iPodobiography

iPodobiography

One of my favorite “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episodes is called “Time’s Arrow.” In the classic cliff-hanger fashion that was common in the 80’s and 90’s, “Time’s Arrow” concluded season 5 and opened season 6 in 1992.

It begins with the discovery of Lieutenant Commander Data’s head in a cave near San Francisco and draws to a close with the great Samuel Clemens appearing on the Enterprise (through a time portal, of course). After a quick tour of the flagship of the Federation of Planets, Mr. Clemens returns to 19th century Earth where he rendezvous with Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Before Captain Picard heads back through the time portal to the Enterprise, the following exchange occurs:

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "I wish .... I wish TIME would have allowed me to know you better."

Samuel Clemens: "HA! You'll just have to read my books. What I am is pretty much there."

Short of what is destined by God, we are all architects of our own biographies. Each day, we pick up a few more trinkets, nuggets, or chochkies of life and attach them to our being. These additions differ widely in their impacts and integrate their ways into our lives with varying degrees of tensile strength, rendering each of us a “work in progress.”

We are expressive beings. The flair in our clothing, the way we decorate our homes, the neatness of our desks, the style and color of our cars, the pedigree of our pets, the preferred flavor of our Jell-O, even the gait of our walk all reveal even the slightest essence of the unique spirit inside our skin and bones.

Mr. Clemens, in our Star Trek quote, confirms that a person’s life story can be brought to bare in a myriad of ways.

I contend that much of who I am can be revealed through the music stored on my iPod.

Tomorrow at 7:47 PM (8:47 Eastern Time), I shall turn 44. And starting tomorrow, and on each day during the year leading up to my 45^th birthday, I will highlight one from 1,000 or so CD’s that I have stored on my iPod and regale you, perhaps, with the significance that it has on my “work in progress”.

My friend James F. made the excellent suggestion that I climax my year-long iPod vigil with a top “45” countdown leading up to Birthday 2010. Saving the best for last presents the challenge of keeping this autobi-blog-raphy interesting for the first 320 days. So, the question must be posed: “Am I fascinating every day or not?” Answer: You bet your sweet bippy I am.

I don't know if you, my friend, will read every day or not. But I will try to be a good steward of your time and not make you read much more than a few minutes. Maybe some days, just a few thoughts. And on other days, well, maybe my fascinating-ness just can't stop.

The real Mr. Clemens has quipped, “Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.” Yes, Mr. Twain, you’re correct, of course. But the content of the biography to which you refer is fodder for therapy sessions and psychology classes. The clothes and buttons are all the stuff anybody's interested in anyway.

Credits: Katherine H. for coining the word iPodobiography. Genius! Karen S., a friend from my cruise ship days for using the word chochkies and never telling me how to spell it.