the status of stuff

[katallison]

1. Family situation has resolved more favorably than I had expected, hence I shall indeed be attending Escapade (barring unforeseen catastrophe).

2. I have picked up a mild but disgusting head cold. This does not constitute unforeseen catastrophe, but it does mean I am one spacey sniffly wet mess. I will endeavor not to breathe on or fondle my fellow con attendees.

3. Aha! I *finally* figured out my e-mail problem: in the thick of getting slammed with MyDoom-laden crap, I twiddled my spam filters--not wisely, but too well--and just now discovered that they were filtering out all kinds of perfectly legit mail as well. Thank jeebus I scanned through the "Probably Spam" folder before emptying it, and now all I have to do is actually *reply* to all the backlogged messages. Which will be a little complex given that my brain has been replaced with phlegm, I am doing little but blowing my nose and staring vacantly into space, and I get on an airplane in 38 hours, a timespan during which prodigies of job stuff, laundry, and packing must be accomplished.

4. Um. OK, after years of swearing that I was never getting me one of those gah-darn cellphones, no way, no how -- I, uh, finally got a cellphone. ::glaring around belligerently:: *Solely* due to responsibilities connected with aforementioned family situation, I hasten to add. My utter-novice conclusion about cellphones, after an hour of wrestling with two different instruction manuals trying to get my voicemail box set up, is -- my *god*, this thing is annoying. Fidgety, twiddley, full of complicated and non-intuitive menus (and this is a dead-simple cheapo prepaid model, I should add). It doesn't help that I've never used a cellphone in my life and am hazy on the most basic concepts (nor that, as mentioned, I have phlegm for brains today).

Um. I need to answer e-mail, don't I? Yes? Yes.

Comments

[ratcreature]

*Solely* due to responsibilities connected with aforementioned family situation, I hasten to add.

You know, that's how it starts. *g* I have two formerly cellphone-phobic friends who got cellphones because of family emergency stuff, and just weeks later they were among those people glued to their cellphones (not family crisis related I might add) and sending SMS all the time. Whereas I wasn't particularly opposed to cellphones just didn't see them as all that useful for me (I really, really don't like to talk on the phone), but got one as a gift from my utterly cellphone addicted brother, and I still don't use it a lot (as in a 30 Euro pre-paid card lasts like six months and I still have the model my brother gave me over four years ago, practically a dinosaur among cellphones...), though once having a cellphone turned out really useful for calling emergency services without having to leave that guy who had a biking accident I witnessed and had a head injury. So they have their advantages. I still don't like to chatter on the phone, thouh.

Re:

[katallison.livejournal.com]

I really, really don't like to talk on the phone

::nodding:: That would be me as well. If you subtract out work-related calls, and necessary-family-stuff calls, I make maybe three or four phone calls a week.

However, I do really like driving around solo at odd hours and on out-of-the-way roads, so it's probably prudent to have the cellphone for weird situations. (Or, as you note, for helping out with other people's emergencies.)

Re:

[ratcreature]

Wow, you're phone-loving compared to me. Last month on my bill, there was the basic fee for having a phone, my internet connection, and *one* phone call to my brother, and that was below two minutes. My family used to complain about how unfriendly and curt I was on the phone when they called me (personally I tend to think of it as "focused" *g*), but by now they're used to it, and seriously it's not like they live far away or anything, I do see all of them in person at least every other week, so it's not like I need phone calls to catch up with them.

[destina.livejournal.com]

Yay that you're coming to Escapade!! :-D But I bet there are a few people who will be disappointed about your no-fondling rule.

What?? *g*

Re:

[katallison.livejournal.com]

*You,* I shall tickle, especially if you start being all self-effacing and hiding in corners. Heh.

[lapillus]

I have picked up a mild but disgusting head cold. This does not constitute unforeseen catastrophe, but it does mean I am one spacey sniffly wet mess. I will endeavor not to breathe on or fondle my fellow con attendees.

Hmm, maybe I won't try to get a nearby seat on the flight out

I'm glad that the family stuff continues to go well.

[dine.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you'll be at Escapade, but really sorry you seem to have picked up my annual Escapade respiratory infection - I was wondering where it had gone this year. my sincere apologies!

Re:

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Well, you're not to blame--I've done nothing but get respiratory crud ever since I quit smoking. I think the cosmos is trying to tell me something. *g*

Looking forward to seeing you!

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

So glad you're coming!!

I am hoping that this severe and painful head cold modulates into a mild one by the time I have to spend all day tomorrow on airplanes. :P

But hey, if our germ-free friends shun us, we can always drown our sorrows in the hot tub. Steam's good for head colds, you know.

Re:

[katallison.livejournal.com]

There's a hot tub there?? *Dude.* ::flinging swimsuit into suitcase::

Hot tub, nice billowing steam, perhaps a gin & tonic, and good company ... ahhhhh. Brilliant idea. *g*

(And I hope your head's much better tomorrow!)

Re:

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but I hear tell of the Escapade hot tub, famed in song and story and chat room. *g*

See you tomorrow! Hooray!

Ol' Phlegm fer Brains...

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

A family crisis is a perfectly good reason to get a cell, I say.

Re: Ol' Phlegm fer Brains...

[katallison.livejournal.com]

I think it's probably a good idea, on the whole, although I feel very conflicted (because mostly I want to get the hell *away* from family crises and the long fraught phone conversations. Ah well...)

And I love your icon -- thanks for sending the vibes along!

Re: Ol' Phlegm fer Brains...

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Getting away from the fraught: God, I *so* understand this! Kelly and I have been imagining a small house on a remote B.C. Island with a moat of late.

The only time we seriously considered getting a cell, it was when her Dad was sick. Next time he has a health crisis, we almost certainly will.

[liaison27.livejournal.com]

I too got a cell phone due to a family crisis. I used it a couple of times. After the FC was over, I had to keep it for the sign up period. I use it about three times a year. Why do I hold onto it?
It seemed like a good idea to have for road emergencies, or when the electricity went out - as it is wont to do for days at a time here. But is it really worth the annual fee?
I thought about dumping my land-line phone instead, but then my cell battery goes dead in my purse and I realize I've been carrying around a useless hunk of plastic.

I see people literally glued to the things. There is a male student here who uses it while trying to deliver mail and equipment one-handed. I've had to listen to one-sided conversations in the next bathroom stall. Why are there so many people who seem unable to remain alone with their own thoughts for any length of time? Have computers made us into compulsive multi-taskers?

Re:

[katallison.livejournal.com]

The whole thing mystifies me, too. Since I'm fond of driving around solo in out-of-the-way areas, I figure it can't hurt to keep this thing even after the FC subsides, and under my current prepay plan as long as I top it up with $10 worth of minutes every 45 days, I'm good, so it's not a big outlay. But I just dislike the whole concept of cellphones -- that thing of being expected to always be available. Errgghh.

unsolicited fannage

[qe2.livejournal.com]

Sit impatiently through Torts class surfing the Web. Go to check out Starfish's LJ. Read Starfish's Escapade report w/comments, including one in which Starfish links to your crackvan dS write-up. Surf over to your LJ and read the most recent 20 entries.

Your LJ is a huge brimming funny erudite identifiable-with pleasure to read. Thank you. Very, very much.