Farewell, my faithful friend

Today I had to say goodbye to a trusted friend. It was a friend who saw me through my final year of high school, four years of college and all the years since. We've been close throughout, virtually interacting on a nightly basis.

When I wasn't around, my friend would save things for me to enjoy when I got back home. When I was home, he would entertain me endlessly, with hours upon hours of enjoyable stories and interesting information.

Yes, tonight I had to accept the inevitable, and said goodbye to the VCR my parents bought me as a Christmas gift back in 1995.

It will be a tough parting. He no longer functions as a VCR, just as a receiver for my digital cable.

You see, last night, he became enamored with a cassette of old Star Trek episodes I'd placed inside of him, and REFUSED to let the tape back out again. I was forced, when I returned home today, to remove the backing screws, pull off the casing and liberate the tape manually.

Now my VCR will no longer accept any tapes at all as it pines for the tape I ripped from its loins.

Ah, well...it was time to purchase a new one anyway.