At times I feel out of place in Raleigh. Why, you might ask? Because I just don’t sodding care about college basketball, that’s why. There are three top-notch college basketball programs right here, within a twenty minute’s drive, if I cared, and yet, I don’t. College basketball does nothing for me, sorry. Indeed, I didn’t even realize that Duke was right nearby, in Durham, until I’d lived here six months. I couldn’t understand why they kept getting mentioned in the local news, why they were featured on the front page of the newspaper–not the sports section, the front section. Yes, color me oblivious.
Yet, college basketball isn’t the only thing I’m behind on. The whole digital music revolution, that’s seemed to pass me by. I don’t own an iPod, and I don’t know what I’d do with an iPod. It all seems so, I dunno, pointless. Don’t misunderstand–I downloaded iTunes one day out of sheer curiosity, and I’ve bought a grand total of three albums through iTunes over the past six months, but the music I’ve bought is music that I’ve not been able to find it stores because it’s either obscure or out-of-print. Dream Academy’s first album, with its magisterial track “Life in a Northern Town” (which evokes for me a very specific memory of when I first heard it, way back when). Big Mountain, that 90s reggae band, for their cover of Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way.” And Petra Haden’s cover album of The Who’s The Who Sell Out, because that’s just strange. But I don’t need to have my whole CD collection on my hard drive (remember, I tried this with my XBox, with predictable results), nor do I need to carry lots of music with me wherever I go. I hear enough music as it is at work, thanks to the curse that is Muzak.
Maybe I’m meant to be hopelessly oblivious. There are worse places to be. 😉
You’d use an iPod for whatever you use a Walkman/Discman for. If you don’t have a use for one of those, then you probably don’t need an iPod. 🙂
Hello again…
Since I saw older articles I figured I would browse new one’s as well. You are not alone in the Behind the Curve, I too do not own an IPod. I been hearing a lot about those portable DVD players too. Im in a small ski resort community in Colorado. Where everyone has lots of ‘stuff’. People are either a skier or a Snowboarder here, funny I am neither. I do enjoy skiing and my son just learned this year. I am not a die hard though. I don’t understand how people get all wrapped up in it but it is something others are passionate about. I remember when I loved college basketball. I played for a year with the Badgers (UW). Do not think you are the only one clueless to what is going on around you, many are. I am. I think it is about finding your niche in life and going with it. I am at a point in mine where I don’t know what to do, the things I was once passionate about, I am not anymore. Just takes time… 🙂 Thanks for sharing again.
Cheers,
Heather
oh… and by the way. Big Mountain is a wonderful band. I miss them. Didn’t they do the sountrack for Reality Bites? I miss UB40 as well. some things you just feel Nastalgic on 🙂