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.

Oh boy…Grammatical errors!

When I started this blog, mixed feeling arose; I was excited and anxious at the same time. I didn’t have any written material on me and I quickly managed to put on something a couple of days later. And oh boy….the grammatical errors! I thought I taught myself long ago to always, always double check written material before handing it to the next person to read, but I failed to do so. When I read the post, I cringed and felt the urge to edit and fix the errors which I stopped myself from doing so. I couldn’t believe I had asked people to read what I had written when I, the spell checker am careful of such sloppiness. 

 I was disappointed and the worry of what people will say will often popped up.

I waited…..and waited… to see if anyone who read the blog would correct me, but no one did. I made a pact to myself that from now on, I’ll triple check what I’ve written.

As I grow older, my fear grows too!

Another year which means another birthday and an extra number added to the one that you already had. Sigh.

As this week is coming to an end, I’ll be bidding farewell to my current age, and reluctantly prepping myself for my new age which I’m starting to fear. I have a phobia of growing old, and quite frankly, I don’t want to grow old.

Today, it dawned on me that I’m so far yet so close in reaching the mid- 20s when someone asked how old I was through a BBM conversation we were having, but my battery saved the day by dying. I was smiling when the battery died, and with it being dead, it meant I didn’t have to work on an answer of trying to glam up my newly age to be. (By the way, my answer was going to be my current age).

I’ve often heard that older saying; ‘kumnandi ukhukhula’ (growing up is fun) but to a certain extent, I don’t think so. I mean, having nightmares about growing up isn’t fun. Well… to me! Maybe it’s their way of trying to console themselves.  I often ask myself questions such as; if I’m scared of ageing while I’m still in my early twenties, what will happen when I reach the big 30? Damn…Did I have to remind myself? To forget, let me indulge in a little story.

A few months ago, a friend of mine celebrated his birthday and being the loving group of friends that we are, we treated him to a fine dining experience with an after-party after wards. As happy as he was; something that bothered him the most is the fact that he realised that he’s not getting any younger. Actually, he’s at that point where he says; “he’s 20- something”.

Rings a bell???

I’m sure it does! I get his point; In fact, I’m also suffering from the same disease as well (but I’m no where near his age. Not even close).  

When I turned 20, I feared ageing and wished I could go back to being 18 again. I was terrified, and whenever someone would ask about my age, I would stick to the ‘19 turning 20’ routine. I mean, I’ve partied with people that are 35 years old but still looked like their in their mid- 20s. So, as a consolation, I still hope that this will happen too, it’s not impossible after all. I hope this anti-ageing pang I’m having will go away soon. For good!

When you’re older you’re wiser, right!? I hope so. So, I’ll TRY to embrace my new number.

Update: Dineo's Diary...

The reality show of the former radio, Dineo Ranaka has proved to be an interesting one where she reveals the life of Dineo is a reality show called Dineo’s Diary – a mogul in the making. The show which airs on Wednesday on Vuzu channel has already set tongues wagging on popular social networks – twitter and facebook where she shows us her business ventures and the squabbles that she has with her family.

With in its third episode which aired last night, some twitter users have already claimed it’s the best reality show that South Africa has to date. Last night’s episode entertained the viewers with dramatic stunts where Dineo had a heated argument with her boyfriend at first, and later with her older sister – Manaka Ranaka.

The production of the show is also world class and also the production route it took, it looks unscripted and I hope it isn’t.

This is definitely the show to watch out for as the public will get to know Dineo on a personal level. So far, the show is indeed entertaining and it promises to be a good one.

Pressure??? Tweet it away...

Twitter has been one of the most interesting social networks for the past few years and everyday, thousand of users tweet away what they feel, what they’re doing or their latest achievements. Very good! In fact, it’s inspiring to see other people doing very well and also sympathise with those that rant about their bad days or moans and groans.

However, this social network has changed people’s personality – for the good and for the bad. It’s even provided some with wonderful opportunities. But during the first few months of my twitter experience, I started following celebrities and a few people that I knew. Trying to figure out how it works, I would tweet something which most ‘tweeps’(my followers) didn’t relate to. After minutes or hours of waiting, No retweet or mention whatsoever. How sad, I thought!

‘What was I doing wrong?’ I asked myself. I thought it’s like facebook. You post something and whatever it is, people would comment.  So, I decided to stop tweeting for a few days and observe twitter for a few days. In my observance, tweets with sexual innuendos or snide comments would fill my twitter timeline. People adopted a different personality to that of their original one. It was a foreign environment to me.

By trying to fit, I decided to adopt the same personality and have an alter-ego. Tweeted what I thought was cool and trendy at that time and hoped that I would feel part of the twitter society.  I do confess, the pressure got to me.  ‘Perhaps, if I had to ‘tweak’ my personality a bit and become a mean machine like others then that would boost my twitter credibility’. Those were the thoughts that occupied my mind.

But, it didn’t last long before I decided to scratch the whole alter ego trend, it wasn’t who I am. Truth is, I’m not cool and quite frankly, I wouldn’t want to even be part of the cool kids club (in this case, young adults). Instead, I went back to tweeting about myself and my ‘uncool’ state of being.

I didn’t need validation from anyone and most of these people aren’t my friends, so why should I bother myself?  I said. These are just random people I hardly even know. With that attitude, I equipped myself with my OWN twitter rules and they are: Never ask for a follow back should I follow someone first.

Always follow back to those that have taken a chance to deal with my drab tweets.

Never put my morality at a questionable point.

Tweet whatever I want to tweet.

This list is endless but those are just the few of them. And this ‘trophy’ I was chasing was not even worth my time nor was I prepared to flex my shrewd personality for it.

On twitter, I’ve watched sweet being turn to rotten apples and I certainly didn’t want to part of that. I refused.

‘Twelebs’ as they are called are highly opinionated, rude and they’re not even ashamed of their spelling mistakes (something I take high regard in).  Oh, they have an opinion about everything and they try too hard to act cool without realising that their reputation is at stake.

Maybe I’m taking it a bit too far when I say reputation. Nonetheless, these are future employees, role models – or not, and future entrepreneurs. Who would want to associate themselves with a person of that calibre? A person who shows his stupidity by humiliating others or posting ridiculous pictures? Can’t think of anyone in my social circle… well, me anyway.

Then again, we live in a democratic country and I’m not at liberty to tell you what to tweet nor am I the president of ‘twitterville’, but this is just something I had observed. Of course, some ‘tweeps’ have been a pleasure to follow. Very humble and clever beings, even the air-heads I’m ranting about do provide humour every now and then, but it’s always wise to think before you tweet.

 And if you’re brave enough to follow me, then do so – @phumlani00.