- 3 -

My awareness of the outside world continues to diminish, but I only notice when I think about it. Lately I could swear that traffic noise has all but disappeared. Sure the city is twenty floors below, but this building is right in the heart.

It's probably just a slow time of year, as I've also only had a couple of deliveries this month and both left at the front door.

One of the latest deliveries is yet another dodgy Chinese made mp3 player. It's a nice looking unit, solidly constructed, it plays FLAC and other lossless formats and most other decent codecs. The "but" is that, as usual it comes with the cheapest quality headphones and only sounds good through an amp with a pair of headphones that cost twice as much as the player. To top it off, the battery looks like it lasts under a day at optimum settings.

If I kept every mp3 player, or "PMP" (personal media player) I was sent to review, I would need another room in my apartment. These things have been the staple item in the gadget wars for years and years, followed closely by gaming devices. eBay has been the real winner.

My personal interest in these things waned a long time ago.

Besides, who needs a personal music device when you live alone and have custom built stereo equipment with a room build to optimize acoustics?

In the old days, I think it may have been my love of personal media players, or rather the cocoon they create around you, that started me on my journey to hermit-hood. I could go for days without speaking to anyone going to and from work in a city of millions.

I couldn't have been the only one. Immersive technologies are aimed at providing the illusion of interaction whilst never leaving the comfort of your own bedroom. Before long, dealing with real people becomes stressful, even traumatic.

The only people I deal with are delivery people, and the ones who know my address from hundreds of deliveries just leave things in my secure box by the door. When I'm busy I tend not to hear the door, so rather than waste their time, we have an unspoken agreement. Everyone knows the hermit in the penthouse is always home.

Next time there is a knock at the door though, I might answer it. It must have been a month since I saw an actual face. Maybe I'm not as much of a loner as I thought, because I can't think of anything nicer right now than swapping pleasantries with a real human being in person.