My iPod

I don't indulge much on the latest and greatest techno gadgets--the old black and white Nokia brickphone I carried for the past two years can attest to that. But when I got my first paycheque three years ago, I decided to splurge and bought myself an iPod. Today, a purchase such as this would be quite pedestrian since everyone and their grandmother's seeing-eye dog has one. But in early 2002, the PC version of the iPod had just recently been introduced and iTunes for Windows didn't even exist. My brandnew iPod had only 5 gigs of storage, a mechanical scrollwheel, and was probably more than twice as thick as the new iPod Nanos. But at the time I thought (and quite correctly, I might add) that I had bought the greatest mp3 player on earth.

Three years later my iPod spends most of its time sitting in my desk drawer, neglected and forgotten. Its once mirror-like back has been scruffed up beyond repair, and its once smooth acrylic face has been marred by an uncountable number of tiny scratches. But today I decided to take it out for another spin--the result perhaps of a silly exercise in pointless nostalgia, or maybe it was the result of something far more pragmatic: I had a 40 minute subway ride to the Old Mill Inn waiting for me.

I've carried this iPod with me to many places, some exotic (China) and some mundane (Richmond), but I've never been as glad as I was today that I had it with me. The talks at the retreat (all 18 of them!) were boring beyond earthly description, and half way during the second set of talks I decided to go for a walk to the nearby park, white earbuds nestled comfortably in my ears. I had a terrible night last night and I was exhausted to the core. Almost as soon as I reached the park, I collapsed under the shade of a large, welcoming tree. The music soon lulled me to sleep, and were it not for the playfulness of a small spider on my face, I probably would have slept till the mid-afternoon. I really shouldn't have neglected my little music box for so long. This could be the start of something beautiful...again.


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