Perils of Caffeine in the Evening

OK, so here I am down to getting my fashion tips from the WSJ. Seems that Airpods, that terrific invention that saved us from a Luca Brazzi moment if our corded headphones got snagged by a passing scooter dude, are jumping a shark and corded phones are back in with “influencers”.

I never gave up my corded phones despite the potential promise of stumping a panel of actuaries (and because I’m cheap), and here I am back (?) in fashion.

This quote from the article speaks to a brand of body language that has its attractions. Plus, new Airpods $549; corded headphones $19.

“A cord also projects a “you can’t sit with me” factor that some people find appealing. While AirPods subtly blend into your look, making you at least appear available to the outside world, corded headphones wall you off from others. Natalia Christina, director of strategy and brand for the Digital Fairy, said that contributes to their allure. “It gives the air of ‘do not disturb,’” she explained. “So it’s kind of subconsciously related to that grungy aesthetic, where it’s about being moody and having that physical barrier up.””

and so the pretty part of fall, that caramel-apple lie that masks its underlying bitterness, continues its party-line promise of unsustainable Indian summer, with endless shimmering golds and reds and its misleading cohabitation with a stock market approaching flood tide;

until inexorable planetary mechanics perversely drain the light from each day, uninfluenced by legislative tampering, and we huddle, chastened, hoping only that the recession of the light spares our now-singular investment in one more vernal equinox