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.