I'm getting an iPod

I know I know. Most of the world already has an iPod, and I am way behind the times. But come on people. I work for the state, don't make any money, and have two very demanding cats to feed. It's not like I can afford to plunk down $300 on a piece of electronic gagetry.

Yes that's right, I said gagetry. Have you a problem with that? Didn't think so.

Anyways, the only way someone on my meager income would be able to afford an iPod would be if someone were to buy her one. Luckily, I turn 35 on Thursday, Feb. 24th. And I have two parents who are suseptable to whining and martyr-like activity. So this weekend I will be getting an iPod from my sainted, long-suffering parents. Thank you John and Marilyn. You have no idea what this will mean to me.

I find it ironic that I am the last of my friends to actually get an iPod, when I am the most rabidly and freakishly music-centered of all my friends. Maybe this is Apple's way of saying, "remember that Mac you let your ex-boyfriend have? Your disloyality did not go unnoticed. Now we will make you watch as everyone around you gets an iPod. Ha HA, suffer! Feel like making another crack about U2? Now you get to wait another 6 months before you get the iPod. We are Steve Jobs. We see all."

I have obviously paid my dues, because this weekend's the weekend. Unless, of course, my parents decide that they're going to surprise me with... um... NOT an iPod. But since kicking and screaming will commence, and kicking and screaming by a 35 year old woman could not be LESS attractive, somehow I think they'll stick with the original plan.

I am predicting that my relationship with my iPod will be unhealthy at best. Downright frightening at worst. People, I'm already thinking up NAMES for my iPod. Though right now I have settled on Mr. iPod until I can come up with something better. See, I'll need to meet the iPod and really get to know him before I can think of an appropriate name. Yes, sometimes I scare even myself.

I am also thinking of the upload ritual and how that should go. You know, which music should be uploaded first... a sort of "champagne over the bow" of Mr. iPod. As of today, I'm thinking "OK Computer" will go first. Followed by "The Bends." Maybe then "Amnesiac," followed by "Kid A." Never underestimate the power of a properly christened iPod. He will serve me much better if the right music goes on from the get-go.

Yes, I said get-go. I'm allowed, I'm rambling...

I am envisioning my first night in the small town of Rye in England in late August. I'll be on my own at this point, and wanting to explore the town. I'll walk into a pub, order a pint (hopefully of Killkenny or Smithwicks, if I have my way), have a seat at a table, and put in my earphones. I'll probably opt for some Delays at that point, or possibly even the aforementioned Radiohead, who knows. And I'll write in my journal about what a lovely town Rye is, and how "Pablo Honey" is the perfect soundtrack.

Or you know, something equally as pathetic.

You see, I love my iPod before we've even met. He had me at i...