Going (kinda) full Luddite

So, on Saturday night, the screen on my iPhone went completely blank.  Pressing the button resulted in a grey box, even when I could still hear the "bing" for a text message or the ringing for a phone call.

I logged in to my verizon site to see about an upgrade to the iPhone 5, which they told me I could do as soon as I paid the back balance of my phone bill of Significantly More Money Than Is In My Bank Account Right Now.

I made it several years of my life without a cell phone, and certainly many years without a smartphone.  Looking over my bill, it is awfully expensive.  Do I really need it?

No, I decided.  I have an unused line anyway, so I ordered a flip phone to add to the blank line.  I would suspend my smartphone line, saving myself a decent chunk of change every month.

Then Sunday night....it started working again.  Which is convenient for me, in that I can now make phone calls again, as well as play cards, surf Facebook, emails....

I am sticking by my resolution.  As soon as I get the flip phone in the mail, I'm going to put a hold on my smartphone line and go with the dumb phone.  I don't need the smartphone, and I do need to trim expenses.

Today I left my phone at home as a test run of how I'd manage without internet, since the phone is a distraction to me at school (and for all the wrong reasons).  I have to admit...I went through a bit of withdrawal.

OK, a lot.  It was very difficult to not check in constantly to different things.  Like, really oddly twitchy.

So I'm still at school, but heading home to check in on things.  Like Facebook.  And see if I make it through the week without the smartphone.

A first post for 2015

So I am now solidly in Apartment A, former apartment of Dan and Wendy and all the drama that came with the place.  Some assembly required.

The new guy is moving in upstairs today – he looked kinda shocked when he first got out of the car.  “Oh God – this place!”  He pointed across the street.  “I lived over there two years ago.  These people were out of control over here!!!!”

Beth (Kevin’s girlfriend and now manager of the apartments) opened her eyes wide at me.  I laughed. “Yeah, two years ago was the ‘peak crazy’ around here.  They’re all gone now though.   Mary is quiet.  I’m a librarian.”

He’s moving in from the local boarding house down by the railroad tracks, a very “special” kind of place here in town.  (Last time it was in the local paper, it was for a guy hitting another resident with a vodka bottle while stoned on meth AND getting blown by an underage girl.  Talk about multitasking.)  Needless to say, the new resident (Brian?  Barry?) of Apartment C is more than happy to have a place of his own.

So, just short of five years into what was supposed to be a very temporary move, I’m now downstairs and trying to fix this apartment.  I run into Josh every once in a while – he’s living in a tiny trailer down a back road in town, and I see his van swerving all over the road, or running up the street with his four-ways on as smoke pours out. 

I’ve got some old stories I still need to write, but honestly I’ve been enjoying the relative peace and quiet of late.  Just need to get things in order, write on a more daily basis, and get things moving.