I’m not much into pop culture. In fact, I’d have to say I’m a bit contemptuous of pop culture. Recently I subjected myself to an episode of Entertainment Tonight, and after watching thirty minutes of that insipid crap, I concluded that a more appropriate title for the show should be Lobotomy Tonight. Honestly, who cares if Brad and Angelina take their adopted child out on the streets of
That’s not to say that I’ve always thought that way when it comes to pop culture. In my younger, more impressionable days, Nike shoes were all the rage and my brother and I wanted nothing more than a pair of shoes with the identifiable swoosh down the sides. Our family was not rich, by any means, but my brother and I eventually got our Nikes, our solution for acquiring the shoes being rather unique and a tale best left unspoken.
These days MP3 players seem to be all the rage. I love music and all, but for the longest time I just couldn’t see me shelling out the money Apple wanted for their popular iPods, especially after reading horror stories of iPod batteries (which are not replaceable by the consumer) failing after only a year’s worth of use. So, as I did with DVD recorders, I decided to wait assuming that the popularity of the iPod would result in other companies putting their own MP3 players on the market and drive down prices. This is a rare instance where I guessed correctly.
Eventually I shelled out hard earned money for a 512 megabyte player, which has worked out well so far. True, MP3 players are trendy, but they’re portable and I can listen to music just about anywhere. Some people call that rationalizing; I call it a good excuse. It does everything I need it to: play MP3 files, listen to radio stations, and it can be used as a jump drive as well. And 512 megabytes will allow me to load about one hundred songs on the device, which is more than I can listen to in the course of a week. One of the things in the back of my mind when I bought the player was my car, which has a radio/cassette player installed (how 1980s!). Rather than fumbling with tapes or hooking up my clunky CD player, all I have to do is connect the player up to the cassette adapter and voila! One hundred songs ready at my disposal.
My player gets most of its use when I walk to and from my car at work. The university I work for seems to conveniently place most of its parking at least a quarter mile from the nearest building. All of my hiking guides to
Currently my player is loaded up with an odd combination of music. Those who know me might be surprised to know that only half of the music I’ve loaded is rock music. The remainder of the tunes are either Celtic inspired, Zydeco, or Big Band and Swing tunes. It's an odd combination, I know, and I always fear that I'll lose my player and someone will find it, see the assortment of music that's on there, and will experience some kind of psychological trauma. True, there are mornings when heavier music is required (usually those are Mondays), but on a sunny, spring morning there are few things better than gliding across campus while listening to Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade.” The Andrews Sisters’ music is also effective in getting me in a decent frame of mind for work. On a side note, I think I’ve found Patti Andrews’ phone number online. I’d love to call her and tell her how much I like her music, but that’s tempered by lack of desire to interrupt her privacy. Just about every morning I pass someone else who has their earbuds installed as they listen to their players as well. While I don’t think I’m the only person who has big band music playing in their ears, it’s probable that I’m definitely in the minority. But what else is new?
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