Cool, But Crazy

Sometimes, things just go haywire. And if they can't be solved through conventional ways, you might as well try out the unconventional solutions. By “unconventional”, I mean “bizarre” and “crazy”.

Sometimes, I wonder if I’m sane. For starters, sane people just don’t go around questioning their sanity. Thinking of the crazy thing I’ve just done recently, I’m pretty sure it warrants me a place in a sanitarium.

You see, I bought a Futurama Season I DVD last week. For some reason, my whimsical DVD drive just refused to let me watch the movies, except for the first episode. Everytime I tried to load the other episodes, the computer would completely be suspended in motion, until I ejected the disk from the drive.

In and out. In and out. I repeatedly inserted and ejected the disk and it was by chance that Lady Luck walked by at one moment and I succeeded in opening the second file! Imagine my joy and awe as I quickly salvaged what I could into the hard disk. Not much, actually. Just episodes one and two.

Stupid DVD! I went to the shop and complained about the faulty disk. The amiable guy at the counter tried it on his computer and – whadda heck? – it worked! So there I was, standing there, never feeling more awkward.

“I think the problem is with your DVD driver. You have a combo drive?”

I nodded. He then went on explaining that combo drives just don’t work as well as DVD drives. Nevertheless, he changed another disk for me, which still didn’t work when I later tried it out.

Stupid combo drive! I just want to give it a kick and yell like Bender from Futurama, “Bite my shiny ass!” Sorry, DVD. I’ve misjudged you.

And so, I turned to Tan Sri, a.k.a. the Tech Guru for help – we always do when we are having problems with our computers. I disconnected my antediluvian four-gigabyte hard disk and asked him to help me to copy over the files from the DVD.

After a week-long anticipation, the Tech Guru eventually announced that the disk was to be blamed. He had no better luck than I did – only managed to access a few more files than I could.

Okay. Stupid DVD! Sorry, combo drive. I’ve misjudged you. Then, what I did last night was totally unimaginable, or can I say, ingenious?

I could faintly recollect that the Tech Guru mentioned something about the disk getting heated up pretty fast. I don’t know where I got the idea, but I cooled down the DVD in the air-con vents before playing it. Jeez, it worked! But I only managed to copy four files before the disk got heated up again. Then, I would sit back and enjoy what I’d got so far, laughing away at Bender’s ridiculous punch lines while waiting for the disk to supercool at the air vents. It was thus that I eventually got everything on my hard disk. Whoopee!

So, next time when your computer chokes up, immerse it in nitrogen liquid… Or maybe, a bucket of iced water will do just fine.

It’s official. I’m nuts.