Have you ever known someone or something so well that you can (or think you can) predict the next move given a specific set of circumstances? Have you experienced this over and over again to the point where it has started to drive you mad?

I am sick of the music on my iPod.

I have reached the point of total predictive saturation. Play a song, any song, whether it’s on “Random” or not, I can tell you what the next song will be: COMPLETE SHIT!

Last week, I said enough is enough, and decided to create this totally ingenious thing called a “Play List”. What a great idea I thought. I went through and trimmed down my minuscule music library to a whopping 115 songs. I felt like a new man, refreshed and ready to tackle the unknown.

The first couple of days, it was great. I was able to make it to work in the morning without being disappointed by the “Random” selection of songs that my over-priced hand-held picked for me.

However, a week later, I was back to where I started again. I’ll be honest with you, I’m currently listening to this “Play List” as I write this post, and have been keeping count of the number of times I hit “skip” (read to the end to see the total). I can’t believe that I actually hand picked these songs as good songs.

The strange thing is, when I listen to the radio, they can play the exact same songs that I have on my iPod, yet I will still listen to them like they are the greatest thing since sliced bread (I love sliced bread). Maybe it’s the surprise factor? The fact that the next song may actually be outside my small realm of top 40’s? But why? Especially when the next song is one I already have on my list? What drives me to endure the, otherwise, excruciating pain and continue listening to it?

I wonder if some university somewhere did a study on this and has some overly general synopsis explaining what I’m going through.

Or maybe I just need to expand my library.

Skip count so far: ~26

~Rabee