OK, I admit it. Call me sick. Call me unbalanced.
I'm kind of obsessed with the end of the world.
But I'm not alone in being fascinated by the apocalypse. Consider the success of TV series such as "The Walking Dead" and movies such as the recently released "Interstellar." People like seeing the world go up in flames, whether by global famine, an undead legion or any number of other calamities.
It's not just the fictional apocalypse that interests people. National Geographic's "Doomsday Preppers" reality series has spent four seasons documenting American families who are stockpiling ammunition and freeze-dried food to see them through the aftermath of the end of days.
And see, that's what interests me. What I really like to ponder is how we survive in the world that rises from the ashes.
In a sense, I've been a prepper myself for a long time but not in the way you're probably imagining. My sole source of water is the sink or an apocalypse-unsuitable Brita pitcher. I don't even have the 72 hours of emergency supplies the government recommends keeping on hand at all times.
In a truly cataclysmic scenario, such as the Yellowstone supervolcano belching out death and destruction, I'd undoubtedly be one of the bodies at the base of the pile.
What I'm prepping for is decidedly less catastrophic: the end of cloud-based entertainment.
According to the most recent statistics, Netflix has 53 million customers, and Spotify has over 40 million. Many of those people probably have sold off their old DVDs and CDs in the interest of saving space in their homes by relying on purely digital entertainment.
Not me. As much as I love and support those services, I worry about their long-term viability. What happens if the servers go out? How will I binge-watch "Mad Men?" How will I listen to Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue?"
Simple. By turning to my embarrassingly large horde of outmoded, but soft-apocalypse-proof, entertainment. My collection of movies and CDs was once borderline obscenely large, but even as I've pared it down, I've set aside a slightly less embarrassingly large collection of essential items in case the digital plug is pulled.
After all, how would I endure a rise in global sea levels without Robert Plant singing "When the Levee Breaks" in the background? If that's "survival," then count me out.
How about you? What movies, music or - if you must - books do you want to have in your underground bunker when society collapses? Email me your list, and we'll compare notes.
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.