I've was buried in a cave-in.

That's my excuse for not having updated this in a while. True or not, I'm sticking to it.

My last blog entry was mainly about Scan Sound's 1-Bud and the possibility of hearing what stereo truly sounds like for the first time. At the end of that entry, I said how the 1-Bud better be worth all the emotion and hype I put into it. It actually arrived only a few days after I wrote about it, and I immediately tried it out.

Was it worth the purchase and the psychological and emotional investment?

Yes. Yes, it was.

First, I listened to a random piece of music on my computer using my regular headphones set-up, which consists of cutting the right earbud off of a regular set of headphones to create my own de facto 1-Bud. This is a practice I've done for years, so it obviously sounded like I expected it to. Then, I plugged the 1-Bud in my computer and in my ear, played the same piece of music from before again, and waited to see what the difference was. I'm not ashamed to say I became misty-eyed. It's an odd sensation that's hard to describe. Try walking around all day with one eye shut. Then, open both eyes and follow the exact same path as before. The difference should be impressive. If you only have one eye now, grow another eye and see how different that is. Hey, if you could grow another eye this whole time, why haven't you?

Back on track, hearing what amounts to stereo for the first time blew me away. I proceeded to try many different types of audio, from music to audio books to movies, switching out my old MacGyverized headphones for the 1-Bud's each time. For a while, I sat at my computer, staring off into space with a dream-like grin glued on my face. It's not just me that hears and is impressed by the stereo sound in one ear.

I've let others (more like forced on them) listen to MP3s on my portable XM radio. One person's most immediate reaction was a simple, "Holy shit." To those that have full hearing in both ears, the 1-Bud may be nothing more than a way for them to listen to music safely while running or riding their bikes. To others, the 1-Bud may allow them to freely listen to music or other types of audio at work and not worry about missing anything going on around them. To myself and anyone else with limited hearing, the 1-Bud allows us to listen in a new way. Who wouldn't want that opportunity?

. . .

I'll try to have future posts up more regularly. Hopefully, on a weekly basis, at minimum. They'll be about everything from reviews of movies, books, comics, and music to goofier posts just meant to amuse to ones full of snark for snark's sake to one's trying to fight away the snark to more serious ones like the one here about the 1-Bud.

Maybe one day I'll be writing for more than just myself.