Tippecanoe

I'm not sure when it happened, but I can't use headphones in public.


I'm on a business trip in a Midwestern college town. I decided to take a walk around town and listen to some tunes using my MP3 player. So, I fired up some Yes, and hit the streets.

For some reason, as I walked amongst the college kids, I found my self feeling very self conscious and uncomfortable. Maybe it was the music? I was probably the only one listening to "I've Seen All Good People...". No, they can't hear it (although it was kind of loud). Also, I felt the same, maybe even more so, when the Kenny Wayne Shepard song came on. I think it was the headphones.


Now, they're not tiny white earbuds like the iPod uses. They are actually kind of large (see picture above). I saw several kids with the Apple music players, and they all seemed to fit in well. I don't find the earbud style phones to be very comfortable. I start to feel "ear fatigue" pretty quickly, and they tend to fall out a lot. One guy had the 'back of the head' headphones, which I use in my office. They feel pretty good, but they are a little big to carry around when not in use.

Not sure why it bothered me so much. I'll never see these kids again, and there's nothing wrong with listening to music. Perhaps I'm realizing that I am no longer of that generation, and than I need to act like a middle-aged father.

I'm either going to have to admit that I'm not the same age as college students ... or get an iPod. (They don't cost that much, do they?)