I went back to my ex...

This is Strict_Machine, my iPod (6th gen)

The iPod debuted the year I graduated high school. Every single day of my school career from elementary school onward, I had headphones in my ears that connected to a Walkman (sometimes cassette, sometimes CD). The invention of MP3 players that can hold ALL of your music and playlists is still something of a jaw-dropping fantastical WONDER of the world to me. There is something magical to sit with a device in your lap that is the size of ONE cassette tape containing ALL of your music. ALL. of. it. That is still so cool to me, and I think I will always want a DAP (digital audio player) in my life. This is a device that doesn't connect to the internet, doesn't distract you with notifications of emails and social media messages. It simply plays sound. Though this device didn't always exist-- to me, it feels timeless.

I bought a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra in 2003. It had 60GB of storage. I digitized all my CDs in 128kbps because I didn't know any better yet. Luckily, I kept my CDs. In 2009 I got an orange iPod Nano. The 160GB beauty in the image to your left was acquired in January of 2011. In February, by some divine intervention (was it because I had more space on this new iPod?), I decided to re-digitized all my CDs in 320kbps. Less than three months later, most of my physical media was destroyed in the Great Wind of May 2011. I found the iPod under my dresser, wet and covered in insulation. But it still works to this day!

Despite our history, six months ago I left my iPod for a Fiio X3 II. I liked the Fiio, but that damn thing took hours and sometimes DAYS to sync. The initial sync with the Fiio, my iTunes, and a program called Dapper took 3-5 days. This one time, my iTunes deleted ALL the playlists I had put in a special folder for my Fiio to be able to recognize them. I had to recreate about 50 playlists in my iTunes. Thankfully, I have all my mixes written in a special mix journal, so that headache was more about time than anything. In the end, the Fiio was just too big of a pain in the ass. This week I wrenched my iPod back from my Michael and sold the Fiio. Hello, old friend.

Here's a list of things about my iPod that I really missed:

1. being able to use the many iPod docks in my house
2. volume control on headphones
3. on-the-go playlists
4. podcasts
5. audiobooks
6. lastFM stats
7. album shuffle
8. syncs that take less than five minutes instead of a few hours/days

If you want to see an even longer explanation of my iPod praises/Fiio woes, go to here.

Self-Promotion

I'm kinda terrible at it. I do have a few things that I'm doing with my creative life. I feel kind of good about the things I'm doing. I realize that the name Mixtress Rae is in like a LOT of places (and it's all ME!), but I don't really tell people about it. I am actually starting to get a few followers in some of these places.

Today is a day in which the output of words I type feels juvenile, like the words I typed years ago. It's a regression day, but I still need to get my words in for April's CampNaNoWriMo, so I type on. I need to get about 1500 words a day the last three days of the month to hit my goal. That's a LOT, if you want quality...but wait, I don't do QUALITY work. Pfffft.

I'm going to use this opportunity of having no desire to think about the damn TV shows, just for one day, to get some words in promoting myself. Without further adieu/word dribble, I give you...the places on the internet that MixtressRae hath infiltrated:

Instagram: instagram.com/mixtressrae
     {Did you even know Instagram has a website now?!}

Facebook: facebook.com/mixtressrae
     {Ok, a small informational statement on Facebook. I kind of hate it. I mean, I love how useful it is and that everyone is accessible and everything, but there's just something icky about EVERYONE being at the same site all the time. I feel creepy using it sometimes. I'm a child of the '90s! I want to hide behind my username in vampire chat rooms, gawwwd! Ok, that's really just too much information. What I really mean to say is that for some strange reason Facebook repulses me so I don't use it that much. I deleted it from my phone a couple of weeks ago. I do still have the messenger app, however, so if you ever need me to see something on Facebook, MSG it to me and I'll get it.}

Tumblr: mixtressrae.tumblr.com
     {Tumblr is the place that I spend most of my online-time. I don't post a lot of original content here, but I reblog cute gifs of kittens and feminist rants a lot.}

YouTube: youtube.com/user/mixtressrae/videos
     {This is where I'm posting my ASMR videos. I've made a deal with myself that if I don't have 25 subscribers a few days after posting my tenth video, I'll stop. I've got three more videos to shoot and only have 19 subscribers. If you please, check out my channel and subscribe if you like it. Thanks!}

Last.fm: last.fm/user/mixtressrae
     {This is the place where you can see ALL my music stats, almost everything I've listened to in the last 4 years! What, that doesn't sound exciting to you? Why not? I wanna know what YOU listen to! Seriously, if you have a lastFM, tell me!}

I also have a zine called Chickweed. You can submit entries for the next issue until about May 15th via mixtressrae@yahoo.com. I don't yet have a theme...I think the next one will be a lot of ranting and vadge-talk, as per the usual. The next issue will be out June 1st! Yeayyyyy! If you want to give me money for the production of my zine, there's a PayPal donate button to the right somewhere.

Ok, self-promotion over!