Who is Drake and Josh?

For Valentine's Day, TEA received a "manly" heart shaped box of chocolates. (I am failing to remember if it was the skull and crossbones one or the one with various sports images on it. It was just manly.) He also received the "Hunger Games" books (yes, it may be a little old for him, but I am sure that he can handle it and if he is anything like me, he will reread these books, as he has done with the Wimpy Kid series.) and an iTunes gift card.

Last night he gave me a call regarding his iTunes account (he needs to ask when buying things so we avoid some of the issues that we had around the holidays with TEA not understanding that buying things within games still means that his father's credit card is charged.) and I asked what he was getting.

He told me that he was getting the first season of Drake and Josh because it was $5.99 and not the fourth season which was $14.99. I applauded his frugality and then he wanted to get off the phone because...Drake and Josh and who wants to talk to dad, right?

After getting off the phone with TEA, I thought about it for a couple of seconds and then realized something.

I have no clue who Drake and Josh are.

To Teh Interwebs!

Apparently, Drake & Josh is a sitcom that ran on Nick for a while and launched the career of Miranda Cosgrove of iCarly. (Off-topic: I like iCarly. I don't go out of my way to watch it, but when TEA wants to, I am willing. It is cute and well written and there are very legitimate reasons for the lack of parents. Carly is being raised by her older brother after a family tragedy...it is sort of like A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius...but in Seattle...in an apartment that "I" could never afford...oh, television, why do you skimp on these details?) It seems to be fairly innocuous and there is a very Saved by the Bell quality to it (from the one episode that I was able to find on-line and watch) and I was happy that TEA had found media that he enjoyed without any prompting from his media obsessed father.

Which brings me to my issue...

TEA is finding and enjoying his own media. He is developing his own tastes and flavors when it comes to media. He is becoming his own person. While part of me finds this depressing, the rest of me finds this completely thrilling.

So much of what makes us...well...us...is our media choices. They influence us, and our choices of behavior, our fashion, and our general outlook on life. (Seriously, I know that my choices regarding what I love to listen to influences my mood, and without Liz Phair, I wouldn't be attracted to certain types of women.)

TEA is growing up and it is awesome.

My hope is that he continues the path that he is on, making his own decisions and becoming the wonderful person that he already is in a larger body.