No. 833 – Don’t Cry

Performer: Seal

Songwriter: Seal

Original Release: Seal (II)

Year: 1994

Definitive Version: None

OK, that’s enough death for awhile.

At the top of my to-buy wish list after I moved to Columbus was a state-of-the-art home-entertainment system. I knew all the components that I wanted and I purchased them piecemeal—only when I found them on sale. The last piece to the puzzle was the TV.

Like most kids, I watched TV all the time, but as I got older and had more to do in the evenings, I watched less. By the time I moved to Columbus in 1994, about all I ever watched were sports, and movies and shows on HBO. The rest of the time, if I was watching TV, it was videotapes.

So buying a TV wasn’t a priority. I wanted a bigger screen, because my TV was a kitchen hand-me-down, and the ol’ 14-incher didn’t look so good surrounded by an awesome receiver, dual tape deck, five-disc CD carousel (all Sony), four-head VCR (Sanyo) and speakers (Bose).

I finally got the proper motivation to buy form the start of the Ohio State football season. For various reasons, I had stopped being an OSU fan by this time (a sacrilege, I know). But Debbie was a big fan and couldn’t wait for the season to start, so the day of the first game—a Monday night game at Fresno State—I decided to get a new TV and have it all set up in time for her to come over afer work and watch.

I went to the (not-so-dearly) now-long-departed Sun TV, where the salesmen worked on commission and bugged you every step after you hit the floor—even when you were just going to buy blank cassettes. Used to drive me crazy.

Anyway, I sucked it up and weaved my way through the picket fence to my chosen model—a 27-incher by Sharp. It was the biggest screen that would fit in the entertainment center that I had bought and was still in my wheelhouse price-wise, about $400.

Was I in for a rude awakening when I got home and had to get that thing out of my car, into my apartment and into the entertainment center by myself. It weighed a freakin’ ton! But I had it all set up in time for the 8 p.m. local time kickoff … by which time Debbie had already fallen asleep on the couch.

It turns out, I must have known what I was doing, because every piece of equipment that I bought, except for the VCR, which failed last year, is still in good working order. I still use the music equipment and Scott has the TV. I hardly ever watch TV at all—I don’t even have cable any more—so he can have it (and the fun of trying to move it).

I did finally spring for a new rig, but that’s a story for another time.