Musings from Singapore: phoneless

Hi. I'm Charlie. And I'm a phone-a-holic.

I dont mean that in a 13-year-old girl, my phone is my connection to all things important and social and I'm constantly talking or texting my BFFs kinda way. I mean it in a totally healthy, functional, professional adult kinda way. But a healthy, professional adult who has become UBER dependent on her phone.

And now that I'm in Singapore, I am without phone. My American phone does not work here (blah blah it's not 4G blah blah blah network compatibility blah) and if it did work, it would incur BUHtarded roaming charges anyway. Since I'm going to be here for a couple of  months, I will be acquiring a phone, but my vacationing has been the priority so far and as such, I am still without phone.

Now, this is usually ok. I am not so young that I'm from the generation of kids who does not know the sturm und drang that is life without a cell phone. I recall the days prior to cell phones, as well as the early days of "cell phones" when they were the size of a brick, had a one line input screen for viewing digits dialed and may or may not have come in a bag that had to be plugged in to your car's cigarett lighter at all times. Also, Zack Morris. When I started driving, my parents put a phone in my car that was solely for the purpose of calling them when I left Queenie's house, to let them know I was on my way home. There was no texting. That was only for kids who had pagers. And dont get me started on the kids who had pagers......

So I'm re-learning how to live without constant access to the data, information, the Google and a database of phone numbers that allow me to reach virtually everyone I know (and some people I dont know, but who are in my phone's address book for reasons that I dont even understand).

And this is all fine. If I want to run an errand, say to the grocery store, I use my computer to look up the MRT stations that I need to use to travel to the store from my office. I travel there, buy some fruit, bring said fruit back to the office, all is well. I suffer from phantom phone pains: I frequently reach into my bag to answer a ringing or vibrating phone that is not there.

But the real problem here is that I have no back-up plan. I'm flying without a net. And we all know what happened to the Flying Graysons when they were flying without a net. Ahem, orphaned Dick Grayson has to go live with creepy Bruce Wayne and support his split personality "hero complex" lifestyle.

Fortunately, nothing so calamitous has happened to me yet. I've only suffered such inconveniences as wandering around a massive MRT station/shopping center lost, failing to hail cabs and leaving The BF high and dry while waiting for me to appear at an appointed time.

But still. Now that I'm back from vacay, I'm getting a phone. Even if it's a prepaid silly little shiny thing that doesnt have all the power I'm used to, it's better than nothing. And maybe, with enough time, the phantom pains will dissipate.

Or I'll go back to the US and resume my previous phone habits. One or the other.