Assimilation.

Well I did it. I finally gave in. They caught me. Say "hello" to the newest member of the Borg. Yes, I bought an MP3 player. Not an Ipod, I got a Zune, Microsoft's entry into the fray. And now I've joined the masses of people walking around with little speakers tucked into their ears dancing to their own beat. Now all I have to do is use my Bluetooth earpiece with my cell phone and my assimilation will be complete.

It's actually quite fun to have such easy access to my music. And it's very nice to shut out the noise of traffic and construction while taking a break from work. It's the spoon full of sugar that makes going to the gym more fun. I'm just another geek on the elliptical trainer lip syncing to '80 music. And I've skipped a generation of technology in my car, going from a cassette deck I almost never used right to an mp3, skipping the in-dash CD player.

I was hoping to be able to download just the songs I wanted over the internet and not have to store CDs at home. But the cheap internet sites don't have any of the music I want and the sites with the songs are expensive. It's generally less expensive to by the CD in the store. And with artists setting up exclusive agreements with specific sites, I'm still occasionally buying an entire CD to get just one song that I want.

Last Friday was a beautiful San Diego day, bright, sunny and warm(as was every day since), and I had lunch sitting right on the bay watching the sailboats go back and forth. Walking back to work I was really enjoying the music. When I got back in the office I realized I'd been just like those kids in the cell phone/mp3 player commercials; I walked along normally but my shadow burned up the dance floor.

One day last week I walked into the apartment singing along to the soundtrack of "Chicago". Hmm. 40 something. Not married. Likes showtunes. What's my sexual orientation?

Embrace your stereotypes. Then they can't be used against you.