CJ Barry blogged about her adventures trying to replace her keyboard. She finally solved a problem by taking two that wouldn't work and replacing the broken part on one with a part from the other. This involved opening the keyboard and dealing with technology.

It reminded me of how stupid I am sometimes when it comes to fixing things. I remember once when I bought my first serious stereo system. It was a Yorx (okay, I was 18 and didn't have a lot of money, so $80 was a lot then). The system had a turntable, graphic equalizer, huge speakers, and....DUAL CASSETTES!! (cue horns).

The first week, I am really excited because there's a special interview with Wham! on that Saturday: music, info, George Michael actually speaking. (This was before he came out of the closet, though rumors abounded. Did I mention I was 18?)

So I pop in a cassette tape, ready to record his melodious voice so I can then play it all the time. (Did I mention that I was 18 and completly nuts about GM? I had his poster taped to the ceiling right above my bed, so when I woke, I could see him. Well, actually I couldn't 'see' him because I'm blind as a bat without glasses. But I KNEW he was up there. To the right is the picture that I had - GM in a muscle tee.)

Okay, so I have the tape in, the minutes are ticking down till the start of Rick Dee's interview, and I decide I had better do a test run - this is a high-priced piece of equipment, new to me. So, I push record, but I can't get the button to go down all the way. IT WON'T RECORD!!! Panic ensues. (Did I mention that I'm 18 and things like hearing GM sing "Different Corner" make me cry and long to be Mrs. GM? That when he came out with "Faith," and I would hear him sing 'Because I gotta have Faith, I gotta have Faith..." I would respond: "I'm changing my name to Faith"?)

So when faced with a mechanical failure of a high priced piece of technology, do I prudently wait and ask my father or brother? Do I take it to a stereo shop? No, I dig out my screwdriver and start poking around. In my GM intoxicated state, I somehow believe the gods of technology will guide my standard screwdriver into somehow jabbing at the right bit of molded plastic and thus fix the problem in time for me to record GM. (Did I mention I'm 18 and though I owned every piece of Wham! merchandise an Oklahoma girl could get her hands on - but of course not the merchandise I REALLY wanted - the thought of missing a static-filled radio interview by Rick Dees - of Disco Duck fame - was simply unthinkable).

I think it was Johnny Mercer who said "Something's gotta give..." - well it wasn't the screwdriver. Yep, I broke my brand new cassette deck. And the tragedy of it all (other than not getting to tape the GM interview) is that it wasn't broken at all. The cassette I was using had the safety tab popped off preventing someone from taping on it.

Duh.

Double Duh.

I still feel like an idiot 21 years later. Of course, that's nothing compared to being that last person to admit that GM is gay, and then only after the incident in that San Francisco bathroom came out.

I still have the poster I hung over my bed. And a scrapbook that documents my obsession with George Michael. I don't, though, have the stereo. Now I have a cute Dell DJ 30 iPod Nano (electric blue), and you can bet, I'm not letting a screwdriver come near that baby.