Ok, it's no secret that I don't really have a lot of electronics in my portion of the house (we won't get into Sir Goth's room). I don't really see a need to have a large screen TV since I don't watch it much, although I think it would be cool to watch my favorite movies like that. I don't need the killer stereo set-up since I don't have my own house, 'though, eventually I want speakers in every room, controlled in each room. And, I don't have every gadget and doo-dad that money can buy.

But! I dearly loved my mp3 player. It was not fancy or high-priced. It was not a cool color. It didn't even have a lot of space (2G). But I used it a lot. By "a lot" I don't mean the occasional walk to the library or whatever. I mean all the time - grocery shopping, sitting in the back yard, washing dishes, during the daycare nap time, walking to the library, some mornings at K's, doing yard work, during meditation, during soap-making, during salve-making... Well, you get the idea.

On Samhain I dropped my mp3 player in a bathtub. While it had water in it. My heart stopped, but I was sure it would be alright if I got it completely dried out. So, I opened the case, removed the battery and left it open. No luck. I opened the face section and left it sitting on my warming rock (a rock I have set above a candle, the rock gets warm, but not hot) for a day. Better luck now, it came on and played my music. After doing the happy dance I turned it off and took a shower. When I came back in the room, it was on. Weird, but whatever. I shut it off again and within 30 seconds it came back on. So, I removed the on/off button. No better. Ok, I figured that there was something not quite right in there and opened the back & removed the battery figuring I would put it all back together when I'm going to use it. My first 1-mile walk, it seemed to do just fine. The next one? It shut down every 20-30 seconds, then came back on. I wanted to cry.

A new mp3 player is not in my budget this month. In fact, it wouldn't be in my budget until February. But, in all honesty, this isn't a device I want to live without, so I pulled money from my fiber, laptop and camping envelopes(which didn't have that much in them) and ordered a replacement. It should be arriving some time today and I will be very happy. I'll still be going for my 1-mile walk without it, but at least I can start tomorrow morning with music again.