boodleism boodleize boodler boodlers

(the above is my latest favorite spam-email subject line.)

I'm going to tell a very long story that will have a very tiny point at the very end:

In 1997, I was up on King's Mountain at my friend Julie's house looking through quilt material and discussing cactus-growing, and at one point she said, "Oh, and I have this old record player if you want to take it; I have a newer one."

So I took it. It was cool; all cream & teal, with 4 speeds (16, 33, 45, 78) and an automatic arm, AND an amp, with balance controls, and an auxiliary input, and the choice between mono and stereo sound, and rca speaker outputs.... But it had a specialized electric plug on the back and was missing the cord. So I didn't ever get around to hooking it up to my stereo.

And then I moved to the east coast, and I brought the record player with me. I put clear packing tape across the top to hold the plastic boxy cover on it. It traveled well, but went into storage immediately because I was staying at my dad's temporarily and didn't have my stereo set up.

A few weeks ago, cleaning out my storage unit, I found it again and brought it into the apartment. I took the packing tape off, feeling like I was in a time-warp, like it was just yesterday that I'd taped it up.

It sat in the kitchen for awhile.

Then last week, I purchased some wire and a plug. I put them on top of the record player, and let everything sit in the kitchen for awhile longer.

Then last night, I took the bottom off the record player and jerry-rigged a new cord connection. Plugged it in. After 10 years of lugging this thing around with me, I finally fixed the cord problem, and plugged the thing in!

And the motor that runs the turntable is dead. Dead as a doornail. The amp functions and the little light comes on, but the thing doesn't turn.

But I really really wanted to hear some records, so I hooked it into my stereo system anyway, and sat on the floor of the living room for a long time, listening to records. I listened to about 5 full-length LPs, sitting on the floor, twirling the turntable around with my finger. It was a fun challenge to see how 'automated' I could make my arm, to keep the thing moving at a constant speed.

And this morning I noticed that I have a small blister on the end of my middle finger.

But my point is this: It's a lot easier to get a 78 rpm record to sound right than a 33 1/3 when you're playing it by hand.