My iPod is broken. This is world-ending news. Only six months ago this couldn't have happened, since I didn't even own an iPod yet. But now I do, and it's broken.
I am in Palo Alto for a week with no music. And then I'll be in San Francisco for another week with no music. All because my iPod is broken. Six months ago the worst that could have happened was for me to lose a CD. Or for a skip to develop during a favorite song. Or for the player to break. But those problems are easy to fix. For the first two I could simply listen to something else. For the last one I could buy a cheap new CD player. But a broken iPod is not as easy to fix while I'm away from home.
The sad-faced iPod icon told me to visit the support section of the Apple web site. But without my computer connector I can do no such thing. Even if I could, the best that I imagine could happen would be a re-install of the iPod software, wiping out my library of music, which I would be unable to recover until I got back home.
This leaves my ears open to the air. Instead of music, the new soundtrack of my life is the faucet in the other room, the traffic outside, and the air moving through the vents of Michael's house. I wouldn't quite call this silence, but it is quiet. It's this relative quiet that makes me realize how hard actual silence must be to endure. I wonder if this approaches the spiritual discipline of silence that Michael read about in a Dallas Willard book.
I have thought about visiting an Apple store to see if they can fix my iPod. I am still considering that option. But I'm not sure that if I get my iPod back I will stay here with my relative quiet. And in these two days I've grown to like the not-quite-silence.
Two weeks away from home is a long time, but with music it doesn't seem as long. Palo Alto and San Francisco are a long way from Roseburg, but with music they don't seem as far. Maybe the added time and distance are what I need. I came into this thinking of it as a break. Now I'm wondering if I might instead call it a retreat. Yesterday I was thinking about how nice it might be to spend considerable time at a monastery. I might not have to wait to get there, because my iPod is broken.
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4 comments:
This is why fredricks was made.
to fix your ipod.
his purpose was to serve you.
the end.
Hey Mr. Carlton,
I hope you don't mind me writing to your blog. I found it through MySpace, as search results for roseburg,oregon. Anyway, I have a very interesting idea,and was wondering if you and I could discuss it some time.
zxca wpo hsotie cpapr man jsunk ffposhosrkmfdls kvji sdfi nhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhggggggggggggggggg
ggggggggggggsdathg.
ime styll tying 2 laren to tipie.
aaaassss welles aaas splell/
lovey fo-eva,
yo mana,
Kanyeeee
S.P. hesus walkes
Carlton, is your ability to write on your blog directly tied to your broken iPod, and therefore also broken? just wondering...
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