Just Whistling Dixie?

Two observations that are possibly related: One: I was looking at laptop specs yesterday and noticed the following: “easily upgraded to 500 gigabytes to give plenty of room for photos, music and videos” or something close to that. This computer has a 40 gig hard drive and has 18 gigs free. Two: huge numbers of people have some kind of portable device plugged into their ears for many hours a day so they can listen to “my music” whenever they want to.
When is the last time you heard someone whistling? Rephrase that: when is the last time you heard someone young whistling?
My life has a soundtrack. Music is nearly always in the background of my thoughts, and I often whistle favorite tunes. Many of my friends from long ago whistled. My father and grandfather were whistlers. Whistling keeps me company, just, I suppose, as “my music” keeps techie people company. So those critical thoughts I think from time to time when I see half the people on a subway train with iPods are misplaced. They are just listening to the soundtrack of their thoughts, like me.


Ahhh, but there is a difference. My soundtrack doesn’t need batteries. And I have to wonder about the creative force that thinking music and making music must require. Musings of an old fart, or keen observation of a creative mind? What do you think I think?

Whistling Dixie def. :http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whistle_Dixie
Whistler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNtMpPFM7M0
Image: http://www.picturesof.net/pages/090612-183133-718048.html