It's not quite a movie review...

But just for fun, I thought I would review my evening for you. In advance. Are you so excited?

I'm not.

It al starts a long long time ago. My first week at BYU, September 1994. I was living in the now flattened Deseret Towers, Building "S". I came to college with two suitcases and a box of blankets we had sent ahead to my mom's cousin's for safekeeping. Not a laptop or a car or a TV or even the luxury of the rented fridge from the housing people. That was $15 that could not be spared. I owned one pair of jeans and 3 skirts and could only imagine what someone would need and entire UHaul for. After nearly a week of classes that were in fact, the first challenging classes I had ever taken in my life (Sorry WHS and U of MN, but I have to be honest about that one) my brain was fried and I was ready to shut down. Admittedly, part of it could have been due to the 4am custodial, that does tend to affect your reasoning skills. Either way, I could no longer reason through Microbiology 130 (A class that has since been changed to a 300 level) or Chem 105 (which I still haven't passed). So I stumbled down to the basement, vending machine land and home of one television set to be shared by 300 girls. I brought my Microbiology textbook with me, in an attempt at looking like a serious student, but let's face it, my poor brain had other things in mind. It was nearing 7pm, an hour when prime time television was, well, prime. And there was just one other person down there, I did not know her, and she did not know me, but she was there first, so she took control of the remote and we mutually turned our brains off.

And that night, we were introduced to some new Friends. First there were six of them. Phoebe, Rachael, Monica, Joey, Chandler, and Ross. Ah, Friends. Little did I know that the show would come to define my generation in the same way MASH defined my parents. Like it or not, every person my age knows them, and the show is an expression or my generation culturally. It's not just the fact that Rachael had a baby out of wedlock, it's that she did it without the Murphy Brown scandal behind it. It's not just the idea that Ross's ex was gay or that he got married and un-married with reckless abandon, it's that he did it and we accepted it. It's not even the fact that they were a bunch of single friends in the city, but it has more to do with how when they started, there was a boys apt and a girls apt, and when it finished, nobody cared about the unwed gender mixing and we had all been taken on a journey of love and support that we were on some level jealous of. They were eccentric and normal, faulty and perfect, beautiful and quirky, and even fat and thin. But they loved each other and stuck together and became a part of our lives through the TV screen and their humor.

After all, most people now know that some things are like a cow's opinion. It's "Moo". And why be Zen when you can be "Unagi"? Most of all, Ross and Rachael were on a break. I'm not condoning their moral choices or their reckless lives, I'm just pointing out the impact they had. Whether the world is different because of the show, or the show defined the way the world was, the fact is, it now stands quite representative of the social culture of my college years. And it all began that first week, with a Microbiology textbook and a Pink Sugar Cookie from the vending machine.

But it didn't end there. Because soon after I met the six friends, I met quite a few new people. They held my pre-med attention much more quickly, because they all worked in the ER. And with the first episode, Carol clearly had issues with Doug, Dr. Green was going to be an amazing Dr, Susan was a friend and oh so dependable and Dr Carter.... Oh Dr. Carter. Sure, George Clooney was supposed to be the show's heartthrob. But it was Dr. Carter that took my breath away. Besides the fact that as a med student he was going through struggles that I hoped to soon face, he was just so adorable. Oh Dr. Carter. If there had been an internet for me to search, I would have googled him. If I had owned a computer, he would have been my wallpaper. If imdb had been invented, I would have promptly researched every movie or tv show he had participated in. My major changed, but Dr Carter didn't. My address changed, but no matter where I moved, he was always there waiting for me on Thursday nights. Eventually, he even popped up in morning re-runs on TNT. Yes, Dr. Carter was my first college crush.

Which brings me back to this evening. Friends is gone, I haven't watched ER in years. I don't have television service except for when it's raining or snowing and I rig a hangar wire and get fairly snowy reception of NBC. Chanel 5. The original station on which I met my college friends and Dr. Carter. I have been hearing rumors that he is coming back to the show for a few episodes this last season. I couldn't tell you the first thing about American Idol. But if Dr. Carter is anywhere to be found, I will hear about it. And it's tonight!!!!

Tonight, when I have to attend a Food Handlers class for work.
How disappointing, how anti-climactic, how completely absurd. Not only do I have to pay someone $15 to etll me to wash my hansd before serving food, I have to do it on the night when the only dependable college love that I had makes his much anticipated return visit.

Oh well. At least now I can catch the episode online within 24 hours of it's original airtime. I'll just google it.