1GB backpack

It was quiet Sunday night, the end of the Easter long weekend.
I was watching a rerun of my favorite TV show, CSI New York. Hubby was sitting in the dining table, browsing the internet when suddenly he said "f u u u u u u c k"

I turned to him and found that he was in this state of panic. I asked him what's wrong and he couldn't say a word. He was really pale, holding his iPod Touch and I saw that the screen was blank, only the Apple logo floating about on the screen and nothing else. The iPod crashed.

I asked what he did with it and he said nothing. It just crashed. It was a 64GB iPod and he had thousands of songs in there, not to mention video clips and photos and what not. So naturally, he was really bummed.

He took the iPod to the shop in the morning. He was told that the system crashed. It happens sometimes. Technology just fails. That's it. Now the thing with iPods are, they can't be opened and repaired. The shop will send the broken iPod to Singapore and my husband will get a substitute. So he would have to say good bye to this iPod and all his data. All 64 GB of it.

My husband looked like someone just died. All the songs and video clips that he religiously uploaded one by one over a period of time, will be there no more. He has to redo the whole thing all over again. My poor hubby was heartbroken.

And suddenly I got an enlightenment. I don't know why I'm easily enlightened these days. Maybe I'm that close of becoming Yoda. But the enlightenment is this:

Remember George Clooney's character's "backpack philosophy" in the movie Up in The Air? He said that without us realizing it, we accumulate so much in our lives. It could be things, or relationships, or responsibilities and one day our backpack will be so heavy and it will feel like a burden and we are so afraid of losing it because our everything is in there.

If we really think about it, why do people need a 64GB iPod? Who could possibly listen to that many songs? But the GB is getting bigger and bigger and I'm sure my husband will trade his 64GB for a bigger one should they launch it one day, even though he's not a musician and I really don't see a direct correlation between his life and a giant GB iPod. Maybe it's just basic human needs, the need to accumulate things, even if they are not that necessary.

Now, I may not possess many skills in life, but I certainly master the skill of detachment and that skill has saved me from a lot of heartbreaks. I never have the need to possess things, seriously. I own only things that are necessary to me. In fact my most prized possessions are my laptop and blackberry, which I need for work and for social life and networking. I don't collect anything. I have lots of books but it's because I like to read and I am not a book collector. I would gladly give them away for those who like to read as much as I do but can't afford to buy books. And I lose things from time to time, but it doesn't bug me because they were not that necessary in the first place.

I don't know why I am so wise and enlightened in this area, considering that I usually make bad choices with my life. Maybe it's got a lot to do with my parents excessive pampering when I was little. It got to a point where I had too much and started to denounce them one by one. In fact, there's this one occasion in my childhood that still amuses my mom until now. I can't remember any of it but my mom always tells people this story:

I was about 4 or 5, my sister wasn't born yet. We were on a holiday and my dad was known as a big spender on holidays. We went to all the nice places and ate at all the must-eat restaurants and it got to a point when I got sick of all the good things, literally. We were at this posh restaurant for dinner and I insisted that I only wanted to eat plain rice and shrimp crackers. I was sick of all the steaks and escargot and what not. It cracked the waiters up and I was an instant favorite at that restaurant.

Now if that wasn't little Yoda, I don't know what is.

Oh, by the way, I only own a 1GB (yes, ONE) iPod Nano that I bought 5 or 6 years ago and it NEVER give me so much as a glitch. From day 1 until now, my 1GB iPod Nano has been going strong. I have about 10 albums in it, maybe about 70 songs and that's about it. I never have the need to listen to more than 70 songs a day. I like to think of myself as this iPod, small, compact and does not contain anything that is not necessary.

Here's my prized 1GB iPod Nano, the one my husband now relies on while waiting for his substitude 64GB iPod Touch to come from Singapore.