My Precious

In 1983, my grandma Ruth (having bought a new color TV) gave me her old black and white one. I put it on top of the dresser in my bedroom. I was ecstatic! My own telly. A 19-inch. I didn't care that it was black and white. I could deal with that. One problem, though: It only got one channel (our main TV in the living room was the one that had cable connected to it). The only channel I could receive on it was channel 8 (WKBT-TV) out of LaCrosse. Oh well. So I laid on my bed and watched some TV. Lots of TV. I watched

with Brent Musberger as well as a football game or two. I couldn't change the channel (and didn't want to go into the living room where everyone else was watching TV), so I just continued watching whatever was on channel 8. Next thing on was the high school quiz bowl.

It was great to be able to watch whatever I wanted, well, as long as it was on channel 8, that is. I loved the quiet, too. With no kids screaming, I could hear every bit of dialogue that everyone said on screen.

One night, I was watching TV in my bedroom as usual. I had all the lights off. There was a movie on that I was quite engrossed in. My dad opens the bedroom door just kinda wondering how I'm doing and such. I'm like, "Get the fuck out of here. I'm watching this." I didn't say that, though.

Of course, when my favorite shows not on channel 8 were on, like "Diff'rent Strokes" and "Three's Company", I rushed to the living room to watch them...in glorious color.