Subscriptions

This is our 5th winter in Santa Fe. This is our second pandemic winter. I am now fully into an overwhelming program of at-home online subscription services that I never thought I'd want and had steadfastly rejected. This is what winter in the Rocky Mountains in a pandemic will do.

For years I did not sign up for Netflix or HBO. It was ridiculous to pay those monthly fees when we could watch free PBS or documentaries or Jim's favorite old movies over and over, and I resisted getting sucked into popular stuff that everyone was watching. We cut the cable and paid a fee to stream live TV but nothing more.

I have Netflix now, and Amazon Prime and I think I need Peacock and Apple. I might need Hulu. Maybe HBO and Disney too? I have must-watch series that I am totally invested in and need to know what happens next. I am not addicted, no I'm clearly not, but there is so much to catch up on, years of unwatched popular culture I missed.

One of many Netflix series I discovered - nothing I would
ever have watched, but so so engrossing. 33 episodes. 

For years I did not sign up for news online -- we get the local paper delivered and free news articles pop up when there is some catastrophe to follow.

Now I have subscriptions to multiple newspapers online, a couple opinion magazines and some news sites I never thought I'd read. I read them every day. Not the ones I disagree with, just the ones that confirm my biases.

For years I had an actual subscription to a gardening magazine in the mail. Pretty pictures, some good advice.

Now I have paid online access to all their special articles, extra fees paid for plant files and special subscriptions to their articles specific to the mountain west. 

I get articles and research and profiles just for my climate.

For years we listened to our ancient CDs and old recordings until the technology aged and became unusable. 

Now we have Alexa playing our subscription to Apple Music in the mornings when we get up and she riffs some jazzy stuff for us during wine hour, and whenever we ask, Alexa plays music for us as our account is billed monthly for unlimited noise. We can get music in the bedroom.

Music anywhere, any time. 

I have a fragrance refill subscription for our Pura scent diffusers. Monthly. We get our favorite Gevalia coffee delivered on a subscription service every six weeks. I am even now signing up for a paid product review service similar to Consumer Reports, but run by the New York Times.  And the NYT has a recipe site you can pay to subscribe to. I need to do that.

Sign me up.

But wait, there's more. How much, I don't know. I see ads now for programs to manage your subscriptions and I feel like I need that. Is it something else you sign up for and pay automatically? 'Cause I can do that.

Have you signed up for too many subscriptions during these two pandemic years?