Sunday, July 24, 2011

Man, I Miss My iPod

I couldn't have picked a worse time to get my iPod stolen. Right in the middle of summer, with lots of expenses like biology prereq, conference, vacation, a new muffler... Why couldn't it have been some time when I could easily justify the expense of a new one? Like...um...okay, there never is a good time. Maybe after Number Two is done with college. In 10 years.

*sob*

I miss my iPod because doing chores and exercising are tedious again. MORE tedious. But worse is the 25-minute drive to and from work. Did you know music on the radio sucks? I did, that's why I listen to my iPod. But I didn't expect it to always suck. I have 12 presets on my radio, and every single morning and every single afternoon, I end up trolling for "Rolling in the Deep" because that's the only decent song* anyone ever plays. I usually catch the last four lines of it.

Commercials actually take up half my commute, because everyone plays them at the same time, for at least 10 minutes.

Once in a while, I hit talk radio, but that usually just aggravates me. The other day, they were reporting a "new" announcement that peroxide is not good to use on cuts and scrapes.

First, that doesn't surprise me. Though I grew up having peroxide poured on my injuries, it always made things worse—yellow and puffy and sore—so I never really used it as an adult.

More importantly, that news isn't new. They were telling us this at least as far back as 16 years ago, because I'd heard it and read all the reasoning for it before Number One got her first boo-boo.

It kind of boggles my mind, how much information we're inundated with, and yet, how much we still miss. I avoid watching or reading the news, for one because it's usually depressing, for another because journalistic style, whether written or performed, drives me insane. For how much still gets through, how much more is out there that I never hear about.

Do you think news and information are important? How do you learn about the things that are going on in the world? How do you feel about it?

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*I'm not an old fuddy-duddy who hates that modern music, honest! Half the stations I troll are oldies stations. They just all never seem to have songs that *I* like, and even the newer ones I do like, they play incessantly until I hate them anyway.

6 comments:

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I flip between the presets on my car radio too and only use my ipod for long trips.
I usually watch the first five minutes of the local news on TV to get my fix of local happenings but then I hear about the idiots in HBG and have to turn it off too.

Robin said...

Hi Natalie ~ I'm totally with you on avoiding the news because it's so depressing. I really wish newscasts would add more positive stories. However, I don't want to be totally in the dark, so I usually check out the news online, that way I can click on the info I want to read about and skip the rest. :)

Sorry about your iPod!

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

YES, Sue, on the idiots! I often turn off whatever I'm watching on the DVR during the 11:00 news, and sometimes it's on one of those channels. I get caught up in one story, and by halfway through the next I can't take any more. LOL

Robin, I end up clicking a few links a week in that manner, too. I have a CNN feed on my Firefox home page and AOL has news on the welcome screen. Even when I don't intend to look, my eyes read before I stop them. :)

Unknown said...

We all know the fact about news. The rule of the thumb is, if it is a positive story then it is not a good news. But if it tells something depressing, then that would be a good story to tell. What a misery!

Ava Quinn said...

I agree with you on the craptastic quality of our local radio stations. I do the preset shuffle constantly and never find any good music. But the stations in the area I grew up in are still great. This area just doesn't have good radio.

To get news, I listen to NPR when I can. I usually go online for news too.

Don't you have cds to listen to any more? I'll loan you some of mine! (Though you know I still have tapes and records too. They'll have to pry my vinyl from me by force!)

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

I know, Jeff, doesn't that seem backwards? And on "slow news days" they just do ridiculous stuff. Though since I just said I don't watch it, I guess I shouldn't commentate, because I could be wrong. LOL

Ava, it could be the area, or it could be me. :) I have trouble getting anything "good" when I drive up to New England, and that's a lot of big cities with a lot of radio stations.

What I *really* miss is my podcasts. :(