While I wouldn’t call myself a WIS (watch idiot-savant) I really, really enjoy mechanical watches.  I became fascinated with them back when I was given a Fossil chronograph by my family back in middle school.  I distinctly remember staring at the dial of the timepiece, playing with the registers and watching the chronograph hand whittle away the class period.  Working at a chain jewelry store as an assistant manager didn ‘t help either… I couldn’t resist walking over to the “higher-end” jewelry store across the way in the mall and drooling over the wares.

This soon transitioned into a specific passion for mechanical watches.  It’s amazing to me that so many tiny, tiny parts can be assembled to create a machine with such amazing durability and precision.  It’s a throwback to a greater era, where craftsmen would toil for hours and hours perfecting their most recent guilloche technique, making measurements down to the micron when they didn’t even know what a micron was.  The fact that such an amazing invention as the tourbillon was invented over 200 years ago completely blows my mind.

As such, I firmly believe that quartz watches have no soul.  Expensive or cheap, mechanical is the way to go - I always feel like I’m wearing a work of art on my wrist, and they capture my imagination every time I look at them.  You can easily spend $1,000 on a quartz watch that isn’t nearly as fun, quirky, or interesting as a $100 mechanical.  Since I’m more in the $100 range these days, I set out to find a new watch at a good value that would satisfy my desire for mechanical beauty on a budget.

Personally, I think it says a lot about a person when they purchase an iPod Shuffle.  I really thought about this again upon the release of Apple’s newest edition of the ever-so-diminutive, disdainfully random MP3 player.

This thing is ridiculously tiny.  I’m afraid that I would accidentally consume it, thinking it was a stick of shiny silver gum or something.  I’d be bound to lose it.  On top of all of that, before I misplaced it, I’d be bound to toss it out the window or smash it into microscopic pieces, veins standing out on my forehead like the Hulk.  Why?

I’m a control freak, that’s why.  A genuine Type A, anal-retentive if you will.  I want control.  I want choices.  More than actually having choices, though… I want the ability to choose to have choices. Call me existentalist (I’d be flattered) but willingly purchasing an product that will tell me what I want to listen to is ludicrous… even if it actually knew.  Frankly, I usually listen to my music at the gym (certainly the most obvious target market for the Shuffle is sweaty bodied workout lovers) and I almost always have it on shuffle mode… at least when I’m not watching videos.  BUT, the ability to choose any song I want at any time is crucial, even if I don’t use it.

It is thus that I believe that owning an iPod Shuffle says a lot about a person.  Perhaps not in all cases, but certainly in some, potentially a majority.

Maybe it means you’re a rogueish adventurer, more than content wandering the streets of life in search of love, debauchery, and shenanigans.

Maybe it means you’re a fun loving spirit; a class clown of sorts who’s always ready to entertain at the drop of a hat and loved by all.

Maybe it means that you’re ready for whatever comes your way, c’est la vie; that you’re super-prepared for what life throws at you at every intersection and are willing to meet it with open, nay, enthusiastic arms.

Or, maybe it just means you couldn’t care less.

One way or another, I’ll stick with my carefully organized playlists (created with specific purposes), meticulously crafted music collection, and existentalist MP3 player :)