Keeping Track

Keeping Track
by Dirk Michener
When I first got iTunes I saw the box that says I listened to whatever song however many times.  I probably had half a million songs on there and maybe 50 of them had a little number 1 next to them.  I was so ashamed about this and didn’t want anybody looking at my computer.  I would listen to music intently and make sure I listened to at least 95% of the song lest the little number not appear.  If you listened to less than that it said you didn’t listen to it ever.  I guess you probably didn’t unless you listened to at least 95%.
After a while I got sick of doing this and started leaving the music on when I left the house.  Coming home seeing the number of “listens” just rise and rise.  This made me proud and I didn’t feel so ashamed anymore.
After I listened to every song at least one time I was ashamed again.  It looked like I just let my iTunes play for about 37 days non-stop, which is ridiculous and pitiful.  I tried removing the display of song-listens but I knew they were still being counted.  I began writing it down in a notebook instead.  What songs I listened to and the number of times I listened, and the date.  I filled up about 30 notebooks before I decided to start storing them in my gun-safe.  My daughter saw one in the bathroom one day and asked me what it was.  I was ashamed and embarrassed and told her it was something daddy did in junior-high school having to do with basketball.