05.18.04 - 11:26 am

i popped my bicycle tire jumping up on a curb a few days ago. i now walk to classes and theres a noticeable difference in the intimacy of doing so.

no longer do i have the priveledge of considering pedestrians as mere obstacles and nuisances. i cant just ride past them at precarious speeds, zig zagging back and forth amongst mobile masses.

now they have faces. expressions. conversations you can listen in on. now as you walk by them at a casual pace, they look at you. you look at them. they size you up as much as you size and compare yourself to them.

theres more time to think. you walk in silence, but everything around you creates a noise. but in my head, its silent, except for that of my own inner dialogue.

today, while dozens of people strolled past me and i past them, i discussed ipods and their apparent and sudden explosion of frequency. theyre everywhere. what used to be an item only designated for the elite and financially able, was now the every man instrument of walk-about music. what do they listen to? the white headphones give it away, trailing down from their ears, disappearing down into their pockets. an expensive item is hidden there. and now everyone has one. i guess im excited, because, i relish in my ipod. its a device of incredible possibilities and potential. i often fantasize about filling my 2000 song ipod up with the widest array of music possible, covering the span of centuries of music and across every culture known. and then, being able to take my ipod back 200, 300, 1800, 2500 years into the past. showing each time period what the future of music sounds like. showing early civilization the texture and the harmonics of todays musical culture, and give them something to carry with them and enjoy, something to make them happier, more creative, more inventive. perhaps pepertuate the human race faster than it had been advancing. music. i just love thinking about castles and arrows and swords and then sum 41 or johnny cash echoing down the stone hallways. native americans and teepees and wide open spans of grass and dave matthews band or rusted root. or the civil war, and the soundtrack to glory blasting in perfect clarity during battles, grossly increasing the emotion of the fight, of the purpose of their endeavours.

thats what i thought about today.