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This last weekend I got to partake in a ritual that has been a part of my friend’s life for a while now, the annual day of nothingness. Essentially it’s just a day for a small group of guys to hang out, eat junk food, play games and generally have a great time. Most of the time was spent playing Modern Warfare 2, which is one of my favorite games, so I was happy. But, the event wasn’t problem-free. Our #2 TV, a 50″ Sony LCD wasn’t powering on, so we had to man-handle it and show it who was boss. And by show it who’s boss I mean we removed the back of the television and stared at the mysterious inner-workings of the beast for a few moments.
As you might expect we poked and prodded at the mysterious electrical components, hoping to jar one of the surely misplaced elements into its proper place. After we were sure our work was done we plugged the power cable in (before putting the back on) and amazingly, with God’s wonderful grace, it worked, we had succeeded, though none of us knew what we had done.
We begin furiously screwing the back of the TV on, visions of the head-2-head gaming carnage that would soon take place dancing in our little heads. Finally, what seemed to be the millionth screw was secured in place and we plugged the TV in again to verify that we weren’t imagining things with our earlier test.
Nothingness.
Somehow the Sony LCD had developed a profound and mysterious rejection of its own components, like a body rejecting the gift of a donated, life-giving organ. The only logical solution was to remove the back panel again and use the naked, mechanical monstrosity in its most natural state; throwing off all of the dead weight of components added for the sole purpose of setting the minds of its owners at ease. Sure enough, cover was removed, the TV was plugged in and with the push of a button it was alive again.
In the end the games we were playing didn’t have much system link support, at least not in a way that allowed all 4 of us to play at once, but it was all about the journey. The men we were by the end of day 2 would not have recognized the men of the day before, and it’s not just because they would be so confused by the time machine.