FRUSTRATION
All I wanted to do was watch Obama's inaugural speech, live. To be able to say to my grandchildren, I saw this moment live.
The speech was to take place immediately after the oath, which would be at 17.00 GMT. Criminal procedure lessons generally finish at five o'clock, so I figured I'd miss the oath, and I was bummed about that. But I thought if I rushed down to the BVC computer room right at five, I'd get the speech.
Well, first stumbling block: class scheduled to finish at 17.15 today. Fuckit. At 17.00 sharp, I'm finished practising and feedbacking examination-in-chief with my partner. Tutor is giving extensive feedback to another group. I KNOW that the only other thing we'll do is have a fairly pointless group feedback session, so I indicate to tutor that I'm dying to leave, and why, and she says that's fine.
I rush down to the BVC computer room and at first see no spare computer.
Spare computer identified, it has no earphones. Successfully get someone else's permission to take earphones off her computer.
Computer is taking for AGES to load. For ever and ever amen.
Finally loaded, try C-Span.
C-Span is totally not loading.
Try BBC. Try BBC livestreaming of inaugural address: "This programme is not working right now. Try again later."
MSNBC. Ha, success! But wait. No sound. No sound? Why no sound?
Fiddle with earphones. Fiddle with volume on MSNBC. Sound controls on computer have been made inaccessible. FUCK.
So I rushed over here, to the basement computer room in the opposite building, and get MSNBC loaded (still stalling on occasion) and got in halfway through (ed: have just read the poem and realised I got in) right at the beginning of the inaugural poem. I missed the entire speech (ed: by a whisper).
I saw the election. I stayed up all night to watch it. And I saw his victory speech. And the inaugural address will be replayed and highlighted ad nauseum, it will be available for download in full, it will even be YouTube'd. I know this.
But I wanted to see it live. This historic moment when a black man became the president of the most powerful nation on earth, I wanted to see live.
The speech was to take place immediately after the oath, which would be at 17.00 GMT. Criminal procedure lessons generally finish at five o'clock, so I figured I'd miss the oath, and I was bummed about that. But I thought if I rushed down to the BVC computer room right at five, I'd get the speech.
Well, first stumbling block: class scheduled to finish at 17.15 today. Fuckit. At 17.00 sharp, I'm finished practising and feedbacking examination-in-chief with my partner. Tutor is giving extensive feedback to another group. I KNOW that the only other thing we'll do is have a fairly pointless group feedback session, so I indicate to tutor that I'm dying to leave, and why, and she says that's fine.
I rush down to the BVC computer room and at first see no spare computer.
Spare computer identified, it has no earphones. Successfully get someone else's permission to take earphones off her computer.
Computer is taking for AGES to load. For ever and ever amen.
Finally loaded, try C-Span.
C-Span is totally not loading.
Try BBC. Try BBC livestreaming of inaugural address: "This programme is not working right now. Try again later."
MSNBC. Ha, success! But wait. No sound. No sound? Why no sound?
Fiddle with earphones. Fiddle with volume on MSNBC. Sound controls on computer have been made inaccessible. FUCK.
So I rushed over here, to the basement computer room in the opposite building, and get MSNBC loaded (still stalling on occasion) and got in halfway through (ed: have just read the poem and realised I got in) right at the beginning of the inaugural poem. I missed the entire speech (ed: by a whisper).
I saw the election. I stayed up all night to watch it. And I saw his victory speech. And the inaugural address will be replayed and highlighted ad nauseum, it will be available for download in full, it will even be YouTube'd. I know this.
But I wanted to see it live. This historic moment when a black man became the president of the most powerful nation on earth, I wanted to see live.