Whither Must I Wander

10.23.2006

Always On My Mind



Time is fleeting, as are blogs, apparently. I've been a bad blogger, as I haven't posted since my last travel re-cap, mainly because I intended for it to be a travel blog only. But lately there is something that has been plaguing my mind and I need to air it, if only in binary format. The issue is this:

My Ipod is psychic.

At first glance, this confessional might not seem plausible, rather stupid, even, but I assure you it's true. At least 93% of the time, anyway. Let me 'splain. This is a used Ipod. This is because a) I am cheap and b) I got it from one of my younger brothers who is a generally reliable-type young man. He purchased said player in October of last year, just before Apple released the Video Ipods, which became his new desire upon their issue in November. My brother, commonly referred to as "BN", (seriously) offered to sell me his new-ish MP3 player at a very reasonable price so he could buy something with video capability. Everyone was happy. I had an MP3 player (finally), BN got a GMini and my new Ipod didn't have to play The Strokes or Yeah Yeah Yeah's every waking minute, just occasionally.

And then it started.

At first, I never used "Shuffle" mode. I'm more of an album/playlist girl, so I'd pick what ever suited my mood during my transit commutes or 45 minute drives across town (Calgary is WAY too sprawl-y) and groove away. Then for some reason, one day at work I decided to throw caution to the wind and turned on "Shuffle". 5 GB of music or so (I think it's currently at 7 - I'm trying, I'm trying) and a sort of Russian Roulette - I was worried. But the strange thing was that the songs played were an almost perfect playlist of music that suited my mood incredibly well. And this has been the pattern ever since. Whenever I choose "Shuffle", the song choices are eerily perfect.

At first I thought it was just luck and of course, I actually like most of the music I put on the player, so why wouldn't all playlists work, right? No. Case in point - last week it was a gloomy, rainy day, and as I gazed from my window on the 24th floor across the city, I felt the melancholy that usually accompanies such weather. I like this melancholy, so I decided to listen to music and take my chances with "Shuffle". Before I began, I thought to myself something along the lines of "I really need some rainy day music". The first song? "Rainy Day People" by Gordon Lightfoot. Mockery aside, it was unsettling. The Ipod then proceeded to churn out a perfect mix of rainy day songs. I mean, what are the odds out of 1600 songs? Well, obviously 1600:1. But those are not good odds. Therefore, I present my assertion that my Ipod has some sort of freakish mind reading capability. Perhaps it's through the headphones? I chucked those crap white ones that never stay in your ears. Perhaps that was the key. And this worries me. No good can come from anthropomorphizing your electronic doodads. Increased paranoia is a certain side effect.

I thank you for your patience in my telling of this useless tale, but it needed to be told.

p.s. Amusing side note: I was telling one of my other brothers about this and asked him "Is your Ipod psychic?" He answered, in all seriousness, "No, but I'm pretty sure it's out to get me." Interesting.