What is your iPod trying to tell you?

So I was chatting to Kim Bennett on Twitter the other day, as you do.

‘I liked the Beagle Oracle,’ she said. ‘I could do with a daily dose of BO.’  Ho ho ho. 

But really the pseudo-Beagle has been a crap oracle lately.  I fear he may be rather limited as a spiritual leader. His main messages appear to be:

Don’t listen!

Eat shit!

When in doubt curl up and go to sleep!

Run away!

Hmm, actually…maybe he isn’t so crap after all. 

But then, lately I’ve been going with the iPod oracle. How the hell did I ever live without my iPod?  I have literally thousands of songs on it now – every kinda thing you could imagine (from hip hop and heavy rock through acoustic stuff, pop and Latin-American dance to chanty floaty stuff and early church music.  Oh and a load of meditation tracks and my shamanic drumming tracks.)  And what I love to do is put it on *shuffle all tracks* and see what happens.  Really, it’s usually pretty damn good at giving me what I need.  I mean, what are the odds on getting five meditation tracks one after another when I’m seriously out of balance and need to go quiet?  Sometimes it gets an obsession with one artist or one song - I mean how many times do I need to hear Leonard Cohen's Closing Time?  Maybe it's just got a glitch... Or maybe not.  Who knows? 

Anyhow, in the morning I walk with James down to the bus and then I and the SP peel off for our walk.  I play the game that the first four tracks are the ones I need to hear.  And, you know, they always are.  Sometimes it stops there but usually it goes on, and on and on – message after message after message. Sometimes they make me laugh out loud.  Sometimes they make me wanna cry.  And sometimes it’s like having the finger wagged at you by a bloody stern teacher.  That fecking iPod can’t half get preachy on me sometimes.  You know, you should try it… it doesn’t have to be an iPod – anything that allows a real random shuffle.  YouTube doesn’t work here. And you mustn’t cheat…

Sooo, what did it play me this morning?  As the SP and I decided not to go up into the woods or by the river but rather to walk straight across the fields.  What did it say? 

It said:  

 So, what are they saying eh?  Music for thought?  Or just random noise?

And after those?  Eddie Vedder – Society.  Bob Dylan – Tangled up in Blue.  Roddy Frame – She Wolf.  Feist – Brandy Alexander.  Dido – My Life.  Syd Barrett – No Good Trying. 

I dunno, for some reason I am laughing my head off.  

Incidentally you should check out Kim's website.  She offers solo holidays for those on journeys, for those of a vaguely spiritual bent... in Greece, Cyprus or the UK.  Hmmm....how very very appealing...  www.serenityretreat.co.uk