“No Thanks, I’m Trying to Quit.”

Published April 8, 2008

By Sally Wiebe

I began watching ABC’s Lost several years ago, when the series had just started. The promotions for a show about people stranded on a mysterious island intrigued me. There was so much hype around what promised to be an action-packed hour of television that I knew I had to tune in. Just as I suspected, after almost four seasons the show has proven to entertain — well, for the most part.

It’s very difficult to navigate the labyrinth that is the plot of this show — it’s just too damn intricate. Far too often it ends up at dead ends hooking me in with, as I have come to conclude, useless and unfastened clues. And honestly, J.J. Abrams, clues to what? Yet despite the unanswered questions I tune in weekly. In fact, I’ve become addicted, and it’s the weekly fix I just have to have.

In addition to my Lost addiction, I’m also currently battling one with cigarettes. I don’t think I’m physically addicted to Camel Lights. But, I’m constantly opening my pack with the first step I take outside the gym; when asked to join a smoking break I also respond with the requisite “sure.” Sometimes, I even sneak one or two, and sometimes three of these Camel Lights into my daily schedule. There is a commanding magnetism I feel to cigarettes that keeps me walking into gas stations to ask for a Buy Two, Get One.

For those non-smokers breathing the air around me and for the people who missed the Lost bus, I would like to apologize but also say, good for you! You are the people who seize superior health, and probably do something more constructive at nine on a Thursday evening. Actually now that I think of it, we’re in college, so you’re probably not doing anything too constructive at that hour, but that’s a different story.

Let me not diminish the stature of the underdog, though. For those like me, I salute you too. You are constantly battling your index finger to turn on the television and risk hearing those three simple but exhilarating words, “Previously, on Lost.” You can’t help but watch each week in the hopes that you just might find another clue clearing up, say, why the hell there were giant polar bear sightings on the island. And to those of you who continue to reach into your pocket or purse and tug out or roll just one more cigarette, I feel your pain.

So about three weeks ago I decided to quit both of my addictions — I stopped smoking and watching Lost. Well wouldn’t you know it, three weeks later I’m still cigarette-free but it’s the damn Lost I’m fiending for. I’d like to say it’s like a bad habit I just can’t kick but now I’ve gone and kicked my bad habit, so I can’t even use that great cliché. Friday morning I gave in and watched it on abc.com. Maybe I was just being a little overzealous, I mean come on, we can’t cure all our dependencies at once.

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