Play that Funky Music

Sarah is an iPod freak. She's like a teenage girl who refuses to take off her headset at the dinner table and instead just sits there bobbing her head to sounds no one else can hear. She's been wearing her iPod a lot lately since we've been doing so much traveling. The music makes a twelve-hour bus ride go a little faster.

For the first time in my life, I'm sharing a music library with someone. Old girlfriends never made it to the "honey I've got a great idea, let's just combine our music!" stage. It's a relief we have similar tastes in music, but we can differ quite a bit. I know lots of times she'll wonder how I can even tolerate some of my bands. A good example here is the band The Jesus Lizard. You could say she's not into them. At all. I can't bring myself to like Sarah's new flavor of the week Band of Horses.

Anyway. We have a game called the "pick a song" game. The way it works is she (or I, depending on whose turn it is) will pick a song on the other's iPod and then that person has to listen to the whole thing. The art lies in picking a song that the picker likes, but the pickee doesn't know. The last three times Sarah has picked a song for me, I have smiled at her and then shut it off the second her back was turned. I feel bad about it, but you should hear some of these songs. Lots of whiny-male-lead singer-type bands.

The other iPod related problem we have involves her headphones. They are the big old foam kind. The ones you can hear a mile away. When she puts them on, most of the people on the bus listen to her songs whether they want to or not. The music just bleeds out of them. I put my own iPod on and I can still hear her music.

But it's not this that really bothers me. What I can't stand is her refusal to turn her music off when planes are either taking off or landing. She knows keeping electronic devices in the 'on' position during these crucial moments is against the rules, but she just doesn't care. The worst part is since her headphones are so loud, the flight attendant always stops and politely asks Sarah to turn her music off (while I slink down in my seat mortified). Sarah then gives the attendant this look that says, "What? What's going on? You want me to turn this off? Oh right."

Disaster is averted. The plane lands safely and the iPod goes right back to the 'on' position.

-Brendan

Comments

Wow. I never would have pegged you for a Jesus Lizard fan. Amazing! I love them, and now I know 1 of one other person in the entire world who does. Shows how much you can tell about a person solely by seeing them host a daily TV show.

I'm with you on the take-off/landing thing. It makes me insane when I see people listening to an iPod/using a Blackberry/watching Gilmore Girls on a laptop even after they've been asked not to.

Using iPods to crash a plane could be the next major form of techno terrorism.

"We're flying in a Lockheed eagle series L-1011. It came off the line 20 months ago and carries a Sim-5 Transponder tracking system. Are you telling me I can still flummox this thing with something I bought at Radio Shack?"

I'm a commercial pilot and I have to tell you that an iPod will NOT have a traceable affect on an airplane's ability to make a safe landing, even in bad weather. Only, possibly, and older style cell phone (non-digital) that blasts a lot of wattage. It is more of a liability issue in case there is an emergency, you don't want a lot of un restrained objects flying about the cabin. But, the airlines aren't going to start telling eveyone that...

In my defense, I have never claimed to like or dislike The Jesus Lizard (though for the record, the one song we have in our joint music collection is pretty good). He's confusing them with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion" which I admittedly am not really that into.
Now that THAT'S straightened out...
:)
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Not that I think they have them at the corner Radio Shack in whatever far off land you're in right now, but those new Bose in ear headphones ROCK.

Love the blog, thanks for making me laugh out loud, keep in coming!

How do you celebrate Christmas when you're not home for the holidays? Did you make note of the holiday at all or just go about your usual business!? Happy Holidays! :-)

Today was a big iPod day for me. I cleared out my iTunes and started from scratch. I want to use my iPod more but my iTunes is cluttered.