I have many things in my life that I love. I have a wife and family that I love dearly. This family includes a 6 month old grandson (Taelor-James, The Might Warrior). I love the amazing reboot on life Taelor offers me daily. I love old time comedies and the laughter they still provoke in me. For that matter, I love laughter. I love provoking laughter. I love writing to attempt such provocation. I love many different genres of music. I love the beautiful sound of a guitar. I love the way that guitarists such as Jeff Beck, Phil Keaggy, Chet Atkins, and Steve Morse bring out the beauty of guitar. I love playing video games that allow me to (virtually) drive a vehicle at insane speeds without worrying about gas, insurance, speeding tickets, or accidents.
It is largely because of my love for music, movies, and video games that I would like to speak of another love: headphones. I use headphones a lot because I like to enjoy the aforementioned vices without disturbing those around me. With music for example, I prefer to follow the mindset of Gene Simmons. I want it loud and right between the eyes. Using headphones allows me to do this without making the squirrels half an acre from my house start to bob their to the music. Mind you, that would be REALLY cool to see. I just want to be considerate of the people around me.
Earbuds are especially great as they are rather small and can often be used without people nearby knowing you are doing so. If my daughter didn’t see me bobbing my head as I am typing this, she might not notice right away that I am listening to The Police advising “Roxanne” that she might wish to dress more modestly. I can actually remember many times when I would ride on a city bus while listening to my music player. I would often listen to a comedy piece (Bill Cosby is a favorite). Fellow passengers who did not immediately notice the earbuds would stare at me because I was laughing out loud for no apparent reason. When I noticed this, it would make me laugh harder. I can be VERY easily amused at times.
As I began to enjoy my video games more and more, my younger son hipped me to a really cool accessory. He showed me a headset that had some really cool features. It had noise cancellation (helps blocks unwanted ambient sounds). It had built in amplifier. This helps to use the headset at a higher volume than the source. It even had a microphone for chatting with other players over the Internet. I already knew the noise cancellation worked well. I say this because when my son is using his headset, I sometimes have to cut off the main circuit breaker to the house to get his attention. The amplifier and microphone REALLY made me want to buy one of my own.
I finally relented and got this cool headset for myself. It was super easy to set up. I picked out one of my favorite combat video games, sat in my chair, and donned the headset. i enjoyed the clarity of the sounds as I did my routine startup tasks for my game. I picked my profile (chime), hit the button to sign in (chime), and then started up my combat game (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM)!
When I finally came to, I was initially a bit disoriented. I moved out of the fetal position on the floor and began to examine things more closely. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my windows, my bifocals, and what few teeth I have remaining were not damaged in the sonic blast. I was relieved to see that no blood was trickling from my ears. It didn’t even take much gel to get my hair to lay back down properly. I picked up the headset and discovered that I had the built-in amplifier’s volume cranked full blast. I turned the volume control down and once again donned the headset. I was happy to have survived the test results that would have frightened Marty McFly. I played my video game at a less dangerous volume level and the experience was beyond cool. As I was putting the headset away, I couldn’t help but wonder what the experience of, perhaps, the “1812 Overture” would sound like cranked through this baby. Clearly, I don’t ALWAYS learn from history. What can I say? I LOVE this headset.
