Looking at Tim through the angle of the camcorder

THIS IS SO DISAPPOINTING! Sometimes, when people borrow something from you and they return it in damaged condition, it’s more than just “simply annoying”....

A month ago, Timothy – a co-editor in The Pioneer and a classmate – borrowed my Sony camcorder because of some grounds I never thought to pose. Then, after a week, he told me that he was still using it. Two weeks had passed, he was absent in class. Three weeks has passed, he brought it with the case yet I didn’t see the camcorder then. (So I thought he lost it!)


Then, he explicated that there’s something wrong with the cam. However, the glance in his eyes meant as if it wasn’t his fault; that someone ruined it before he borrowed it from me.

When he spoke, he told me, “Bakit ganun yung cam mo noh? Sira na talaga siya noh….” (In English: Why is your cam like that? It was really ruined even before right….)

So I answered, “Oo sira na talaga siya. Simula nga nung una mo’ng binalik sa’kin ganun na siya eh…” (Yes it was really ruined since the first time you brought it back…)

With my respond, Tim decided to return it only when he would have it fixed first. Pragmatically, I was thinking that Tim would have to spend money in having it fixed by a shop. Still, I let him do so because there’s just something I am definite about….

****

I’ll never forget that day… The first time Tim borrowed that camcorder from me was when he interviewed a street child for our project in Editorial, Features and Column Writing (EFC). We were to feature either a prostitute or a street child. He chose the latter. When he conducted his interview, I lent him my camcorder, considering the fact that he has already been a co-editor at that year in the campus publication (so I wanted to help him.) We were juniors in College then.

When he returned it, the camcorder’s LCD Panel -- flipping part where its touch-screen LCD is affixed -- has been damaged. There was a clunk each time I turn over the LCD to view my videos, alter my settings, check my pictures, and other related functions. As well, its remote control was not working. Perhaps, it’s because of the battery, I just thought.

However, I never considered interrogating Tim because something happened too.

That day, Tim fortuitously (for him) left Jeremy’s web cam in the casing of the camcorder. That night, Jeremy sent me a message that he wanted to get it back the next day.

When I brought the web cam the subsequent morning, the “fates” became ill – I lost the web cam because a genus of abusive humanoid/mongoloid pickpocket filched it from me. Since I have a fault to Jeremy – who happened to be Tim’s close friend – I didn’t grumble about the faulty camcorder anymore.

****

Yesterday, Tim already returned the camcorder to me. Before, he already confessed that the LCD Panel of the camcorder can’t fold anymore. So he had it fixed by someone he knows. However, Sony, as we all know, is a maker of high quality appliances and gadgets. When something has been altered, we’ll indubitably notice it; well, I did!

I detected what happened to the camcorder: Though its lens function appropriately; still, the LCD Panel can’t hold its position when it is recoiled. It reopens because it is clipped droopily that it might even drop.

I asked Tim what happened, he said, “Di na talaga siya nasasara eh kaya parang may tinanggal sila para umayos siya.” (“It can’t really be closed – the LCD – so they removed something from it to make it function properly.”)

From our conversation, I gathered that he spent Php500.00 just to have it fixed. Then I thought he spent diminutively because when I brought that camcorder to the Sony Service Center before, I spent Php2 000.00. (The LCD was malfunctioning too that time; however, it was a different case. Still critically conversing, he should have spent almost the same price. But I understand Tim, anyhow. He’s just a human and our classmates say that Tim is undergoing something in his life that’s ruining him or his self-esteem and so and so... However, I’m also human. I also undergo countless experiences and dilemmas, which might even be worse than what Tim is undergoing. It’s just that I know how to balance things....)

Currently, I’m still thinking if I should bring the camcorder to the Sony Service Center to restore its former quality.

Oh I wish I should have never trusted people. (Well, it’s not my nature to lend things although people would scrounge just to convince me. Especially, that camcorder was not my personal gadget; my brother in Australia owns it. Before he left, he handed over the camcorder to us.) I just don’t know if how busy I am that day that I didn’t grip anymore when Tim borrowed it.

I wish I could rebound time.

So I’ll never be disappointed like this....