iNcognito iPods

As many of you know, iPods are THE fashion accessory to have these days. Earings? Ok. Scarfs? Ok. iPods? Don't leave home without it. A key aspect of the iPod "look" is the trademark white wires leading from your ears down into the dark depths of your winter coat. Me? Of course I have an iPod - but it's important to point out that I was a trendsetter, since I've had mine for a few years. I personally prefer to go incognito with mine, however. Black headphones - that's correct. That's just because they sound badass. We'll they sounded badass. Last week, I was struck with grief when one of the headphones stopped working. Once home, I took out my geek toolkit and unassembled the damn thing, contemplating buying a soldering iron and everything. But it was hopeless - the Sonys had passed away :'( . I considered prying open a few floorboards and laying them to rest, but then I realized that my security deposit was the size of my rent and the frugal factor made me think the trash was a better place for them.

And so, there I was, stuck between Iraq and a hard place - do I change my commute and actually interact with people, or do I become a white sheep, so to speak, and dig up my standard (white) uncomfortable, lousy quality Apple headphones and join the masses in our own little melodic worlds? It was a tough decision, but I actually went with the white headphones. My commute to the North Bronx is just too long to handle. And as soon as I put them on, I felt totally self-conscience and uncomfortable. I hate it. I went to Best Buy the first day and checked out their selection of ear-bud headphones. All of them were in white! OMG. I was annoyed.

One of my coworkers actually works at Best Buy every once in a while, so he gets stellar discounts on stuff there. I sent him on a mission to investigate headphones and see if the store near him has ANY that are not white. I was stoked when he announced the good news: Sony headphones in black! Score! I can't wait to get them and ditch these lousy Apple headphones made by the lowest bidder, no doubt....

Speaking of iPods and the masses of people with them in the city, there's one thought that constantly crosses my mind: What the heck are you listening to? I'm seriously curious, especially since the type of people that have them are not just 20-somethings that no doubt have some kind of indi-rock or Top-40 music on. I really have no idea. I wish someone would do a study on that. Personally, my genre's include Alternative, Ambient, Blues, Classic Rock, Classical, Country, Electronica, Hip-Hop, House, Latin, Latin Pop, Musical, Pop, Rock, and Trance and I have almost 5,500 songs to choose from my PC (how cool am I? Yes, very cool). My choice of tunes is to turn this puppy onto random and let the computer decide my playlist. So it's funny when I hear a live trance mix from Paul Oakenfold followed by an Alan Jackson song about being a redneck followed by a song from Les Miserables. But that's how I like it!

Just finished importing a slew of new Hip Hop,
J. Riley.

P.S. You know I love fan mail (and comments!!!!), so thanks to the three of you that leave me comments and to the two of you that send me fan mail, it keeps me motivated!