This past week, I was completely absorbed in a project.

We’re talking me in the computer lab for six to 10 hours a day for a week straight. The only breaks I had were for class, sleeping and eating, plus a half hour meeting. While I was eating I managed to do my other homework. This meant that I had no time for anything to do with pop culture.

The only thing I managed to see was the season finale of Greek, while I was attempting to make and eat dinner and get some reading done for another class. And I have to tell you, being isolated in a computer lab for a week without knowing what is going on in the world of entertainment is no fun. In fact, I didn’t know what was going on in the world in general, which is an unsettling feeling, especially for a journalist.

But my lack of pop culture for a whole week really made me realize how much I am dependant upon it in my life. That may sound a bit dramatic, but think about it. How many times have you come home from a stressful day of class, or work, and all you have wanted to do is sit on the couch for an hour and let your brain unwind by watching mindless TV? Or if you don’t watch TV, how about coming home to unwind by watching a movie, or listening to your music, reading a book or playing a video game? Now imagine that you have absolutely no time to do any of this. You would have an awful week.

My project wasn’t even the reason my week was so long and mind numbing. It was definitely the catalyst, but I actually thought the project itself was interesting. The lack of pop culture was what really got to me.

Now, I’m not writing this column to make everyone feel bad for me. I’m not merely ranting about how it was such an awful week because of all the work I had to do. I really didn’t realize, until now, that I need pop culture in my life to keep me sane.

Granted, I can go a week without a pop culture fix and still be mentally stable, but unless I found another way to unwind, I would probably have a breakdown if I had to continuously miss it.

So what exactly did I miss this week in pop culture? Well, for starters, I just got an iPod Touch and have not had a chance to set it up. I couldn’t even listen to music for 15 minutes walking to class. It was sad.

I also missed that Fox is canceling King of the Hill after noting its relatively flat ratings this season. It is scheduled to run for the remainder of this season, plus 13 more episodes, but after that, Fox is pulling the plug.

I missed that Joaquin Phoenix is retiring from acting at the ripe old age of 34 to focus on his music. Sadly, I missed the 30 Rock season premiere, and I missed the second episode of Stylista where “Boobs” apparently got torn apart when she styled her mannequin to look like a person who got dressed on crack.

I also missed that Miley Cyrus’ 20-year-old boyfriend dressed up as her ex-boyfriend, Nick Jonas, for Halloween. How classy. Although, this one I may have missed only by a day and because I was watching football and re-watching How I Met Your Mother, not because of my project. But still, I did miss it.

Because of this terrible week, I’m not going to be of any help on the pop culture section at trivia night at Brothers on Monday! I guess I’ll just make up for last week by absorbing as much pop culture as I can this week.

Colleen is a senior in Media who watched Center Stage 2 this weekend, and it was just as good, if not better than the original. She can be reached at [email protected].