My Alan "Sex in the City" saga

Tery is just the sweetest girlfriend I could ever ask for. She is obviously making an effort to accept my unavoidable obsession (even though I do try to tone it down for her and not gush too much about every little Alan thing I think about) because yesterday she went to Blockbuster and actually rented the "Sex and the City" disc with the Alan episode on it. This is because everything in my life is a saga, I don't know why that is, but hardly anything is ever as simple and straightforward for me as it should be (I suspect I am being punished for my misanthropic attitude, though by who is the question, since I am also an agnostic). I saw "The Real Me" on the program guide weeks in advance, was suitably excited, but alas we don't get HBO, having jumped ship over to Showtime soon after "Oz" ended. I considered such extreme tactics as switching back just for the weekend, wondering if DirecTV would notice or even care.

I thought Tery had saved the day when she suggested that her co-worker Christy at the bar could tape it for me. She spent the next week impressing on Christy how very crucial this favor was for me, but I still had my reservations. I am sure Christy is a very nice person and everything, but had no idea if she were forgetful or alcoholic or both and really was not comfortable putting the fate of my Alan viewing solely in her hands. So I devised a backup plan, asking one of my co-workers to tape it also, even going so far as to meet him in the middle of the day with my Alan compilation tape so all he had to do was push record at the appropriate time (that's it....just one little button....doesn't sound hard, does it? No, I didn't think so either.)

I then spent a week playing tag with him as he continually forgot to bring the tape into work. One day I was absolutely mortified when he grinned at me and said I could at least have given him a tape with something else on it he would enjoy watching.....yeah, well, I don't imagine he found "Plunkett and McLeane" in 3-minute segments, all of them featuring a particularly attractive black-haired actor, terribly entertaining. I think I turned four shades of red.

Anyway, I FINALLY got my tape back and settled down Saturday night to watch it, my heart all aflutter. I excitedly pushed play....and realized with a sinking feeling that my friend had taped 30 minutes of snow. Static. Nada. When I suggested to him later he brush up on the use of his VCR he was very surprised and apologetic, but that wasn't going to bring Alan to my screen.

No matter, I had Christy's tape, right? Wrong. Tery said she didn't tape it because she had the whole series on DVD and was going to loan me the disc. I pointed out despairingly that I couldn't copy a DVD, which Tery hadn't realized. But since then I bought a new computer because my old one was complete crap and that is a very long story, anyway I now have a DVD burner. But then Christy went into the hospital with a tumor on her ovaries.

So YOU tell ME the fates aren't aligned against me for whatever reason. Go on, I'm listening.....

So the lovely Tery brought me the Blockbuster copy of "The Real Me" on DVD and I thought, great, I will just burn me a copy of it and I can die a happy girl. But having had the computer for only a week and with no experience copying DVDs (only CDs), the program proved much more obstinate than I thought it would be and my initial diagnosis is that there might be a write-protect on the Blockbuster disc preventing my success. Either that or I am just doing something wrong because I am too busy to bother with such things as instructions. Does anyone know anything about this who can help me? Tery saved the day again by suggesting we rent the VHS version, which I CAN copy with my fancy VHS-to-DVD converter, the primary reason I bought this machine.

But hey, I at least had the episode at last and could watch it to tide me over until I solved this particular conundrum, right? So I popped it in last night while Tery was in the shower, and I laughed my ass off. Not just because it is a hilarious episode, but because I recognized it instantly as one I had seen very recently (however pre-Alan obsession); how could I forget the line "Oh my God, she's fashion roadkill!" as Heidi Klum steps over poor Carrie who has just fallen on her face on the runway? Of course my heart stopped anew when Alan came on the screen, but I just couldn't get over that I had just watched this episode probably in the middle of April, probably shortly before seeing "X-Men 2" and a certain "cute mute" changed my life, and Alan had made not the slightest impression on me. To be fair, he was only in the episode for a total of 5 minutes, not enough time to showcase his vast talent.

But the funny thing is when Tabby came over later I showed it to her, and she enthusiastically pronounced she liked him much better in this than in "Josie," and when I showed her his adorable runway pic (see right) she got a little smile on her face and agreed that he WAS quite attractive. (but I suspect her newfound openness might have something to do with the fact that she has recently tried sleeping with a guy and realizes they aren't as horrible as Tery would have her think. She still thinks girls are better in bed (generally I agree) but has a little broader horizon now.) Mind you, I don't expect her to go as head-over-heels as I have, but I will be content to not be thought of as completely loony.

Okay, back to work for me. Peace