I find the trick with challenges is too not think too much about it. Clear your mind, and allow whatever it is you are meant to write about into your head. Even if it seems odd or tricky, use it anyway. So it is with the question of what is the most useful thing you own, excluding the damn phone?

_{One of the best albums of all time - I have a lot of those :P}

It's no coincidence that my noise cancelling headphones popped into my head. I freaking love these things. Over the years I've bought tech because it's been radically new and amazing, like mp3 players or mini disc players (thanks Creative Zen and Sony) or useful, like the Go Pro or that electric mosquito zapper we bought last week, but the Bose Noise cancelling headphones are the freaking bees knees and dogs bollocks. I was only talking to a mate yesterday that if the house was on fire I'd likely grab my board and my headphones and insurance could sort out the rest.

One of the reasons is because I have a sensitivity to sound - a kind of hyperacusis. It's quite possibly due to anxiety, but I've always hated the disharmony and discord created by listening to a lot of noises at once or really disturbing noises. Think the noise jet engines on an airplane or your husband listening to a Landrover video on Youtube. All I need to do is slip these babies on, listen to some tunes and aaaah... focussed sound, my way.

^{Jamie can never listen to this album without thinking about ghosts. Apparently when he was a kid he'd listen to this album and read mags about the paranormal. As you do.}

That pure focus is also useful when I'm doing a meditation audio like a yoga nidra. The headphones block out bird noises and traffic so I can just listen to the audio of what I choose to listen to.

The headphones are also bloody GOLD when I'm listening to a podcast, so the audio can move around the garden or on my walk with me. On planes, especially long haul, I'll pop them on to help me sleep, having downloaded some 'om' sleep sounds for me to zone off to.

^{An Australian blues artist who sounds very American oldy worldy - I recommend this one}

Sometimes Jamie'll be watching a show on telly and I feel like watching something else, so I can - headphones on with something on my phone, but still snuggled up on the same couch as him. He's grateful, of course, because if the show I happen to want to watch involves zombies, he doesn't have to listen to the snapping, snarling and screaming. Fair enough.

And sometimes I can just put them on and listen to tunes just because, and no one else needs to put up with my tastes, except the odd lyric that escapes my lips, forgetting no one can hear what I hear.

The sound on them is great - I mean, they're Sony - and they're comfortable to wear. They take ten minutes to charge via USB so even if I let them run out (which I never do) I just pop them onto charge whilst I'm going to the loo and making tea and voila!

^{Oh man, I love dub.}

Yes, they were expensive. But I'd earnt the money doing a random job putting someone's Wix website together, and bought a pair of Bose ones with the income. In India, someone nicked them, so I claimed a bit of insurance, and bought the Sony ones instead.

Even then, knowing what I know now, I would have paid any price for them.

This post was written in response to @galenkp's Weekend Engagement challenge.