How 'bout a movie?
Friday night was a good evening for a movie or two, or so I thought. I believe it’s been at least two years, probably more, since I’ve rented a movie. There are so few good ones around, so I hadn’t been to a movie in ages and I haven’t had the time to devote nearly two solid hours to sitting and watching one all the way through.
So, I convinced myself to devote Friday evening to movie watching and nothing but movie watching. My choices were “On a Clear Day” and “The Pursuit of Happyness” (even though I thought Happiness should have been spelled correctly).
There was just one problem with this plan. Several months ago a dear friend, who thought it was about time I got in touch with the real world, gave me a DVD player, brand new, still in the box. It took a few more months to have a son come and hook it all up for me. The only problem was that I needed a power strip, the aforementioned child stated, to accommodate the cord extending from the back of the DVD player. He did, however, manage to connect it to run through the VCR that was in place and run it through the opening on the rear of the entertainment center, all ready to plug in. All I needed to do was to get a power strip.
Well, that was over a month ago, so when I decided Friday evening to watch my movies of choice, of course I had no recall of the need for a power strip (that was a month ago for God’s sake, and just why do they call them ‘strips’...there’s nothing removed). Anyway, I brought the movies home and looked so forward to a night devoted to their viewing. The plan was quickly thwarted, however, when I found that I couldn’t even plug the DVD in (I actually looked for VHS copies of the movies involved, but the VHS versions are now obsolete, much like this author, I fear). Not to be undone, I decided to simply run an extension from the DVD player to another plug-in for the purpose of watching the movies, even though anyone entering through the front door would likely trip and break their face.
SO, I proceeded to pull the cord back through the little hole in the back of the entertainment center in order to plug it into an alternative spot. No doing. Not happening. I even tried hammering the plug through from the backside. Didn’t work. The hole was too small and I was bending the prongs with application of the hammer. Don’t know how the aforementioned son ever got it through, but it was not about to come out. SO, the remedy, in short, involved a serrated-edged steak knife (oh, the ex would roll over in his grave if he had one) and a little womanpower. An hour and 20 minutes later, SUCCESS! I’d compare it to daylight being sought in The Shawshank Redemption. It was a breakthrough, quite literally. I had finally sawed away enough plywood or oak or whatever, to allow enough space to drag the width of the plug through.
SO, I proceeded then to attach the extension cord and rejoiced at the sight of the power light turning red. I grabbed up “On a Clear Day” and pressed the “open” button, one of only three on the DVD player. No reaction. None. Zilch. No open. I tried every combination on both remotes, the TV and the DVD, and nothing. The little slot of a door refused to open. It would make a sound like it was thinking about it, but would then reconsider and retire. My ex once told me that I had the mechanical aptitude of a stump, and he wasn’t far from being correct, but I knew I’d done everything in my power to make this work and it refused. There were powers beyond my own at work here.
I resorted to watching my usual CNN and 20/20 and devoured three bags of popcorn (those cute little 100 calories each bags, so it was ok),but I never got to watch the movies.
It’s Sunday night and my movies are still unviewed. I’ve read the jacket synopsis on both a few times, so I have a good idea of what I’m missing, but it’s just not quite the same.
I HAVE learned something in this venture, however. There is a good reason why Movie Gallery rents movies for a five-day period. I have three more days to try to find a solution to the little door opening. My greatest fear is that once that goal is achieved, it won’t shut.
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I now know what is wrong and how to resolve the issue, but the movies are back on the shelf at Movie Gallery, so why should I bother to resolve it? I'll wait till I have another movie and another five days to figure out how to watch it. On to other things.