VCR's! Anyone Have A VCR?

"I'm old and set in my ways, gosh darn it! And I don't want to change, you young whipper-snapper, you!" shaking my fists in the air in protest.

That's what was running through my mind today as Mike and I stood in the electronics department, first at Walmart and then at Target, looking for a VCR. Nothing fancy, just a VCR to replace the one that quit working on us recently.

Did you know that you can't just buy a VCR nowadays? They all come as a combo unit with a DVD player. I don't need a DVD player. I have a perfectly good one yet, and I can't see the need in replacing it just so I can get a VCR in the deal. If it weren't for Mike's homemade fishing videos on VHS, we wouldn't need the darned VCR and could move into the current century like every one else.

As we stood there looking, and then looking again, for a plain VCR, a short, long-haired, youngish-looking (younger than Mike or I, anyway) store employee came up to see if we needed any help. Feeling old and not with the times, and knowing already what the answer was going to be, I asked, "Do you have any VCR's? I see you have combo units, but I want just a plain VCR."

This young, long-haired man looked at us almost like we were joking and said, "We haven't sold tapes here in about three years. We have the combo units, but no plain VCR's." I fully expected him to say "dood" in there somewhere, but he didn't, which I was thankful for since it would have only made me feel older. "They've kind of gone the way of the cassette, ya know?" he asked.

The cassette?! I still have dozens of those! I even listen to them once in a while on the stereo I had when I lived at home. Oh my God! I am old!

Tell me, when did that happen? How in the world could things like VCR's and cassette tapes ever go out of style? I remember when VCR's came out! I got my first one as a graduation gift. It was so cool! Now, it's no longer cool. It's just old. You're old if you own one, and you're definitely old if you're trying to buy on in this day and age.

So, on the comment about the cassette tapes, we left, without a VCR, or a combo unit. I'm sure we'll end up buying said combo unit, but it won't be until my ego recovers from the blow of realizing that I may no longer be as young and hip (do they say that anymore? Oh God! It's getting worse, I'm afraid.) as I thought I was.

It's a somewhat frightening realization. The body is heading toward old age, at an alarming rate, but the mind struggles to stay young. The brain has a hard time comprehending where the time went.

I just realized something else. Without a VCR, our camcorder is pretty much useless also.