Lawd Not my Pinky!!! Say It Ain't So!

“You take me to this high
I feel like I can fly
The melodies you send me (la da da da da da)
The music of my heart
The music of my mind
The music of my soul, the music in me”
~ Vivian Green

I love music. Lyrics, rhythm, and melodies pulsate through me constantly. Some have said I have musical Tourette’s syndrome because whatever I hear in conversation, I associate to lyrics, which more often than not come out of me subconsciously. It’s so bad, for my last birthday, my coworkers (that I’d only been with for 6 months) fashioned a microphone and posted a concert schedule on my door.

I am a walking oxymoron. Now I am not giving you permission to take the latter half of that word and run w/ it by any means, I'm just saying lol! Music is the pulse keeping me alive …so why is it that I have NEVER purchased a real iPod?! Yes, I worked for Apple almost 10 years, was there when the iPod was invented and was the recipient of the first shuffle just for being an employee. Wayyyy back in 2005, as a reward for holding down a 4.0 carrying 17 hours in the summer, I was GIVEN an iPod mini (for those of you who never even saw that version of the iPod, it came before the Nano and was short-lived). Now this iPod and I had been through some thangs! I called her Pinky! Pinky was battered and bruised, bulky and old-fashioned but that was some of her charm. We made memories! I remember the early days of ‘Fit Club’ working out w/ Cara and having Pinky strapped to my left bicep w/ the huge wrap around the arm holder that covered my whole bicep. I even purchased an FM transmitter so I could use Pinky in the car as my stereo.

If you hadn’t already heard or figured out where this was going, Pinky died! I literally fell out, had a fit and even rolled around on the bed a little bit when I got the error message on the screen. I just knew I could get her resuscitated. She’d had a brush with death back in 2008 and Ammar Dashti, the SAINT of a man he is, was able to revive her. She lost her headphone functionality with the 2008 incident but she still worked in the car and loved me unconditionally so I would not ‘put her down’ as he and many others suggested. This time, no matter how many times I restarted and reconnected her to the cables of life, flatline! I’m not even ashamed to say I called my big sister in tears because I knew I would have to get a new iPod but I was hoping maybe she knew some Apple magic I didn’t remember. Nope.

Now most people that thrive on music the way I do have the latest and greatest in music technology. June 2011 is the FIRST time I EVER purchased an iPod. I can’t tell you how many iPods others purchased through me using my discount when I was still at Apple. Endless! One year, I maxed out on my employee discount for iPods and I think you can buy 8 total when you combine the different kinds of iPods. Not once did I order one for myself lol!
In the midst of my mourning, I pulled myself together and placed my order through my big sister. I decided to wait the additional two days to have the new iPod engraved (in case someone wants to try and steal my baby). While I was waiting, to pass the time, I created new playlists, combed my music libraries, and made sure I was ready to roll.

Can you tell me WHY WHY WHYYYY when I got in the car after I received the new iPod, hooked it up to the FM transmitter IT WOULDN’T PLAY?!?!?! THE TRANSMITTER WAS OUTDATED AND DIDN’T WORK ON THE NEW IPOD!!! So I have to wait another 5-7 days for a new transmitter to show up via Amazon (because I am NOT paying $20 for it at Target when I could get the same thing shipped for $9). Deep sigh! One day I’ll have music again. I don’t even want to get in the car lol! What’s the point? The only thing that’s halfway helped is going into work later and listening to Huggy Low Down.

I finally break down and adopt some technology, get attached to it and look what happens. Ish dies, and other ish is outdated so it doesn’t work. I’m being dragged into this new technological era kicking and screaming. Gone are the good old days w/ 45” records in the living room. I bet the day I get my iPod AND transmitter up and running, they announce some new fangled gadget. You already know I’m not buying it…until I’m forced to.

This post is dedicated to the memory of my sweet Pinky Arthur August 2005 – June 2011…RIP