Earbuds
Matt Seinberg

I have several pairs of earbuds. Each serves a different purpose. One is blue tooth; the other two wired.

The blue tooth earbuds are great when I’m flat on my face.

I used the blue tooth when I'm at physical therapy and flat on my face or using equipment in the gym. There is nothing worse than having a wire get tangled up in a machine or yanked on. Then, of course, the phone falls to the floor.

I also put my phone is a holder that wraps around my arm, using Velcro. This way I'm sure it won't fall anywhere. It's not easy finding a spot on a machine in the gym to place it without it falling or being in the way.

What I really love about earbuds is that no one thinks that you can hear them talking. I don't keep mine turned up so high that they hurt my ears, but on a more modest volume so I can hear the music and some conversation around me.

Most of those conversations, around me, are boring, but every once in a while they can get juicy. A few weeks ago, there were two women next to each other getting therapy on one of the tables. They were talking about some of their younger days, especially what they did for sexual entertainment.

That was certainly an "EWWWWWWWWWWWW" moment for me. It's not as if they were young and hot, but more like older and yuck. I guess that's why they were talking about what they did when they were younger. They certainly couldn't do that stuff today. Well, they could, but who would want to do it?

When I asked the owner to change the television channel, from WNBC with Hoda and Kathy Lee to ESPN, he said to me, "What difference does it make? You're plugged in to something else."

That's where the earbuds worked against me.

When I was on the cruise, I sat on the deck getting my tan on, wearing a baseball hat so the top of my head wouldn't burn, my dark sunglasses and earbuds. It was very nice to watch the bikinis bounce passed me. The conversations I overheard were generally boring.

The other passengers talked about food, entertainment, drinks and the destinations we were going to visit. How many times can you talk about what you ate at the buffet for lunch, yesterday? How many times can you talk of having something different today? Then, of course, there was the talk about how breakfast is always the same stuff. Well guess what, if you didn't eat everything in sight, the next day would have something different.

It amazed me how people would load up their plates, as it was their last meal. Some people even had to plates, one with their entrée and one with bread and pastry. There may have even been a third plate with fruit on it, just so they would feel like they were eating healthy.

I had about half my breakfasts and lunches alone. I listened to music. It was the same conversations as outside and I was bored. All I wanted to do was find a nice quiet spot to plop down on, read and listen to music.

On the cruise, I listened to Buffett, Creager and Sykes.

Michelle, my daughter, gave me her login for Apple Music. I downloaded a bunch of stuff just for the cruise and I got through most of it. Since I have SiriusXM in the car and listen to Radio Margaritaville a great deal, I got some Jimmy Buffett and related singers, such as Roger Creager and Keith Sykes, both of who were members of the Coral Reefer Band that backs Buffett.

If you see sometime nearby with earbuds, don't believe that they can't hear you. The embarrassing story you save may be your own.