Keys and your wallet in your pocket??? A definite NO!

If you still manage to create artificial hips then a shoulder bag to redeem yourself would be a great idea, and they're very different from man/sling bags. A sling bag might be used for an outfit to look more authentic but either way, I'm not a sling bag fan but more of a shoulder bag one.

To differentiate between the two:

Sling bags are small while shoulder bags are bigger.
In a shoulder bag, you can put your work in it, keys and a wallet and even a magazine (GQ, Destiny Man or Men's Health).

Shoulder bags are smart and they make a person look more professional whereas sling bag do the complete opposite.

Shoulder bags are mostly used by upcoming young modern man who have just fallen under the working class or on their way to it.

Very often I've had to argue and teach people about the convenience of a shoulder bag. Shoulder bags can be used to put your wallet, keys, sunglasses or whatever that you may use. 

So, if you're still not convinced about the idea then leave shoulder bags to those who love them and stick to putting your keys and wallets in your pockets or continue using your sling bag (if you have one).

A week without my phone

I recently had a birthday weekend getaway to celebrate my new age. It was a great success I must say but my blackberry broke. The breakage happened in the early hours of Sunday morning. Although I was heartbroken, a part of me felt relieved as that would be a chance to get a new one. But, due to complaints I’ve heard about the new blackberries, I’ll stick to my old one. So, here’s my week without a blackberry.

Monday: I wake up at 11h00 feeling relieved as I got back late the day before from the weekend away. I try to reach for my phone wanting to tweet about the weekend away and guess what, it’s not there! It hit me again that I broke it.

Thoughts of getting a new one linger on my brain still, but with the complaints I’ve heard about the new blackberries, I’m sceptical about getting a new one.

So, I started using a Nokia express – an old one. I wasn’t happy about the idea but I had to keep in contact with my friends and acquaintances so that they could see I’m still ALIVE and kicking.

After midday, boredom starts. I start having withdrawal symptoms and to top it all of; I couldn’t find my modem to connect to the internet. This was what I called a blue Monday.

Tuesday: I wake up early preparing to run some errands which include finding a store which will fix my phone for a lousy R100 or less. But that wouldn’t happen, not in South Africa.

Having gone for a weekend away meant that I didn’t have an extra R400- R500 for an unforeseen expense, not a cellphone one. Either way I took it in for repairs and hoped the costs will be less. When my phone was around, boredom didn’t exist in my life and without it, it felt like I was missing out on so much that was happening around the globe.

I missed twitter, Facebook and the crazy bbm chats I normally have with my friends the most and this day seemed like it was a long one. Luckily for me I had my laptop with and being a social media freak, I logged on to my twitter and Facebook account trying to check who missed me.

It was such a sad case to say only one person missed me on twitter and they even sent me a Facebook message asking where was I. Be that as it may, my friend knew my number and if he had called me then he would have found me. It’s the thought that counts right? Yea, right!

Wednesday: Another day without blackberry. Life was tough. I mean, I’m so used to having a simplified version of a PC in my hand and now…Nothing! Just a phone which I receive and make calls with. No bbm, email, twitter and I even struggled to get into Facebook.  Even worse, my favourite reality show airs on this day and I can’t even tweet about it.

By this day, I’ve been sending and receiving sms'es to the selected few that have missed me. Chatting via sms with my love, I type: ‘I loooooooove yoooouuuu. Lark, for real’ (since I can’t tweet, tweet that on my behalf). Not sure if that got tweeted but now that I remember, I’ll check.

Thursday: I wake up early and leave the house for campus with this heavy laptop with me. After class, I immediately open it up and check my social networking sites – Facebook and twitter. There are a few mentions on twitter and one message of Facebook and a couple of wall posts. So much for friendship! Nosi who isn’t much of a ‘tweep’ but more active on Facebook has scribbled on my wall with naughty yet cute wall posts.

 So, I continue posting my pictures from the weekend away just to make people aware that I still exist outside of bbm and twitter. Without it (social media), it seems communication is impossible with my friends. Everytime a phone rang I kept thinking: ‘there goes my friend’ but NO! it’s either Mzamo or Nhlanhla or one of my acquaintances (not that I mind, but…).

Facebook friend request keep popping in and I couldn’t be bothered. I just needed my friends to miss me and eventually drop me an inbox or an sms. I know some of them miss me too, one has confessed over Facebook but I was waiting for my other friends to jump on the bandwagon and shout ‘I MISS YOU’. But, none did. Some didn’t even deem me worthy of an 80c sms.  Come on, out of the number of people I call my friends, some of them didn’t even call or sms. Anyway, I still love them.

Throughout the day, interesting events have been happening and if I had my phone with me I would tweet about them. Even when one of what used to be every black family’s soapy had an interesting scene which I could have tweeted about, but, the Nokia express isn’t capable of such functions.

Friday: I’m dragging my feet trying to get up and go take a shower. Still haven’t received a call from the repair guys and the only thought occupying my mind right now is; ‘it’s going to be a long weekend.’ So, in the morning, I tweet and interact on Facebook hoping and praying that the guy would eventually call me. Even if he did, I don’t have a couple or hundreds with me, unless he charges me a R150 or less – then I’ll pay right away. I’ll just keep busy throughout the weekend pretending not to have a care in the world without my blackberry. It’s just a phone and life continues, with or without one.