Torfinn Nome - Life as a …

Our lab environment is polluted by not only cancer inducing chemicals like ethidium bromide and the neurotoxic polyacrylamide. Even more disturbing is the frequent usuage of the radio. Or, to be more precise, the lack of a radio station that does not suck. Here in Norway we have a couple of commercial nation wide channels in addition to some channels provided by the public broadcasting institution. I can’t stand commercial channels, with the non stoppable annoying advertisements. But, even worse: The channels we listen to (we switch a lot) have one thing in common that annoys me the most. The repetition rate of some of the music. I mean, I don’t want to listen to the same tune 9 times during just a few hours.

Anyway.

Lately I have started wearing my trusty old DAP, which luckily carries an endless number of hours of music. After a few weeks I have come to the conclusion that I prefer some kind of jazz inspired music while doing lab work. Even tho my favourite band this week has been Gotan Project, which is a fusion of tango and electronica.

(Yup, Nat King Cole works pretty darn good for me.)

Walking home today, oblivious to the rest of the world (or pretending to be) , hidden in my sphere of in-ear plugs and music, my playlist finally reached the Passengers track “Your Blue Room”. It’s been a while since last time. But it happens everytime, strong as no other tune: I’m back in 1995. In Fredrikstad. I sit in a dark room. Extremely dirty and dusty. With buzzing computers all around me. Blinking lights from numerous modems and hard drives the only source of light. Glenn in front of his monster monitor and monster computer, named Mother (as the starship). Joakim and Daniel programming. HP complaining about living outside the city, in Rolvsøy, with poor bus connections, far away from this room with it’s dedicated Internet connection. And me cursing the hellish sendmail.cf syntax. Us trying to run an ISP. In a time when only a few had even heard the word Internet. With the Passengers album running on repeat…

I want an alternative way to sort my music. When I choose what to listen to, my mood decides. If it’s music that I relate to the mood I’m in. Or a mood I would want to be in. A combination would be great. Guess I have to compile a heavy list of playlists to achieve this. Or find me a new player supporting these tags.

After buying the iPod 3G a couple of years ago, I have for a while been planning on getting a pair of in-ear plugs. I had a hard time deciding what to go shopping, but ended up with the Shure e2c. I’m definitely no audiophile, but after using them rather frequently for the last four months I have to say I’m satisfied. It’s a new world compared to the original iPod phones (surprise…). I use the foam plugs. They seal out most of the external noise, to the point where streetwalking can turn dangerous. Good thing I live in a small town, with plenty of sidewalks. This article sums it all up.