'll just finish this old movie--Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwick are such good actresses." Then when the old movie was over, "I'll just see what else is on, though I should practice, write letters, and... and...and." Click...cowboy hats. . .No . . Click...cartoons . . No.. . Click...sitcoms with canned laughter, I hate that. Click...cars crashing into bystanders with flames and submachine gun accompaniment . . No... Click..perfect hands draped with rings and bracelets. Is this supposed to be interesting? I don't think so. . . Click...a frog and pig arguing over a turtle - give me a break! Click...Say, this looks interesting. Oh, it would be in Spanish! Yo no sabe. Click...this must be a Soap Opera. The actors have the same pained expressions as seen a week ago. Click...Spill your Guts to the Audience Program. I hate to cry. Click...game show -bouncy participants running for a box of soap. Is this real!? Click...Click...Sports, No. Click..news about man's inhumanity to man, woman, child and every living creature. Click..young girls with perfect bodies wrapped around body building machines. They look OK to me. Why are they doing all that work? Huff, puff. Guff, I say. Well, I could cruise around again just to SEE if anything amusing is accidently on...click...click...click. You know the routine. Well, a friend and I were full of the same guilt - WASTING OUR VALUABLE TIME ON TV, so we made a pledge to NOT watch for a week. I found out some surprising things about myself and I could Tell All on a Spill Your Guts Show! Monday: The pledge was made at noon. I managed to get through dinner sans TV. I even played the piano and paid my bills. Tuesday: My body walked automatically to the TV at mealtimes but my brain kicked in the command: NO. Then an internal argument began. I'll just watch a program while I'm eating. You know that doesn't work. You never turn it off. OK, I'll try it, but I won't like it. I even built up a resentment to my dear pledge pal. That isn't right. It was my idea in the first place. I sent my body into the den and wrote letters on my Word Processor to credit card companies who were trying to seduce me into going into debt. "You don't have to pay this month," they hinted. (Just pay the service charge.) "Use these checks to buy a yacht, a car, a vacation in Ireland." I actually enjoyed using pungent adjectives to express my pique at these Tempters. I also tossed off several friendly letters to long-waiting correspondents, not even missing TV. Wednesday: I felt like crying. What was the matter? I was lonely. I had no one to talk to. I live alone and my single state hasn't bothered me before. Oh, I guess TV was company of a sort. I hadn't been depressed since my divorce several years ago. (I got over that by joining the Peace Corps). I phoned some friends and daughters (I have three), took a walk, played the piano and actually got Chopin's Nocture Opus 72 #1 in shape to play for my monthly Ladies Piano Club next week. Say, this is fun!. And look at all the other pieces I could work up! Thursday: I fed the lawn, washed clothes, mopped, meditated and wrote query letters - before 10:00 in the morning. Walked, taught two piano lessons, organized my drawers and read a book. Martha, go to bed. It's late, my Inner Parent said. Friday:I'm really enjoying my time, doing writing and music which I love. And I can see getting to other things which I had put off; like hemming curtains, sewing fabrics I'd picked up while teaching in Africa, Pakistan and China. Say, I've lots to write about! Saturday: Investigated a 24-hour Health Club. I might be one of those 'girls' on the body machines! I learned I was twenty pounds (at least) overweight due to WATCHING TV WITH FOOD ACCOMPANIMENT. I do have lots of lovely clothes just waiting for a reduced Martha. In late afternoon I played the organ for a liturgical church service - an energy draining job. I rewarded myself by eating out - "Yes, I'm alone," I confessed to the waitress. Then on arriving home I got the idea to watch TV. Why not? I had accomplished more in this week than in several previous months. I deserve a recess. I'll tell my friend the truth when I see her Monday, and I did find a nice movie after I hit the couch. Conclusion: TV is a passive activity that can become an addiction, robbing you of precious time and often filling your mind with scenes and language that don't educate, entertain or improve your body/mind/spirit. There are so many good books to explore, music to play and local activities to attend where YOU are the actor, the doer. I knew all this before the GREAT EXPERIMENT, but now I have a new rule: Three clicks and you're out! Back for more humor