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Ipod, Insomnia
I have never actually owned my own ipod, sad but true. I have used the ipod my son discarded when he upgraded (he has a much better phone and more gadgetry than I do), but on a whim last night I decided I needed one of those tiny clip-on ipod shuffles for running. It's cute and turquoise and weighs about as much as a potato chip. I've been running on and off since college and never ran with music. Back in the day, that would've meant running with a Sony walkman in my hands with cassette tapes in it--the first semi-portable music making machine I remember, anyway, which came out sometime in my 20's. Before that, I think people just hummed quietly to themselves while running. Besides the hassle of carrying something that weighed three pounds and only played for about 45 minutes tops on it's four C batteries, I've always used running as my time to think deep thoughts, work through problems in my head, relive past conversations making myself sound better and smarter by having the perfect come-back on the tip of my tongue this time, that sort of thing. I also avoided music for the simple reason that I often ran on streets or crossed streets and was more interested in being able to hear vehicles bearing down on me from any direction. But, now, I run a lot at places like the rail trail where cars are not a concern, and unless I go with my running buddy, it is deathly boring to hear my own breath wheezing in and out of my tortured lungs and my poor bunion-burdened feet pounding pounding pounding out the miles. I need distraction. So I got this tiny nano-sized thingee that is light enough to clip on my sock if I didn't have shorts on (I'm just saying...I have not yet run in the nude but it IS unbearably hot this summer) and I loaded it up with a lot of good music and I am set to go with a little bit of current-century technology. Reliving all of those unanswered provocations and unresolved past conversations will just have to wait until the middle of the night when I'm suffering through another bout of my lifelong insomnia.
I have never actually owned my own ipod, sad but true. I have used the ipod my son discarded when he upgraded (he has a much better phone and more gadgetry than I do), but on a whim last night I decided I needed one of those tiny clip-on ipod shuffles for running. It's cute and turquoise and weighs about as much as a potato chip. I've been running on and off since college and never ran with music. Back in the day, that would've meant running with a Sony walkman in my hands with cassette tapes in it--the first semi-portable music making machine I remember, anyway, which came out sometime in my 20's. Before that, I think people just hummed quietly to themselves while running. Besides the hassle of carrying something that weighed three pounds and only played for about 45 minutes tops on it's four C batteries, I've always used running as my time to think deep thoughts, work through problems in my head, relive past conversations making myself sound better and smarter by having the perfect come-back on the tip of my tongue this time, that sort of thing. I also avoided music for the simple reason that I often ran on streets or crossed streets and was more interested in being able to hear vehicles bearing down on me from any direction. But, now, I run a lot at places like the rail trail where cars are not a concern, and unless I go with my running buddy, it is deathly boring to hear my own breath wheezing in and out of my tortured lungs and my poor bunion-burdened feet pounding pounding pounding out the miles. I need distraction. So I got this tiny nano-sized thingee that is light enough to clip on my sock if I didn't have shorts on (I'm just saying...I have not yet run in the nude but it IS unbearably hot this summer) and I loaded it up with a lot of good music and I am set to go with a little bit of current-century technology. Reliving all of those unanswered provocations and unresolved past conversations will just have to wait until the middle of the night when I'm suffering through another bout of my lifelong insomnia.
Comments
Your new ipod sounds very darling.