I'm usually an anti-technology luddite, but even I can admit that the greatest thing the 21st century ever invented: The skip button. Allows me to watch 2-hour movies in about 30 minutes, watch whole TV series in a few hours (depending on the number of episodes), and saves a bunch of time that I'd previously spent just waiting for the plot to develop. I feel sorry for my 12-year-old self sitting at home on the couch having to sit through (gasp) commercials. Sure I could channel surf and change the channel to something else, but there was no way to speed up an episode of live TV at least. Kids nowadays might not know about the 1990s way of watching movies, which was VCR of all things, and you could actually fast forward, but it was just a clunky way of doing things, you didn't know how long you were skipping ahead (a problem now solved by the "skip ahead 15 seconds" button). People nowadays have it so good.
MJ is a BIG proponent of the skip button especially due to her obsessive patterns of watching TV series: Once she gets hooked on a TV series, which is not that often, but when she does, she can't wait to finish it, so she has to finish THE WHOLE SEASON in one night. In one sitting. That's like eating a whole 16-oz party size bag of chips in one sitting, or drinking a whole gallon of milk in one sitting. It's a lot.
The other valuable technology in watching TV shows (Netflix, Max, Hulu, Disney+, whatever is your poison) is the subtitles settings and cc (closed captioning). Having basically taught myself Japanese (and very basic Korean) from watching Japanese TV shows and turning on the English captions, I know how valuable watching TV is (it keeps you entertained while you're learning) so I try to keep my mind active even while doing a very passive activity like watching TV. There's 2 different but (almost) equally effective ways to do this: listen to the English audio and turn on the subtitles for the foreign language of your choice, OR set the audio to the foreign language of your choice, and set the CC to English. Not available for every show on the streaming networks, of course, and the more obscure the show is (smaller audience), the less likely it is to be available. But if we're talking mainstream stuff like "The Mandalorian" or re-runs of "Breaking Bad" or MJ's favorite, "And Just Like That" (a Sex and the City sequel series after Sarah Jessica Parker essentially forced Kim Cattrall out of the show) there is an impressive list of options available and many languages to choose from. Apparently a lot of people tune in to see (spoiler alert) Mr. Big pass away on a Peloton.
The other day at the platelet donation with the Vein Whisperer, I was reminded of how important it is to have the remote control available and both "Skip" and "language settings" tools available- donating platelets means both arms are unavailable, so I couldn't change the movie once I had started it, but I also couldn't change the settings after the needle went in, so when one episode finished (did I mention platelet donations can go on for 2-3 hours?) the language settings reverted all back to English and I didn't have the captions anymore: my instinct to always need to be studying or learning something and not just wasting time kicked in. One of the nurses unfortunately told me she couldn't help with the device because then she'd have to recalibrate all the remote controls, but then the Vein Whisperer came back to fix the remote and just placed the remote literally in my hand, and the remote was bluetooth, so I didn't have to point it at the TV, which is difficult since bending one's arm is difficult when you have a needle sticking into it. Just kind of goes to show the disparate treatment that healthcare professionals give to patients; I realize that some patients are needy and overdemanding, but I'm usually not like that! (Just realized that asking for the remote to change the language settings for my personal studying needs is probably a little needy and high maintenance, but like, I literally cannot move my arms, so it'd be nice for the nurse to show a little compassion and help?) Maybe she wished there was a "skip" button to skip my demand and go on to the next person.
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