Spirited Away

I once had a therapist who very succinctly explained to me the dangers of being indecisive.

"Sitting on the fence," he said, "gets you nothing but a big red mark on your ass."

I'm doubt if Freud would've expressed it this way, but I'm sure he would agree with the sentiment.

I've given up far too much of my time agonizing over decisions about all things great and small and all I've gotten out of this emotional fence-sitting was a big red mark on my psyche.

No decision is a decision and I would rather do things than allow inaction make the decision for me.

While I would like to think I've made progress in this area, I did have a minor but disappointing incident occur recently that's still bugging me.

I was sitting in front of the TV one Saturday night-like I do most nights after wrecking my knees last month-thumbing my remote-control unit into a coma.

I do a fair bit of channel-surfing, but I was especially bad on this particular night. I couldn't-more like wouldn't--decide between watching a UFC fight card on the Spanish language station or taking in The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, a fine old movie with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney.

Now I pay for digital recording services from my cable company, so this shouldn't have been a problem at all. But I didn't want yet another item sitting on the virtual shelf unwatched and forgotten.

Instead I elected to bounce back and forth between the two programs and wound up, of course, not particularly enjoying either one.

I'm getting a little too sensitive for combat sports, especially any competition where the participants kick each other's legs. After double knee surgery I wince at the thought of this kind of abuse.

Surf's Up!

But I lingered on, trying to figure out what the announcers were saying while heavily tattooed athletes bashed each other from hell to brain damage.

Whenever a commercial came on I'd hop over to see the 1947 movie where Gene Tierney plays a widow who moves into a seaside cottage and finds that its haunted by the ghost of a departed sea captain, portrayed by Rex Harrison.

I had never seen the film and my only knowledge of the story comes from a sitcom version of the movie that ran for two seasons starting in 1968 and starred Hope Lange, Edward Mulhare, and Charles Nelson Reilly. It was rather lame as I recall.

The source material is better executed-at least the portion I saw. I enjoyed seeing Rex Harrison in this gruff, but tender role and, of course, Gene Tierney is just lovely.

The film also starred George Sanders, a very young Natalie Wood, and a host of golden age character actors whom you know but can never name.

But I refused to sit still for this and quickly jumped back to the cage fighting.

The fights weren't particularly interesting or entertaining. I was still feeling poorly from this lingering cold and since I can't leave my apartment, I guess I needed to move in some way-even it was just around the dials.

I finally got fed up with the fights and stayed with the ghost until the end, which was so sad it made me cry, though that's hardly news to anyone who knows me. (Honestly, what don't I cry at?)

I ordered The Ghost & Mrs. Muir on Netflix and I plan to watch properly-no interruptions. I'll be sitting down to watch, but I won't have any red marks on my ass.