Better late than never

I've recently become enthralled with The West Wing. Oh yes, I know everyone was watching it years ago when it was actually on television, but not me. Nope, I prefer to wait until everyone has seen it, raved about it, been obsessed with it and then moved on before I actually get into something new. Of course by now just about everyone who's going to watch it has watched it, so once again I'm left with a new obsession and no one to share it with. And this is one situation in which the internet is useless, because looking up a television show that's already ended is just asking for trouble. It can only lead to finding out all the good stuff that happens in episodes that you haven't seen yet because it's all been written about and discussed long ago. It wouldn't bother me so much except I do it over and over again. I do it with television shows, books, movies and music. I miss the boat on pretty much anything worth enjoying and discussing, at least until it's too late and everyone else has already boarded another boat entirely. It's not that I don't know what's popular, quite the contrary, it's just a combination of procrastination and stubbornness that keep me permanently out of the loop. I know there are shows that everyone's talking about and I manage to not only miss them when they air, but I can’t seem to get around to watching or downloading them online, either. It's never been easier to watch pretty much anything I want, whenever I want, and yet I still manage to miss most of the good stuff. I also have a stubborn streak when it comes to anything that's really popular. I like to think of it as the Harry Potter factor; the more people are talking about something, the less interested I am. Sometimes, as with Harry Potter, it comes from a genuine disinterest and no amount of persuasion is going to change my mind. Other times it's just a stubborn need to not follow the herd, even if it's to my own detriment. At least DVDs are much easier to come by once the hoopla has died down. Most people are happy to lend their copies of shows they've already watched, and even buying them is much cheaper once the initial flurry of interest has passed. That's about the only advantage as far as I can tell. Sure I could take a cursory glance at the things that everyone's talking about now, just in case some of it turns out to be worth paying attention to, but that‘s just not the way I do things. No, it’s much more like me to stay back here behind the times, all on my lonesome, quietly taking note of what everyone’s watching now. Because in five years time I’ll be all over it.