I am not a phone talker. Text and email were invented for people like me, who would rather type than talk. Ironic, given that I talk for a living, but that may in fact be the reason why I avoid chatting on the phone: it's too much like work. I grew up with phone talkers. My mother spent hours on the phone day, talking and smoking. My sister lived on the phone, usually lying on the floor outside the kitchen twirling the phone cord around. Me, I was in boarding school, where the only access to a phone was in a booth that smelled of B.O. and tears. I prefer conversations to take place face; the phone should be used to arrange meetings, order pizza or call the police. God help the person who calls "just to say hi", or "just to touch base". But no one just says hi, and I don't need my bases touched, and after 25 years in radio, I tend to think of electronic conversations as 3 to 5 minute bits that end by cutting to a commercial.
On the other hand, I love my actual phone - my cell phone, to be specific. Not for talking on, but for texting, getting my email, checking the weather, taking pictures, getting directions, finding a restaurant, playing music, translating Italian and reading crazy facts (did you know the smallest cat is the Singapore and weighs only 4 pounds?). I think the same is true with Aidan, who will text me, but rarely answers his phone when I call him (I heard that the ringtone he's given me is a police siren). My husband, on the other hand, loves his crackberry, for texting AND talking. He walks around with the bluetooth earpiece and the belt holster, because you never know when there's going to be some sort of, I don't know, BANKING EMERGENCY !!!!! Ronan doesn't have a cell phone (yet), but he got an Ipod Touch with his birthday money, and he downloaded a fake phone app where he can pretend to make phone calls, so he's the opposite of me. He's the one that turned me onto crazy facts (did you know that Yuma Arizona is the sunniest place on earth?)
I'm not sure where I'm going with this. (To be honest, I'm never sure where I'm going with ANY of this. It's a blog, not a thesis). I think I'm feeling guilty because I have a bunch of phone calls I should really return, but I probably won't. I'll wait for the parties to call back, or to email me, or drop me entirely. It's nothing personal. Just remember: the kyboard is mightier than the tongue.
Did you know an octopus has three hearts?