#125 – It’s not easy being green II

As I wrote before, I learned to appreciate individualism the hard way. Trying to be part of the herd and realizing that for one, I suck at it, and if that wasn’t enough, that the emotional price involved with being not me, is too high for me to pay.
That’s true for cloth, communication, limited ability for hypocrisy, and couple of other traits that got me in trouble before. And will too.

So I never wanted an iPOD. EVERYBODY had one [almost]. Nor [an] MP3 player. “The in-flight music channels”, I insisted, “are more than enough for me. All I need is a good headset”. All was nice until I got to the point that I run out of channels. Sitting on a 10-hours flight when you are sick and tired of the music is a good drive to BYOM to your next flight.
Right away I had my search criteria:
#1 – cannot be an iPOD. iTunes are annoying enough, no need for more.
#2 – sound quality is #1 priority
#3 – movies are low priority. In the days of 38” TV becoming the new standard,who wants to squint for 90-130 minutes?
#4 – find a friendly expert (not to say an audiophile or a geek) to identify a player that obeys #1-3.

And so I did. A full report was generated and emailed, leaving me with too much information, a feature list and the inability to make up my mind. Plan B was needed.

So I went to Fry’s with my own consultant. It worked much better. Now I’m the wondering owner of the Zen (16 GB). My next trip, starting this Saturday, going though February 27^th, will provide the opportunity to find out if the consultant was right.

 

Falling asleep with the music though, won’t be an option. See #124 for a partial list.

And this is not the only gadget that took residence in my life. Have you tried SONOS?

Clipart credits:

http://www.gadgetell.com/images/2007/05/kermit.jpg

http://blogofwishes.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/creative_zenw.jpg

 

 

#124 – It’s not easy being green I

There was a time in my life when the fear of being different was much greater than the need to be myself.

The [hindsight pathetic] sentence that my parents heard all too often from me was “everybody has…” and its variations “everyone is…”, “everybody does…”

As you know, it’s been years since I’ve been in that miserable state of mind. Life taught me that the price I pay for trying to be like everyone else is much higher than the rewards of being me. It’s never been easy, and being me does come with a price. However, looking constantly outside, left and right, to figure out who I am, and having to change as I move from there to here, is very consuming, not to say confusing.

So here I am. Some of you take it; others leave.

One of the worst childhood fears I remember vividly, was the fear of getting a nickname that would stick. You know, one that somehow perfectly describes one of your less desirable traits or features. Once, at the early rise of getting one, I got a hair cut so short, that my hair now seems to be as long as Rapunzel’s hair. Hard to believe, but I did. Hair grows, nicknames stay.

Coming to think about it, a good nickname that catches on right away is a demonstration of good copywriting. A nickname that catches is identical to a good brand name. Have you never met Red that the little hair left on his head was all but white and his given name was Patrick? Yes, some of these nicknames should be learned as great branding exercises. I can imagine HBS class “Nicknames- what makes them stick; what makes you tick”.

Why reminiscing now?

No good reason other than coming across one that stuck right away.

On my last trip, the one to Puerto Rico, I had [an] MP3 player with me. [More about MP3 players and iPOD in one of the next chapters]

I had Clapton of course, Mark Knopfler’s Shangri-La, Aaron Nevile’s greatest, Norah JonesX2, few Pink Floyd’s and one Coldplay. Sounds like a fair mix for relaxing flights, right?

Well, as this recent experience taught me, some singers are not made for flying. Shangri-La for example, turned out to be a complete bore. Norah Jones sounded like a sleeping pill that one rolls in one’s mouth, falling asleep before even swallowing. All songs sounded the same, like listening to the same record over and over again.

Being stuck with a player with no shuffle option, it was a nightmare of boredom.

I knew things must be different on the next trip.

I would have forgotten all this if it wasn’t for Dan, who made sure that I’d have the right songs for the next flight. This includes Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Alice in Chains and their likes. The music that won’t make you fall asleep. Rather, it’ll rock you!

As he was deleting the boredom from the mini SD, he referred to Snora Jones. And it stuck with me. It stuck so well that I can’t even think of her as Norah Jones any more.

At home, passing by her CDs as I walk the corridor back and fourth, I am a bit embarrassed. Guess she is good to sleep to. Only that I don’t sleep that much, do I?

Clipart credits:

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/abr1210l.jpg

http://frecklescassie.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/bored-cat.jpg

something

Looking for the clipart for the next blog, i came across a poster that got me LoL.

Go to http://images.wikia.com/uncyclopedia/images/0/02/You_need_a_girl.jpg

Look.

Laugh.