Flying North N.E. AA1263. Add, yet another addiction.

~ Live & Learn

 

 

It’s that time again. An updated inventory of Addictions.

  1. iPhone. Like Jenny Erpenbeck’s “Bone to bone, blood to blood, as if (we’re) bonded together.”
  2. Talenti Mint Chocolate Chip Gelato. Heaven in a cup. Sweet Jesus. 3-4 pints a week, minimum.
  3. iPad Pro. Speedy wifi in-flight. Enable online work in both directions.
  4. Sugar. Stonewall Kitchen Sour Cherry Jam. 2.5 heaping tablespoons stirred in with Chobani Fruit on the Bottom Greek Yogurt with Pineapple on the Bottom.
  5. Seat #24 E, Exit Row, AA Airbus A321.  To/fro LGA to DFW. Same seat (or take different flight)
  6. Socks: Ultra thin, over-the-calf knee high. Can’t have hot feet or exposed skin.
  7. Advil PM. Ingest 1/2 pill one hour before bed time.  Insomniacs sleep aid.
  8. Knee pillow. To sleep. Avoid bone to bone contact.

And so here we are.

Dallas, TX. Hotel. Wednesday evening.

I open the Jabra Elite Active 65t Wireless Earbuds charging case to find the right earbud missing. Major problem.

I only use the right earbud. I pipe in audio from Youtube videos (Stephen Colbert, Maher) or Pod Casts (NPR Fresh Air, Ted Talks, The Daily, Oprah’s SuperSoul) or when I’m ambitious, a Kindle book on Audible. In 10-15 minutes, after a long day on the road, usually, I’m out.

Why an earbud? It blocks the Mind, the Thoughts.

Why the right earbud? I sleep on my left side. The left earbud slips out upon contact with pillow.

Why not play iPhone on speaker and set timer? Won’t work, as it isn’t close enough to The Mind.

So, I decide to go cold turkey and sleep without the earbud.

  • 10:00 pm. No sleep.
  • 10:30 pm. Turn on Find My Earbuds feature on iPhone. Doesn’t work. Needs to be connected.
  • 10:50 pm. Turn on iPhone speaker. Doesn’t work. Thoughts continue to rain.
  • 11:25 pm. Get out of bed. Scavenge through my luggage. My briefcase. The Desks. Nothing.
  • 11:45 am.  Pull all sheets off the bed. Fell out night before? Nothing. Getting desperate here.
  • 12:05 am.  Grab iPhone. Turn on Flashlight. Search on and behind nightstand. Nothing.
  • 12:15 am.  Grab iPhone. Turn on Flashlight, get on knees and beam light under the bed. Nothing.
  • 12:25 am. Something nagging. Grab iPhone. Turn on Flashlight. Back on my knees. Look under the bed, again. Yes!

And there, leaning against the wall, under the bed, is my earbud. How is that even possible?

I crawl under the bed, stretch to reach the earbud. Good job DK. I shine the light on it, as it tumbles in the palm of my hand. Dusty.  I blow on it once, and then again, trying to avoid thinking what else is coating the silicone ear tips. I twist it into my right ear, I hit play, turn the volume up and crawl back into bad.

10 minutes later, I’m gone.

62 thoughts on “Flying North N.E. AA1263. Add, yet another addiction.”

  2. Darlin’ David,
    I can only imagine the panic you felt. I mean, it’s not great that you absolutely NEED to have something in your ear to shut out The Mind and its Thoughts but if it’s something that works for you and helps you get the sleep you need, then you put a tracker on that bugger to ensure this doesn’t happen again!
    As for the other addictions… most interesting. It almost makes me want to look at mine. Almost. But that would mean admitting to them. You are braver than I.

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  5. So glad you found your earbud! I have never tried wearing my wireless earbuds to bed, I wouldn’t dare. And when you did find it under the bed, somehow the image of that fine layer of dust that coated it was worse than whatever else may have been lurking in the ear tips. And you travel with your knee pillow … I never did because I didn’t find it until I was already retired, but believe me I would have if I had had it back then … it’s a lifesaver for these recently diagnosed osteoarthritic knees of mine! Haha … I never thought I would ever find anybody else who had a special knee pillow, we should start a club! Happy weekend, Dave!

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  6. I’m an earbud addict as well at night, listening to music…in my left ear, and agree that earbuds are so good at getting that music close to my brain to really feel it. Current music for sleep is Chris Botti. Just listen and relax and sleep comes soon.

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  7. You had me at “Chobani.” I’m running to the store, anyone need anything? 🙂 (Glad you found it, but earbuds are too much like earbuds.. there’s a little white-noise fan near my head each night, though!)

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  9. What a revelation! Not everyone needs quiet to fall asleep. If I had to have earbuds in my ears, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I’d be thinking about the music and not sleeping. But if you need the music to fall asleep to, I’m so glad you found the earbud and, like you, I don’t want to think about what else was on it. 😉

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  10. To think that I totally depended on sleeping pills for 10 years of my life.
    I sleep like a baby now. This is how sleep comes to me now, “Come kid, drop everything, we’re going to the other world.”
    No addictions here. Avocados, yes, cant have enough. Sweet corn icecream. BEST THING IN THE UNIVERSE. can only have it it this place in Santa Cruz California.

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          1. Avocado ice cream was my first favorite, then sicilian pistachio talenti. The sweet corn took first spot now.

            You know what Layla did the other day? She made me buy mint chocolate chunk. Then she said it’s because she knows I would touch it. I call it toothpaste icecream

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        2. Yesterday I was shucking corn
          for supper – pulling off the green sheaths
          and brushing away the silks –
          and suddenly in my hand I feel the naked cob
          so cool, sweet, intimate, smooth, like skin I’m holding.
          And I am deeply touched with surprise and rapture.
          And I think how it is to feel life in the skin,
          in the touch of plant flesh (sweet milk swelling the seeds) –
          and how mostly people go for days
          without touching anything from the earth…
          Like ivory keys
          I play the kernels with my tongue:
          OH
          OH

          ~ M.C. Richards, from “Sweet Corn” (August 24, 1994) in Opening our Moral Eye (SteinerBooks, 1996)

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  11. Today’s addictions: fresh almonds, dark chocolate almond roca, dark chocolate covered dried tangerines, the spiced up banana choc chip bread he baked this morning is so good, the bacon perfect as well…sliced tomato scrambled eggs with melted Swiss cheese topped with avocado, was a great breakfast…just had 4 rice crackers 2 w/spreadable feta red pepper cheese and 2 w/ spreadable feta though garlic and dill flavored…the homemade leftover most delicious chicken soup is almost warmed up….

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  13. Perhaps that colleague is retired now, wearing a white belt with his “Fred Mertz” high waisted shorts, exposing paste-y white & freckled hairy leg skin, man- boob showing too small polo shirt,with a man necklace, knee high white socks with sandals or those Birkenstock and a safari hat in camo green to protect his long nose from the sun…just a thought./// (really if he is retired I hope he is enjoying time with his family)

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  15. Insomniac to insomniac, I’m saying wow (potentially) in consideration of everything else tried, to those ear buds, (but that’s a discouraging and multipoint long fought battle for most of us) but, sidebar, cherry lover to cherry lover, have you tried Food For Thought Montmorency Tart Cherry Preserves? They’re the bomb, just sayin’. PS Are you amused that there must be a ‘DK effect’ (like the Oprah effect) on your honest product endorsements like re your love (as mine) of Talenti?

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  17. Earlier this week I was reading and I ran across an abstract from a medical paper about people & the use of Ear Buds…peaked my interest since I sing and to protect my hearing I wear disposal foam ear plugs at the gym and when I am listening to live music…I am frugal and I soak them with vinegar after use…boy, glad I do…it said that people who use Ear Buds (not plugs) have an increase I think 700% in bacteria after 20 minutes or 30 minutes – as the temperature increases in the ear canal…makes me wonder about ear safety.

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  22. Oh my. I notice there’s no exercise on your list of addictions. Nada. I shall not comment on some of the other items. Perhaps the universe made you exercise just a little in search of the poor ear bud 🙂

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  23. This is touching to read, somehow. Trying to break an earbud addition 😉 Yet isn’t it simply comfort we all seek in a world of chaos that offers little? A conversation that keeps repeating, lately with my young garden helper, why do men always seem to want us to be their mothers? Yet if we are attentive, I think we might notice we all crave nurturing. And learning to nurture the self removes the yoke we place on another’s neck when we project that need onto them. On another note, I think the sugar thing is also a source of comfort, at least that was true for me and I had to break the cycle as it was eroding my health and diabetes runs like river salmon through my family. But if I was a wraith witnessing your restless night, I would gently pick up the earbud and place it back in your ear. Sleep is so crucial. Aloha, David. ❤

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    1. Swept away in your comment. Diabetes runs like river salmon through my family (LOVE THIS) and it does in my family too. I’ve been passed, so far. Luckily. And thank you kindly, for gently picking up my earbud and placing it back in my ear. So sweet. Aloha Bela!

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