THANK YOU, Walt Disney!

This weekend was, as always, an amazing escape to Hanoi to see wonderful friends, eat wonderful food, and (least self-centered of all!) buy DVDs and American candy (per their request) for my students, who have been so hard-working lately that they have been very much deserving of a movie day and a Hershey Kisses binge.

This weekend at my favorite DVD store, I bought Cinderella and Happy Feet (75 cents each) to add to my collection of Toy Story, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. I was most excited to show my class Happy Feet (and talked all weekend about how excited I was to watch it with them), but ever the benevolent democratic leader, I wanted to feign the idea of choice to my students by using some of those great social psychology manipulation tactics: "We could watch this movie about a mermaid, OR we could watch this really super awesome movie about penguins who sing and dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

In retrospect, I should have known that the Universe would not look highly on my selfish desires to impose my OWN cinematic will upon my students and would come around to bite me in the butt, karma-wise.

Ever the professional and planning-ahead teacher, I tested out both new DVDs while I was eating lunch, just to make sure that they both worked before I showed up for class at 1. What I didn't think to test ahead of time, however, was whether or not both DVDs were truly DVDs.

Turns out that Happy Feet is actually a Blu-Ray disc and was shelved in the wrong section of the DVD store, and it also turns out that Macbook Pro computers cannot process Blu-Ray discs. Oops. Should have read the label more closely before inserting it into my disc drive...

Now my computer is in a bit of a pickle, and the DVD Blue-Ray disc is stuck. After spending about an hour before class on various Mac fix-it forums online, I tried almost everything they suggested: re-start the computer and hold it sideways with the disc drive facing down so gravity unsticks the disc, use a thin-bladed knife to pry the DVD out (I abstained from trying this suggestion; for some bizarre reason, the idea of putting a knife in my DVD drive just doesn't sound like the best idea to me!), use a folded business card or credit card covered in double-stick tape and try to pull the DVD out, press all kinds of button commands, everything. And nothing- no ejected Blu-Ray.

At this point, I was really starting to panic, both for the integrity of my lesson plan (which mainly just included watching movies and discussing them- not so easy to do when your DVD drive is broken!) as well as for the integrity of my DVD-watching career! Anxious and starting to sweat from the effort of trying all these weird Mac tricks, I called Mr. Duc and asked his permission to reschedule my classes so I could spend the afternoon tinkering with my computer instead. Luckily, he seemed fine with this idea and now I am in my room, continuing to do everything but stick a knife in my DVD drive.

The best part of this whole situation, though? To let K2B know that I had cancelled their class for the afternoon, I texted Luong-Man, our class monitor, and asked her to pass on the message that I couldn't be in class because I would be working on my computer. Here is our dialogue:

A: Hi Luong Man, I am having troubles with my computer right now so I am going to spend the afternoon trying to fix it. Class is cancelled today- please tell your classmates I will meet with you all NEXT WEEK. 

L-M: Hakuna matata! I will talk with our class. See you soon! 

A: Thank you for the hakuna matata! I am very worried about my computer right now, so thank you for reminding me of NO WORRIES! See you next week! :-) 

L-M: Hakuna matata! I think you should go to Hanoi to fix your computer because it is very rare in Ha Tinh! :D

I am so grateful that I showed K2B the Lion King a few weeks ago and that they became absolutely obsessed with the phrase "Hakuna Matata!" At times like this, it is so helpful and wonderful to be reminded of NO WORRIES! You're right, Luong-Man: hakuna matata!


I will figure out how to get this Blu-Ray disc out of my drive (and promptly throw it away so that I never make the mistake of trying to insert it into my computer again!), and all will return to normal. I will be able to finish season 8 of Will and Grace (the entire series for only $10- thank you Hanoi!), and will be able to show my classes Cinderella and Toy Story. Until then, hakuna matata! No worries!