Some people have just one cord for their phone and they bring it with them everywhere they need it.
I’m not one of those kind of people.
I have a cord on my nightstand, a cord at the coffee table where I use my laptop at home, a cord in my backpack, and a cord at my desk at work.
I don’t know whether this means that I’m paranoid, lazy, or wasteful with money, but I know that anywhere I go, I’ve got a spare cord available when I need it.
Too bad I never have any bars.
Fucking Verizon.
Tag: personal
Sharing
When I was growing up, my brother and I shared a room.
Our family had a maid who took the train from the city, but sometimes she stayed overnight in a room of her own.
When she died and wasn’t replaced, I was moved to her room.
“What kind of wallpaper do you want?” asked my dad, showing me hundreds of samples.
I chose Mighty Mouse wallpaper.
Bad choice. Dozens of bulgy-eyed supermice, staring at me from the wall.
He may be here to save the day, but he’ll be back at night to rob you of your precious sleep.
Pins
One wall of my room was covered with corkboard so things could be pinned to it.
Well, okay. It wasn’t my room. It was the room my brother and I were in.
I don’t say shared because he thought of it as his room, and I was an intruder.
One wall was a corkboard, and he had all his posters and stuff pinned up there.
I had nothing pinned up, because all the pins were his.
If I took a pin, he hit me.
I never thought to ask for pins.
If I had, he’d have taken them all.
Monster.
The Cards
Back before the Internet and online services, you had to look things up in reference books for answers.
However, when you’re playing poker in the basement with a bunch of drunk teenagers, the idea of calling Information has appeal.
“Does a full house beat a straight or a flush?” I asked.
Information had no idea.
So, I called Information in Las Vegas.
No, they didn’t know the answer, either.
But they connected me to a casino, and they knew. And I won.
However, by then, someone had puked on the cards.
The money was clean, and I took it all.
Laptop
When I got a high-power laptop from work, it could produce my podcast and run Second Life, so I didn’t need my personal laptop anymore.
It’s still got a year left in it, I figure. I could have sold it on eBay or trade it in for Amazon credit, but I decided to give it to someone who needed it.
The problem is, whenever I see them log on and off a few times in a row, I worry that the laptop is having issues.
I don’t want to be nosy about it.
I’ll just budget for another. And wait.
Shoulder Kitten
I have a kitten lying on my shoulder.
She is purring and happy, a tangle of fur and paws.
I can kiss her on the ears and nose.
She stretches and yawns, and then sprawls and rolls into a new position.
She’s asleep again, snug and safe against my shoulder.
I hope she does this every day, but one day she’s going to be a full-sized cat.
Will I want her on my shoulder then?
She wakes up and grooms.
Her tongue rasps against my arm hair.
Then, I sneeze.
The kitten is spooked, and she leaps away.
Sorry, Kitty.
Charger
I keep a battery charger and spare phone cord with me now.
I don’t want to run out of power on my phone ever again.
The last time I ran out of power, I was in the Emergency Room all alone with an iPhone that had a broken sleep button.
And a broken elbow.
My friends rescued me when they had the gift shop send a universal charger to my room.
And every kind of candy bar, cookie, and beverage they had in stock.
As much as I like Nutter Butter, the charger and cord are just a bit handier.
Unique
Whenever I travel, I always try to experience whatever there is that is unique to the place I am visiting.
Microbreweries offer up a taste that I can’t get back home, even if what comes out of their vats is too sweet, too bitter, too gritty, or too slimy.
I never eat at a chain restaurant either. Why get what I can get back at home?
So why am I eating salmon in Atlanta? There’s no oceans or salmon runs near Atlanta.
I read the menu: Atlantic salmon.
Atlanta. Atlantic.
Close enough, right?
Another glass of sweet tea, please?
Thanks.
Fashionable Shedding
I own a lot of black shirts because I like black shirts, and I fool myself into thinking that I look good in black.
When we owned two black cats, I could pick them up and hug them without worrying if they would shed on me.
Now that we’ve got Tinny, she’ll shed a lot of white and gray hair on me when I try to hug her.
Then she’ll jump out of my arms to get away. And back to her Mommy’s lap.
I’m not jealous, mind you. Let her deal with the shedding.
I look good in black.
Choices
Myst and Bruwyn got along great.
They slept together.
They groomed each other.
They went outside and hunted together.
Now, it’s Tinny and Myst.
They don’t sleep together.
They don’t groom each other. Their ears are filthy.
And we only let Myst go outside to hunt.
She whines at the back door to be let out. So, we do.
Then she stares through the glass to be let in.
We open the door, but she runs off again.
She keeps doing this over and over.
It’s not right to wish that Bruwyn was alive, and not Myst.
But I do.