A reoccuring theme in life

Oh, the silicon valley.

I was forced Monday and yesterday to stop and live in 15 years ago these past two days when I left my ipod at home. I never really stopped and thought about how dependant I was on it until this monday when I sprinted to the light rail and realized I had forgotten, not the ipod itself but the earbuds that make it useful. Of course, being constantly inspired by music, I started to panic thinking about my 6 hour day in my cubicle. So I started prepping myself listening for other music to hear during the day. It was a sunny Monday, and i had just been up a mere 45 minutes, so I was not ready to surrender to another case of the mondays... this monday was going to be different.

So I started hearing the humming of the rail car. The mmmmhmm's from the lady on her phone. the clicking of the nervous student behind me.

I started listening.

Hey this was fun. It was like I had eyes again. What I realized was most of the people I was riding with had their ipods in, and thus, were in their own little world, and I felt like a spy. I was encroaching on their "me" time, and no one knew because they were so wrapped up in their books, ipods, and phones, doing their best efforts to not look at anything other than the electronic they held.

Entertained by my new game, I lept off the train and started listening more. The street cleaning noise whirred, the leaves on the sidewalk (sidenote: where DO those leaves come from in downtown? it's all structure!), The clomping of the a woman's "big girl" shoes as she hurried down second street. Enamoured with my urban soundtrack, I soon heard something familiar and out of place...

Was that.... was that a flute?

And as I rounded the corner there it was. A man with a backpack stood leaning up against a lamp post with a backpack and a flute. And he was playing his soul. It was slow and loud, and he played with his eyes closed. What IS it about live musicians with there eyes closed? Ah, yes, it means they are playing for themselves... which can be great and not at the same time. You can be there or not, but they are gonna wail this flute anyway! And as I appoarched him, I wished I could help him out in someway other than a smile and a head nod as I hurried to work. I wished I could have put my backpack down and had an improve session right then with him to show my appreciation. But i could not. I looked around to see if anyone else was appreciating it the way I was!

Of course not. Too wrapped up in their top 40. In their blackberries.

::sigh:: I was only grateful I had not been that today... And yet after the events of Saturdays gig I was sad that I was not able to give him the attention he deserved. And I kept walking.

Sometimes I wonder how well i would do if I attempted to cut the distractions out of my life. And than I find I rediscover a new band and get zapped back into the rat race.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there is some studying to be done with my new acapellla cd i just bought off itunes....