Disco While You Work

I have the coolest sisters in the world.

For my most recent birthday, which was last month in case any of you would like to send belated wishes, they sent me my very own iPod Nano. (I suspect that a good friend was in on this too.)

I've never owned an MP3 player before, much less an iPod! Much less an iPod Nano! Like I said, the coolest sisters in the world.

I have the coolest daughter in the world, too.

Naturally, I had to get Drama Princess to show me how to use my new toy. She has an iPod too. She calls hers "iVolde" which is short for "iVoldemort." She's a big Harry Potter fan. I decided mine needed a name too, so it has been christened "iBond."

His Nibs decided we needed to load every single song on every single CD in the house onto my iBond. Drama Princess sailed right into instructions on how to do this. I still get a headache just thinking about it. I don't trust myself to do it alone. I'm trying to recall just when I stopped being the All-Knowing Mom and regressed to needing my younger child's help with complicated things like technology.

Anyway, Drama Princess has been a good little scout with loading iBond. So far she hasn't laughed even once at my music collection. Even I think it's funny that I have a CD titled Pure Funk, which includes such timeless classics as "Kung Fu Fighting." Remember that one? How about "Car Wash"? That's on the Pure Funk CD too. I have practically everything Styx ever did. I have a couple of disco compilations, along with tons of Journey, Heart, Billy Joel, Elton John. It might come as a shock to find out that I grew up in the 70s.

The 70s do not, however, represent the entirety of my musical interest. The 80s are well represented too. Mostly by Madonna. One little guilty pleasure among many. Still, Drama Princess did not giggle as she loaded this stuff onto iBond. She maintained her composure quite well as she added my 20-CD collection of Mozart and my five-disc assorted classical selections that includes three of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I confess that we've both laughed at the fact that winter is not a part of this collection.

And just the other day when she walked me through the use of my very first iTunes card--helping me set up my account, showing me how to search for titles and artists, reassuring me that I was doing right by clicking on "BUY SONG"--she managed not to guffaw when I boldly exercised my right to purchase "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." I may be the only person outside of Detroit who thinks that's a pretty cool song, but I don't care.

Hymns by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Fine by her. Movie soundtracks? Okay. Recordings of the Liberty Community Chorus with her own dear mother singing alto? Just another click of the mouse.

But you just wait till the day I unearth my precious collection of original James Bond themes. She may not be laughing now, but I know that when she connects the songs to the movies, all that pent-up mirth is going to explode. She already thinks I'm weird about Bond; this will just be icing on the cake.

But iBond is ready for anything. Just like its namesake.