Lessons In Impermanance Where the Rubber Meets The Road

Got home this afternoon from running some errands and found, horror of horrors, that my mp3 player was no longer in my pocket. Arrrgggghhhhhh.....

So, there was nothing to do except get back on my bicycle and retrace the 6 miles i had ridden all around town. Could i be lucky enough that it had fallen out of the pocket on one of the more rural stretches of the road so that it wouldn't have been seen and picked up by someone else?

Low and behold, there it was — in the gravel on the side of the road out where no one, or hardly anyone, would have been walking. This is a good sign.

It had obviously been run over, but it appeared to have been only once. The back had a couple of dents in it, but the front, and in particular the screen, didn't have one single scratch. Not one. Oh, how lucky could i be???? I guess immediately apologizing under my breath after unleashing 3 or 4 dozen four letter words (many starting with an 'F') at a guy that had tried to run me off the road, and telling him what i thought of him and his mother... well, i guess the apology had erased all that bad karma. Apparently.

And the news is good. The player still works. All of the songs are still there, playable, and i can see them in Windows Media Player! Yippee!!

Then again, while the screen doesn't have a scratch on it, that doesn't mean i can see anything on it. Nope, the screen is dead. Kaput. I guess it found it too traumatic to watch a 2 ton vehicle approach and run it over, knowing all the while that there was nothing it could do. Apparently it had rolled over to get face down in order to protect itself, but..... I think it couldn't handle that shock and has withdrawn inside.

The questions now is, can i memorize the exact sequence of all the podcasts and audiobooks on it (there's no music) and therefore be able to navigate in the blind and still be able to use it? I mean, this is a good thing isn't it?

I frequently find myself unsure of what i really want to listen to so flip from one book to another, never really settling down and listening to one complete book all in one go. Because of the hassle i'll now experience in navigating, that nasty habit will probably stop. Right? So this is a good thing. I'll be more disciplined. Right?

Ahhhh, another lesson in impermanence and letting go.