Or cellphone, to my fellow Americans. I have now entered the 20th century, just in time for the second decade of the 21st.
I just never felt like fooling with the damned things before. The wife has always carried one, and that’s been enough. But lately I’ve been busier and found myself borrowing hers to carry around with me more. So I’ve taken the plunge.
At least I’m a bit savvier than another mobile-resistant fellow over here who got his first phone not too long ago. He carried a piece of paper around with him with everyone’s phone numbers written down on it. When asked shy he did that, he answered: “How else am I going to know their numbers?”
The only good thing about a cell phone is once you enter the numbers of the people you know, all you have to do is scroll to their name and push a button. I use my cell less than 20 minutes a month. I pay too damn much for it but it is a package with my wife who has hers growing out of her ear.
On the downside, every phone number will then vanish from your brain. Lose your phone or erase your contacts and suddenly you’re an amnesiac lost in the wilderness.
I’m on a prepaid deal. I have a stored value in the phone, then it costs me something like 1 baht (3 US cents) a minute, similar to what pay phones here cost. I can top it up in 7-Elevens and the like.
