by Balthazar Monsoon

When I first heard of the iPod, I just thought it was some fad that would quickly go away. Then I started hanging out with my friend Scott, who had an iPod and we'd often get drunk and let his iPod play music during our drunken philosophical conversations in his junior studio apartment. I even gave him several hundred, maybe even one thousand, mp3s for his iPod. It was then that I broke one of the Ten Commandments; I began to covet Scott's iPod.

I knew my meager wages from working in a computer lab wouldn't afford me an iPod, so I put one on my amazon.com wishlist, along with the accessories. No such luck for Christmas. Fast forward to February and Scott tells me I need an iPod. I don't disagree, and he concedes that he wants to sell me his 15GB iPod as he's getting the new 40 GB model. We agree on a price and I'm the owner of the iPod. I order the iTrip from Amazon so I can listen to my new iPod, named Damon, in the car.

I swear, it was better than Christmas! No more searching through discs and discs just to listen to a song. I could create playlists of certain genres. Best of all, I could have parties and not worry about having enough mix cds! I've got Damon constantly on random. I can hear Edith Piaf and the Pixies back to back, or Carly Simon and Warren G (yes, my musical taste is that varied). I've been taking my iPod with me wherever I go, even if it's a short trip to the grocery store or for take out. I even thought about taking it into Disneyland when I went by myself. I seriously don't know what I'd do without my iPod. And I'm not sure how I functioned without it.