Wednesday - Damaged, but functional
May. 2nd, 2007 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermoreI'm convinced that losing your job causes certain things to break, especially those minor luxuries that you have a hard time adjusting to life without. I'm making a list of items that need replacing when I start getting a paycheck again. Topping this list are a digital camera and a television set.
For the record, I'm aware that I can live without my digital camera and television set. I just don't want to. For the time being, they are each hanging on by a thread.
The camera was the first to slip into decrepit decline on the day after I got laid off. I went in to the office that day to help my friend Astro Joe (he really does call himself that due to his fanatical love of the Houston Astros baseball team) learn how to do my former job. I decided that after I left the office I would visit my cousin, Aly, who had just had a baby, since she lived 10 minutes from my old job. I grabbed my camera running out the door that morning in case her new son was cute and I wanted to take his picture. If he turned out to be ugly, I figured I could leave the camera in my purse and pretend I forgot it.
He turned out to be kind of cute. Unfortunately, my camera wouldn't turn on. I replaced the batteries, and still nothing. I figured it was toast, and perhaps a bad omen about my upcoming job search.
It wasn't, however. I tried turning it on again 2 days after I replaced the batteries, and it worked fine. I've since figured out its dying quirks. If I let the camera turn off automatically, as it does when it sits inactive for too long, it takes 24 hours to recover and become usable again. If I let the batteries run low out of juice, it recovers 48 hours after new batteries are put in. I can tell whether it's going to work by checking to see if the lens rises out of the camera when I switch it on. If it gets a morning erection, then it will shoot that day. If the lens lies flat against the camera then it isn't sleeping,it's dead.
When I was younger I drove cars that had similar quirks that kept anyone but me from being able to drive them. I'm grateful that, for the time being, my car works fine. Excuse me while I knock on some wood before I tell you what's wrong with my TV.
The TV still works; its got a picture and sound, and the channels change. The only thing amiss is that the screen has sunk deep into the box that it sits in, and lists at an angle. If I tilt my head a bit, this doesn't bother me so much. It is an older set, and I suspect that the plastic has grown brittle from years of being exposed to electricity and heat. This, and the fact that my toddler likes to push against the screen to try to get to the pictures inside of it, has caused the TV to fall apart.
You may be thinking, "Wow, you only have one TV? You poor thing!" While I will own up to being a poor thing (and getting poorer every day), the truth is that I only have one TV by choice. My mother looked down on watching TV and I've never felt a need to have one in every room of the house. For personal and philosophical reasons, I only watch TV in the living room, since I've better things to do in the kitchen, bath and bedroom. Still, if I’m going to limit myself to one TV, its nice if that one happens to work. I'm addicted to certain shows, some of which are closing in on their season finales. That last fact caused me to panic a little bit when I though that I had broken my TV for good last night.
When screen first fell crooked, Jeff announced that we should not touch the set lest we break something else inside of it that would make it not work at all. When he wasn't watching, though, I tipped the set forward and made the screen fall back into its proper position. This was fine until my son pushed it back into the box at a worse angle than before. Last night I got the idea that if I put a few of my son's Mega Blocks (giant Legos) into the set and got the screen to rest on them, maybe the angle wouldn't be so obvious. After maneuvering the screen and turning the TV on its front and both its sides, I finally got it to look kind of like a normal TV again. Sort of. Then I tried to turn it on.
Nothing.
I imagined the conversation Jeff and I were destined to have. He would point out that he said not to touch the TV, and had I listened it would still be watchable. I would reply that since it was my TV before we got married, technically speaking it was not community property and I could touch it if I wanted to. He would then point out that even if it wasn't community property, it was still the only TV that we had and I broke it. Then I would say that TV rots your brain and that we were better off without it, all the while pretending that missing the final episodes of Lost and Heroes was not weighing heavily on my mind. Jeff might then point out something that he brought into the marriage, perhaps the bedroom furniture, that he could tear apart and break since it was his. I would say that he could go ahead because I hate the bedroom furniture, and always have. He would stomp out of the house to brood.
In other words, the conversation would not go well. I started to sweat. Then I noticed something: in all my turning of the television set, it had come unplugged. Once the power was restored, it worked fine. Crooked, but fine.
I'm not going to mess with it anymore. At least not until I've watched the final episode of Heroes and landed a new job.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
For the record, I'm aware that I can live without my digital camera and television set. I just don't want to. For the time being, they are each hanging on by a thread.
The camera was the first to slip into decrepit decline on the day after I got laid off. I went in to the office that day to help my friend Astro Joe (he really does call himself that due to his fanatical love of the Houston Astros baseball team) learn how to do my former job. I decided that after I left the office I would visit my cousin, Aly, who had just had a baby, since she lived 10 minutes from my old job. I grabbed my camera running out the door that morning in case her new son was cute and I wanted to take his picture. If he turned out to be ugly, I figured I could leave the camera in my purse and pretend I forgot it.
He turned out to be kind of cute. Unfortunately, my camera wouldn't turn on. I replaced the batteries, and still nothing. I figured it was toast, and perhaps a bad omen about my upcoming job search.
It wasn't, however. I tried turning it on again 2 days after I replaced the batteries, and it worked fine. I've since figured out its dying quirks. If I let the camera turn off automatically, as it does when it sits inactive for too long, it takes 24 hours to recover and become usable again. If I let the batteries run low out of juice, it recovers 48 hours after new batteries are put in. I can tell whether it's going to work by checking to see if the lens rises out of the camera when I switch it on. If it gets a morning erection, then it will shoot that day. If the lens lies flat against the camera then it isn't sleeping,it's dead.
When I was younger I drove cars that had similar quirks that kept anyone but me from being able to drive them. I'm grateful that, for the time being, my car works fine. Excuse me while I knock on some wood before I tell you what's wrong with my TV.
The TV still works; its got a picture and sound, and the channels change. The only thing amiss is that the screen has sunk deep into the box that it sits in, and lists at an angle. If I tilt my head a bit, this doesn't bother me so much. It is an older set, and I suspect that the plastic has grown brittle from years of being exposed to electricity and heat. This, and the fact that my toddler likes to push against the screen to try to get to the pictures inside of it, has caused the TV to fall apart.
You may be thinking, "Wow, you only have one TV? You poor thing!" While I will own up to being a poor thing (and getting poorer every day), the truth is that I only have one TV by choice. My mother looked down on watching TV and I've never felt a need to have one in every room of the house. For personal and philosophical reasons, I only watch TV in the living room, since I've better things to do in the kitchen, bath and bedroom. Still, if I’m going to limit myself to one TV, its nice if that one happens to work. I'm addicted to certain shows, some of which are closing in on their season finales. That last fact caused me to panic a little bit when I though that I had broken my TV for good last night.
When screen first fell crooked, Jeff announced that we should not touch the set lest we break something else inside of it that would make it not work at all. When he wasn't watching, though, I tipped the set forward and made the screen fall back into its proper position. This was fine until my son pushed it back into the box at a worse angle than before. Last night I got the idea that if I put a few of my son's Mega Blocks (giant Legos) into the set and got the screen to rest on them, maybe the angle wouldn't be so obvious. After maneuvering the screen and turning the TV on its front and both its sides, I finally got it to look kind of like a normal TV again. Sort of. Then I tried to turn it on.
Nothing.
I imagined the conversation Jeff and I were destined to have. He would point out that he said not to touch the TV, and had I listened it would still be watchable. I would reply that since it was my TV before we got married, technically speaking it was not community property and I could touch it if I wanted to. He would then point out that even if it wasn't community property, it was still the only TV that we had and I broke it. Then I would say that TV rots your brain and that we were better off without it, all the while pretending that missing the final episodes of Lost and Heroes was not weighing heavily on my mind. Jeff might then point out something that he brought into the marriage, perhaps the bedroom furniture, that he could tear apart and break since it was his. I would say that he could go ahead because I hate the bedroom furniture, and always have. He would stomp out of the house to brood.
In other words, the conversation would not go well. I started to sweat. Then I noticed something: in all my turning of the television set, it had come unplugged. Once the power was restored, it worked fine. Crooked, but fine.
I'm not going to mess with it anymore. At least not until I've watched the final episode of Heroes and landed a new job.
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-02 10:52 pm (UTC)I'm assuming you still have internet and a PC? You can probably watch the shows online if you end up missing them. At least, if they're not on the network's site they're usually on YouTube about 3 days later.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:32 pm (UTC)I have dial-up at home, so watching TV is not really feasible. Besides, sitting at a desk watching TV would suck. I guess I could use the Internet at the library, but watching TV at the library just feels wrong (in large part because I would need to wear more than a T shirt and a pair of panties, which sucks the joy out of the whole process).
no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:49 pm (UTC)OK, you talked me into it. Keep an eye on the news tonight - there may be a story about a woman getting tossed out of the Tomball branch of the Harris County Library for indecent and disturbing behavior. Since I have family in town, I plan to hide my face behind my hands for the perp walk out to the cop car, but maybe you can recognize me by my hair. ;D
no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 12:37 am (UTC)HAHAHA! Thats so sweet! hahah! You literally made me shoot diet coke thru my nostril! How could he be not cute when Rorie is toooooo cute? You're so silly! I still have yet to see him cause I'm a goshawful terrible friend! I need to do that soon.
Dude, at least your car still works!
I donno how people live with only one tv or no tv at all. I could NEVER do it! We have a tv in our room, one in the living room & one in Gabby's room. All of them have DVRs and are connected to cable. I think I'd DIE without it. Like, literally DIE! We didn't have cable for a couple of weeks a while back and it was like living in HELL!
I do need my "luxury" items! My digital camera, cable, AC in my car, My Sidekick3 cell phone that has internet, IMs, email and unlimited text msg. Without those things I'm lost. My phone got semi shut off a few weeks weeks ago (notice how my shit gets turned off a lot?). My husband likes to FORGET about bills due so things get inevidibly shut off. Anyhow, I literally had a panic attack and a near emotional breakdown all over my cell phone. Ya, I need a life.
Before you say I'm spoiled and I should know real hardship....yes I am horribly spoiled but, I've also known real hardship. When I was about 15 I lived with my dad and our electricity was shut off for weeks cause he couldnt pay the bill. We ate cold beanie weenies for weeks and weeks. That was a tough time. Now I like my luxuries and I feel like I'm 15 again if I don't have these things.
I hope you find a job soon. I know its a huge stress :o(
no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:41 pm (UTC)I grew up on a limited TV diet, and I limit my consumption to this day largely to keep my poor mother from rolling over in her grave. Besides, my stepmother has TVs in every freaking room of her house, and having only one allows me to look down on her in an intellectually snobbish sort of way. Having more than one TV would make me lose my moral high ground in our relationship, and I enjoy it way too much to give it up (almost as much as I enjoy watching Heroes). ;P
no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:44 pm (UTC)Fun fun stuff
no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 04:22 pm (UTC)It also occurred to me after I posted my comment that I should have added that it does not seem specific to people who just lost jobs. My husband just recently went back to work and not two weeks later the sh** started hitting the fan. :O) It's like "HA! You thought you would have money! MUUUahahahhaha. I eat your money. No money for you! Your income will go up and I will simultaneously make your debt go up!" I posted last week my lengthy list of appliances behaving badly. :O) Good luck!