This Is Not A Video

You're smart people. It would be tough for me to dupe you. If I didn't know you so well, I might attempt to coax you into believing that the new video camera that I bought last week has already enhanced all our lives by giving me the ability to post insightful, instructional, and entertaining videos, here, on OmGal.com. I might even ask if you enjoyed Sunday's post, which I spent three hours filming, featuring an effective ab-blasting, yoga-inspired exercise in time for Turkey Day. Or, perhaps you got a chuckle out of my brother, Reece (Om Bro, as he aptly named himself), using our parents' kitchen as a make shift gym on Thanksgiving morning. From your prolific comments (you remember writing those, right?), I gathered that some of you found tricep dips using the kitchen counters quite innovative; others thought we were a bit daft (and you are entitled to think so). I bet you loved today's clip, especially the crafty, DIY types, looking for cheap, eco-chic ideas for holiday gifts or projects for the kids, using mostly recyclable ingredients.

Alas, we are all resigned to a different fate today. Despite three separate, investigative visits to Best Buy, hours of Internet research; incessant polling of people who knew a lot (my pal who heads up the video component on Madonna's tour right now) or next to nothing (the "Geniuses" at Apple- lovely young folks, all, but no help regarding the compatibility of their computers with camcorders); and endless internal debates in my own, limited brain; I clearly landed myself in exactly the predicament I sought to avoid . . . I have a new high-tech toy but can't play with it.

Or, rather, I can play with it; I can take video clips, but then, I'm limited to watching them on the gadget's four-inch screen. Um, sweet.

I'm not sure what the zen lesson is in all this. Perhaps it's don't throw a nutter on the phone with the nice customer service representative (I didn't). Or, life is a journey not a destination, which is fine by me since the files never made it to their final destination- my computer- anyway. Be in the present moment, rather than trying to capture it for eternity on film? I'm still unsure which revelation might deliver me to a state of enlightenment and understanding, so for now, I'm headed back to Best Buy. Wish me luck.