There's no "i" in Christmas... Oh wait.

So... This trip went well.

I think Hong Kong holds a grudge against all the technological things I have. No joke. In the span of two months, one of the lenses for my camera went bust, my iPhone stolen, my external hard drive (along with some files and photos) was rendered useless after a harmless (or so I thought) drop, and just today -- on Christmas day no less -- my iPod got corrupted and died.

For the first time ever in a couple of years, I am i-less -- free of any Apple products.

Riding on the bus would not be the same again. Taking a walk on the street would not be the same again. Hell, being in my bedroom would not be the same again. There is no music to my ears. And this is only the first day -- imagine what it'd be like in Vancouver, where people actually have to wait for buses that never seems to come. In the words of Colonel Kurtz, "the horror... the horror..."

Thinking about it now, it's rather staggering how Apple has managed to conquer my daily life. Although the same can be said about music in general -- without the sheer volume of the iPod, it's quite unlikely that I would be listening to most of the songs I listen to today. (and if you're wondering, it mostly consists of boring old tunes nobody listens to ever again -- who in the hell at the age of 21 would listen to Simon & Garfunkel, Ray Charles or Édith Piaf for petessakes?)

How has this happened? Nobody even seems to remember how it was like back when iPods were Walkmans; back when people used to have to lug albums of CDs around everytime they wanted to change from Backstreet Boys to N'Sync (those were the days...) The cassettes, the mixed-tapes... Remember that laughable / pathetic attempt Sony did less than 10 years ago with the MD player? No? Well probably because the MD player was SO PATHETIC.

Then along came the iPod, which provided became the solution to all the inconveniences of the previous technologies, all wrapped in a body with the user-friendliness that puts Volkswagen to shame. Like the black hole, the iPod has sucked us all in and there's no getting out. Once you're in, you're hooked.

You have to give it to Apple -- they have managed to change the way people listen to music with this music player. This music player that changed the way I listen to music. This music player that expanded my taste in music. This music player that provided me so much entertainment every time I was on the road. And this BLOODY MUSIC PLAYER THAT STOPPED WORKING BECAUSE THE CABLE GOT KNOCKED OFF MY LAPTOP WHEN IT WAS PLAYING THE ROLLING STONES**. [expletive deleted] HELL [expletive deleted][expletive deleted]DAMN [expletive deleted] IPODS THAT DON'T WORK FOR [expletive deleted][expletive deleted] *&%^*(*@!(&&%$!.

Okay, calm down...

At the end of the day (or this year, perhaps more appropriately), when I come to my senses again and become less murderous than I am right now, I am very likely to return to the remedy, the poison, the evil spell -- or, to put it in one word, the pharmakon that is the Apple iPod.

When I do, it will be a long and painful process for me to re-download the 3200 songs that went KIA along with my iPod. If I can remember half the artists in the first place. Plus all the sorting and the organizing.

Man, I am dreading this already.

**"You can't always get what you want". Coincidence much?

PS:Another update coming in a couple days -- before I leave Hong Kong back home to Vancouver!
PPS: Merry Christmas everyone.