i am an ungrateful brat

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My new, free iPod shuffle arrived in the mail the other day. It came in a bright green box, which I just opened a few minutes ago. Inside there’s a disc, some jelly bean-sized earphones and a white plastic rectangle that sort of looks like a hotel key card. It was free because I signed up for a Citibank credit card (a deal I really shouldn’t promote, since, according to Fahrenheit 9/11, Citibank is evil. I rationalize it by saying that since I don’t carry a balance on my Citibank card, they’re not actually making any money off me. In fact, I’m just causing them a lot of trouble. It’s practically activism).

I wish I felt excited about my shuffle, but when I look at the apple-green box, I see A Thing I Need To Take Care Of. Right up there with finding out where those ants in my kitchen are coming from—a thing that is not that hard, but which takes just a little bit more knowledge and energy than I have.

Which is not a very grateful attitude. But I’m not an early adopter. The fact that I have a blog, even a few years into the blog thing, is a miracle, really. I alternately chastise myself for being a Luddite, and congratulate myself for not giving into gadget consumerism. At least the shuffle takes up, like, 20 percent less landfill space than the regular iPod.

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