So I finally own a cell phone

You win. I've held out for a long, long time but you win. As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I'm one of those of a very small minority who actually thought having cell phones was a bad idea. For the record I still think it's not a great one, but even I must bow in the face of a world where literally everyone you meet expects you to have a cell phone and be available to them every minute of every day.

According to the excellent book "The Tipping Point", the year in which everyone and their brother started buying cell phones was 1998, which means that by 1999 people were on my back to get one. "Why should I?" was my response. Why would I want to give up what little free time I have and be chained down by a cell phone? Why should I give up the freedom of being unreachable? I just read an editorial on cnn's website about how we've gone from a 5-day work week to essentially a 24-hour-a-day work week because of phone calls, texts, etc from our boss and co-workers asking us to do things...and we actually do them! "Just turn off your phone" is the response I get, but that actually is not good enough. The understanding is that if you call or text someone, they will check their phone soon enough and get back to you. If they don't, well, that's frankly an insult. They'd better account for why they didn't get back to you, and they certainly better not say they didn't get it in the first place! After all, don't most of us keep our cell phones on, most of the time? Ever wonder why some jobs even give you a cell phone--they're not doing you a favor. And it's not just work, it's your friends too, not to mention a girlfriend. Anyone had a fight with their significant other and gotten a text? You'd better read it or its beaucoups trouble for you. So even with your cell phone off, you are still tethered, chained down by social expectations that you have to be on guard against for about 16 hours a day if you expect to get any sleep. You had better be immediately available or shortly available for feedback on any number of topics every single day of the week for the rest of your life. Then there's the cost. I can have a landline in my home for not more than $30 a month, the connection is always perfect, I have an answering machine for messages, unlimited minutes, NO contracts, and distance from the social web if I want it.

So why, if I feel this way did I get a cell phone? There are some good arguments for owning one. A friend of mine was driving home from Spokane a few weeks ago, at night with his family, and his car broke down in the middle of nowhere. If he hadn't had a cell phone to call a tow truck, it wouldn't have been an easy night. Sometimes there are emergencies that you do need to be notified of. If you're meeting friends at a new place, it's nice to be able to coordinate where you are with where you need to be. If you have several friends internationally it's probably cheaper to keep in touch with them via cell phone. These reasons I've known about for the past ten years. When I finally bought a cell, I found out how roped in you are with contracts, and the raquet you get sucked in to if you want to get ringtones. But overall I don't mind owning one, and it is actually pretty cool to text people, to keep in touch with ppl in other states without a calling card or long distance charges. But basically, I gave up.

My Birfday!

May 9th...perhaps the greatest day of all! It was--and is--the day of my birth! I had an awesome pre-birthday birthday thing last night, in the which I acquired four (4!) new books, and watched the new Star Trek movie.

Capsule review: surprisingly entertaining movie. As a Star Trek-o-phile I'm a self-appointed judge to most things Star Trek, and most of the Star Trek stuff sucks. Okay, the original series was good, but I think I was just born too late to enjoy it...like I watch the show, some of the themes are good, ya know, but that corny music comes on that's likes twice as loud as the dialogue on the show, then a girl comes on and the camera has vaseline all over it to try and make her look good, and then I just tune out. Next Generation, still my favorite television show of all time--awesomeness. DS9, didn't suck as much as I thought it would, but still it's lost some of the ideals of the entire show, mostly due do Roddenberry dying. Voyager, well, I did like the Doctor and Neelix, other than that still a step down. Enterprise, now we're getting to the point where I'd rather be stabbed in both eyes. So when they advertised the movie I'm thinkin to myself "I bet it's just an action movie, everyone's fighting all the time, no social or moral dimension which is what made Star Trek great in the first place." I have to admit, there was a buttload of action, and there was no social or moral dimension to the movie--and yet I liked it! Very entertaining, the director found just a bunch of excellent actors to fill the shoes of the characters, and the characterizations were just about spot on. Plot...well, the plot was pretty standard fare, but the dialogue was so good that it actually made me interested in it, which is nice. The camera work overall was very good, quick but not so quick that you can't even follow what is happening (i.e. Quantum of Solace), and the special effects are of course first rate. It's not much deeper than a typical well-done summer popcorn movie, but to the Star Trek franchise it is certainly what was promised: a breath of fresh air.

Day 2...ish

Alright, one of my good friends just had a brush with death this past week. In the interest of preventing future loss of life, I've decided to publish it in its entirety. Those of you with young children may want to shield their eyes as what follows is graphic in nature.

"I just had what amounted to my first panic attack, I think. I'm going out to my living room and I'm opening up my blinds to let in the glorious morning and what happens to be on the inside of my window, but a wasp!!!! I freaked out. It wasn't a fast moving wasp, but it was alive and had stingers I'm sure would have killed me, if I let it. I run back into my room and shut my door, sure I would have to spend the next day or so in my room until it died, when I thought (through my racing heart and shaking hands) that I couldn't do that. Hello? Then I said, mom? where are you when I need you? So, I go out and look at it. It's just staring out my window, moving slightly, sometimes flaring its wings. It is ugly and so scary to me. I open my balcony door and tell it to fly away. I will let you live if you just fly out my door! But it didn't listen to me. It just stayed there flexing its wings, looking menacing. So, I decide I have to kill it. I go into my closet where I have long rolls of wrapping paper and pull out my longest one. I put on my Celine Dion jacket because I don't want it to sting my arms, then go out and realize that if I don't kill it on the first hit, it's coming after me. So I put on some gloves. Then I think, my beautiful face! So, I think of what robbers put on to conceal their face, yet still see out. So, I put fishnet stockings over my head, and I can see out, but I make a very hard target. Then I put on my Harry Potter hat for good measure. At this point, I don't think I can even attempt to kill it because I am sure I would miss and then it would fly to a place that I couldn't reach and then I really would be stuck in my room. So, I get out one of my coke glasses and a sturdy sheet of paper. Then I look down at my legs and the calves are bare, so I go and put on knee high socks. My heart is still racing when I meet my enemy. I gently ease my blinds the rest of the way open and put the glass over the top of the wasp. It really is very slow and doesn't realize what has happened to it until I start easing the paper under it and I jostle the wasp. It starts moving around, but I know it can't get to me because I am completely covered from head to toe and I have it in a glass (my heart is still racing). I ease the paper completely over the top of the glass and pull it away from the window. The wasp does not like this at all. I run outside determined to let it free. Then my mind kicks in and I stare at its angry body, shaking with rage and ready to sting anything when it gets free and I think, that would be stupid to be the person there for it to sting and I'm staring at it, so it probably has my face memorized and it hates me. So, I run around in my apartment for a minute just panicing because I have this wasp in my hand and I don't know what to do with it. I don't have my industrial strength tape to tape the paper down and I can't let it go and ahhhh!!!! What do I do? What do I do?!! So, here's what I did. I set the cup down outside my door with the paper still on top and shut my door very quickly. So, there it sits on my balcony, which I cannot open for at least a day. I came back into my apartment, took a good look at myself in the mirror and laughed hysterically. My heart starts to slow and my hands become slightly steadier. I really should have taken a picture. Me against the wasp. And I won...or did I?"

Ya know, when I know someone who is willing to face down our natural predators in such a courageous and level-headed fashion, it makes me wonder what we humans are really capable of if we put our minds to it. Frankly it puts me in mind of Indiana Jones, thrust down into the snake pit, who using only his wits and his trusty whip (and a several hundred-ton statue) was able to single-handedly outthink them all! Kudos to you, my anonymous friend!

Day 1

Due to overwhelming demand, I will now begin keeping my own blog. To the millions that have campaigned for such an event all I can say is, you're welcome! Why have I decided to keep a blog? Well, for some reason, for the first time today it actually seemed like a good idea. I was always worried that bloggers tend to be those people who are self-important losers, whiny complainers, or those that just love to comment on every passing thought in their fairly empty heads. As I have all of these traits in abundance I figured it was past time for me to join the miasma of my blogging brothers and sisters.

When I was about 12 I started writing short stories. They were humorous science fiction stories starring that pulp fiction hero, The Jasonite! He was a kind of Flash Gordon--while clearly a superior physical specimen (some would say a paragon), he wasn't too bright. He always managed to save the day though, and while I'm now slightly older than 12 I still look back on him fondly, and I thought who better to dedicate the ludicrousness of a personal blog to than him. Make sense?

Since I'm just beginning I really have little idea what kinds of things I will write about on here or how personal I'll get. I think part of what I'll do is strive to process events in my life so they make more sense to me, as well as keep my friends, family, and most importantly, my enemies updated on my life. I have no idea how often I'll feel like writing, or how long I will write, but as am I'm a fast typist some of them might get kinda long. Anyway, I think this is a sufficient first entry. Be seeing you!