Whispering Star

Meet Whisper.

Whisper (whos full name is WhisperingStar - long, long thought process behind that name, ask me if you want to hear it all, but obviously it's partly a play on Wandering Star) is my brand new 16 GB iPod touch. I waited a long, long time for her.

I've wanted an iPod for years now. My parents gave me a little MP3 player for Christmas when I was 16, and it went everywhere with me. It was only 2 GB, and pretty quickly it developed some major quirks, but it was like a lifeline. My family called it my IV. When I started college, I would listen to it while walking from class to class, I would listen to it while doing homework away from home, I would listen to it in the car.

Then, in September last year, it died.

I was so upset that I nearly cried. That was a very bad stretch of my life overall, and the fact that I now would have no way of listening to my music unless I had my laptop seemed strangely devastating at the time.

But of course life goes on, and we find we can live without things. I knew I had to buy textbooks and pay for insurance and other nasty grow-up things like that. So I decided I would have to wait.

Towards the beginning of this summer, as I got my work schedule nailed down, I started thinking about the iPod again. Both last summer and this summer I've allowed myself to get one really nice thing to reward myself for working and paying for all my necessary expenses. Last summer it was my camera, The Martian (that name is totally not my fault. Can I blame Joy?). This summer I decided it would be an iPod.

But, I knew nothing about iPods, aside from that my brother's decrepit iPod classic did not seem to appealing to me. So I started asking around. Coincidentally, I ended up going on the advice of the same person who advised me to get the model of camera I did. She told me about all the different features of the iPod touch, and after some back-up opinions from others (mostly friends on the Skillet boards), I decided that that was what I wanted. Despite the fact that it's the nicest, and thus most expensive, iPod currently on the market (not counting the iPhone).

So I saved. I knew I had to pay for other expenses first. I paid off all my school fees for the summer and next semester, minus textbooks. I finished saving money for our Colorado trip in August (I've been working extra hours since January to pay for that). I wrote and revised budgets for the summer. I decided on exactly which paycheck I would spend on the iPod. And I waited.

I ordered the iPod the morning I got the paycheck. My older brother, who has an apple account, helped me order. More waiting. According to the calculations I made, it wouldn't come until the following Friday. But instead, it arrived on Wednesday morning, yesterday.

As soon as the FedEx truck pulled out and I saw the size of the package I knew it must be mine. I signed for it and took it inside. My older sister was the only other one home, and I was shaking so much that she had to help me open the package.

The wreckage after we opened the package:

I am enthralled by the shininess:

Turning on for the first time:

Syncing the library:

First song played on Whisper: "Monster" by Skillet

First video played on Whisper: "Whispers in the Dark" by Skillet

Let's try it with the earphones now:

Discovering the Internet capabilities that evening:

Overall, I have rarely made an investment I am so pleased with. Which is good, considering how much I paid for it. I keep telling people that I feel like it's way too cool for me. I also have a paranoia that I'm going to break it or something. But at the same time, I'm just so thrilled to have it. I can listen to music while walking to work. I have endless apps to occupy me if I'm waiting in line somewhere and get bored. I can send e-mails from anywhere. Music is very, very important to me, and for that reason, getting an iPod is very much worth it.

And I'll admit that my first thought when I heard it had internet capabilities was "we're going on to an airport in July. If I have internet, I can contact people if something goes terribly wrong." Yes, the ordeal in December left its mark on me.

Finally, the most special thing about the iPod is that I got it engraved with my favorite lyrics. These lyrics have meant a lot to me for more than two years now, but even more since the Skillet concert in April. I also have my name on it (at my older brother's insistance), but I've blurred it out in this picture for precaution's sake.

God bless!

- Elraen, the Wandering Star -