Drive All Night

C and I went out again last night, and I'm still smiling, for a variety of reasons. One of which is his iPod.

We had gone to dinner, and the BU/NU hockey game, and had decided to go to Jillian's to shoot some pool. Well, I lasted about 30 seconds in there; too loud, too many meat-markety girls tottering in bad heels, too much bad remix pop/rap crap on the sound system. So C suggests another place, and we head back to his car to drive somewhere a little less "seen and be seen". We still wanted to be able to hear each other talk, after all.

Walking down Brookline Ave, I confess out loud that I have Bon Jovi's Bad Medicine stuck in my head. He laughs, and suggests there are worse songs to be stuck, but then decides I need a new one stuck there. So, as we get to his car, he says, "I can let you play with my iPod." And with a snarky little grin, "Oh, wait, the iPod? Too soon? Are we ready for this yet?" And I laughed, hard, and replied, "well, it depends on how many songs you have on there."

However, you've all met me, right? This is a woman with 8000+ in her iTunes, and someone who considers 5000+ the minimum standard. Music, and a variety of it, is extremely important to me. I spend inordinate amounts of time, and money, keeping current with my music collection, and still enjoy finding something new. I also see someone's music collection as a window into their head. iTunes could be the greatest single modern indicator of mental flexibility and cultural diversity out there, and an even better measure of compatibility. Too heavily weighted in certain genres is a red flag. So, hitting that click wheel for the first time produced a measure of anxiety in me that I had to beat back a little bit. Because, really, as I've always known, but recently been reminded of, it's not about the height, or mode of transport, or music collection, but about the person's character. However, C's iPod was a pleasant surprise. As varied as mine, with some interesting overlaps and diversions, and I happily played dj until we reached our next destination.

This song was one of my surprises. A classic, and a long-time favorite. And I heard him sigh, "ah, nice..." as it started to play, and noticed we were both singing along quietly as we drove through the Boston tunnels. Truthfully, I didn't care at that point where we were going any more; I could have stayed in his car, driving all night, playing dj, singing and smiling and holding hands until there weren't any more songs to play. And then, gone home for my iPod, to start all over again.



Voices Carry - Til Tuesday