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rusty_armourAh, yes, the telephone. A wonderful invention. One might even say a brilliant invention. Alexander Graham Bell gave the world a great gift. However, there are times when I wish the telephone had never been invented because when certain people want to reach out and touch someone, they want to reach out and touch me. And when I say certain people, I, of course, mean certain friends (or “fiends” as Dudley Moore once called them).
Now, I’ll admit that I’m an introvert and I’m anti-social. I’ve always seen the answering machine as a convenient means of ignoring my fiends. However, there are just some fiends who won’t play along. If I get the answering machine when I call people, I’m willing to accept the illusion that they’re not home. I don’t call three or four times (without leaving a message), hoping to catch them off guard. I also don’t attempt to call someone’s bluff, like my fiend, T. She’ll leave messages in which she’ll question why I wouldn’t be home and accuse me of not picking up the phone. Then she’ll order me to call her right away. My usual response is, “Yeah, I don’t think so, bitch,” or something stronger. Last night, when she pulled both the answering machine accusation stunt and calling-multiple-times-to-catch-me-off-guard stunt, I used something stronger. A few times.
I've actually been expecting T to call me, so I was sure it was her when the phone rang last night. She called me twice last week, which is one reason I didn't want to talk to her. The other reason is that I just wasn't ready to face her. You see, I'm either going to have to lie to her tonight when I return her call or lie to her on Saturday. I'm trying to get out of a night of clubbing with her and my other high school friends. Yeah, the same set of friends I was bitching about in that previous August entry. Anyway, while clubbing is pretty much my idea of hell, I still agreed to go, thinking I could get out of it later if I really couldn't stomach the idea. Well, now I have to get out of it because I'm broke. I only have about $19 to tide me over until the 15th and I'm going to need some of that money for other things. Even if I had enough money for cover, I probably wouldn't be able to pay for drinks, etc. Before cashflow was even an issue, my mom had suggested that I call T on the day and tell her I have a migraine. As I've had migraines on Saturdays before, I'm sure this would only count as a white lie. I mean, there's every possibility that I'll get a migraine for real and the excuse will become genuine. I’m tempted to just tell T that I’m broke, but then she would either suggest that I borrow money or would question how a responsible (Ha!) adult could possibly be broke. Knowing her, she would do both, which is totally unfair. We were in junior high and high school together: she knows I suck at math.
Ironically, the reason I’m broke is because of Bell (the phone company not the inventor) because Bell decided to wait a week & ½ before depositing my cheque. Perhaps I was extremely naïve to expect Bell (like any of the other collectors I deal with) to suck money from my bank account as soon as they received my payment. When I glanced at my ATM receipt a few days after paying Bell, I should have taken this into account and not assumed that they had already deposited my cheque. Normally, I’d probably have enough money to cover this kind of eventuality, but I’ve had a lot of expenses the last couple of weeks so things were already a bit tight. And, yes, I know how pathetic it is that I don’t keep better track of my expenses or my bank balance, but...uh...Hey, aren’t those the Bell beavers over there? Gord! Frank! *Makes escape under cover of ridiculous segue*
Why does life have to be so complicated? Why do I have to make life so complicated? I scored 91 (out of 100) for neuroticism on a personality test on
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smithereen’s LJ. Is anyone surprised? Probably not.
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Date: 2006-09-08 02:23 am (UTC)I can't imagine hanging out with people I knew in high school. My heart honestly goes out to you.
Sadly, I've been broke as an adult many times. (Although not this week, if you need some help.)
People who aren't neurotic worry me. They also bore me.
Allen
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Date: 2006-09-08 04:55 pm (UTC)It's not that I dislike my high school friends -- I just can't seem to lose them. *g* They aren't a bad bunch of girls, but I really don't have much in common with them anymore beside the fact that we were in school together and have known each other for so long.
Thanks for commiserating with me about being broke and offering to help. :-) I'll be okay until my next pay cheque. I can use a credit card for things like groceries, and I've got enough cash to cover any little expenses that come up.
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Date: 2006-09-09 11:33 am (UTC)I honestly can't imagine hanging out with people from high school. I'm still friends with a few people who I knew when I was in high school, but they didn't go to the same school. But then, I've tried to repress all but the educational aspects of high school. Which, given the quality of teachers, means I've pretty much repressed everything.
In university I went clubbing with some of my friends. I can't say I enjoyed it either. The Grotty evenings are about my speed - small and social.
Hmmm... now why did I get that 98 again?
Allen
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Date: 2006-09-08 10:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-08 04:58 pm (UTC)I'm glad that I'm not the only person who hates phones! And I definitely agree with you about the best people being anti-social! Woo hoo! Freaks ROCK! *g*
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Date: 2006-09-08 10:50 am (UTC)Oh. Wait. That's not very comforting, is it?
Allen
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Date: 2006-09-09 01:59 am (UTC)I agree with what you said about neuroticism in your previous comment. I worry about people who aren't neurotic too. I don't think they can be entirely trusted and they're definitely boring.
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Date: 2006-09-09 11:35 am (UTC)But hey, I resembled the Tenth Doctor. So, at least one of those silly quizes came out in my favour.
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Date: 2006-09-08 01:11 pm (UTC)And the money issue too. Gawd. You know about my own funds problem, hehehe!
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Date: 2006-09-09 02:22 am (UTC)I know you understand the whole money issue all too well. However, you're soon going to be working in your chosen field, so funds will hopefully be more plentiful. It helps if you actually have some idea how to manage money, unlike...oh...me.
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Date: 2006-09-09 04:00 am (UTC)Gasp! This actually sounds like that VH1 movie, The Way She Moves, which starred Annabeth Gish and aired between S8 and S9 of The X-Files. The main character, Amy (played by Annabeth), is treated by her girlfriends to free salsa lessons as a pre-wedding gift. Naturally, she falls for the hot Latin dance instructor (played by Kamar de los Reyes from the soap opera, One Life To Live) and is torn between her groom and her new love.
*snaps out of reverie* Think of it this way: Should your fiends see through your "migraine" tomorrow night, there might be a chance that you'll get your very own hot Latin dance instructor ;P
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Date: 2006-09-09 05:00 am (UTC)Unfortunately, I'll never find out because I have no intention of going, even if my fiends do see through the migraine excuse. If that happens, I'll just confess that I'm a bad person and an even worse friend, telling them that they're better off without me polluting their hot Latin nights.
[Mental Note: Writing in LJ around 1:00 in the morning may not be the best idea considering that your brain falls asleep around 11:00.]
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Date: 2006-09-10 05:31 am (UTC)Now you're gettin' it ;P The hot Latin night was tonight's event -- so how did it go?
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Date: 2006-09-11 01:01 am (UTC)Instead of a hot Latin night, I was at my parents' place watching the Keira Knightley version of Pride & Prejudice and eating this great chicken dish my mom whipped up. As the rest of the family is away camping, it was just me, mom, and the cats. It was really nice and relaxing, especially after a day of shopping for new clothes. :-)
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Date: 2006-09-11 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-11 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-08 02:56 pm (UTC)And I hate clubbing as well. Haven't been doing for over 10 years actually... And don't miss it.
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Date: 2006-09-08 02:58 pm (UTC)It should say: Haven't been doing it for over 10 years. Yikes! Have I lost my ability to write English? HEEEEELP
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Date: 2006-09-09 02:35 am (UTC)I have to say that it's comforting to know how many people have a hate relationship with their phones. If I had a B. I'd probably make him answer mine too. *g*
I'm not even sure when I last went clubbing. I think it must have been at least six or seven years ago. As it was retro eighties night, it was almost-kind-of-fun. However, I was never able to relax completely and it was hard not to feel self-conscious. Anyway, I can't say that I've been missing clubbing that much either.
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Date: 2006-09-09 08:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-11 01:05 am (UTC)LOL! I sometimes do the dancing in the kitchen thing too. *g* And, yes, RoS conventions would be the one exception to the "I don't like dancing in public" rule. The SA 2000 disco rocked! :-)
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Date: 2006-09-11 05:42 am (UTC)