Weekend Update

The Opera Company of North Carolina's production of La Cenerentola was so entertaining! Steven had his concerns - he felt like while all of the cast members were competent and even very talented, all of them lacked IT. That thing that he has defined in his mind that makes an opera singer an immediately identifiable paragon. Being ignorant of such things, I laughed and snickered through the entire show. We usually spend a significant amount of time at shows ridiculing the folks sitting around us, and there was plenty of prime material at La Cenerentola - who actually brings opera glasses to an opera?! I saw no fewer than three people peering through them in our row alone. I guffawed rudely when, after one of the wicked step sisters fell flat on her ass in a poof of billowing skirts, revealing voluminous lacy drawers, the rotund, Italian-accented, beak-nosed man to my left whipped out those opera glasses faster than you could say "dirty old man."

I'm not one to obsess over gadgetry or material acquisitions. I'd rather spend my time geeking out about something that doesn't endlessly waste all of my resources, especially at this tender (read: not rich) stage in my life. If I'm going to expend assets, I'm likely to choose something that gives me an opportunity to learn something new, experience something new, or improve myself in some way (grad school, Bikram, ballroom, kung fu, gym membership, books, trips, ::ahem:: clothes, etc.).

I've had the same cell phone for over 2 years - a tiny, pearl-colored Nokia that remains in pristine condition. I tend to take very good care of electronics, cars, shoes, etc., and I get a lot of good use out of them. The Nokia had no camera, no games, no MP3 player, nothing fancy. I adored it. It was so ancient that, when I noticed that I was eligible upgrade my phone for free and went on Friday to the nearest store to choose a phone, the customer service guy said he didn't have the software to transfer my contacts from my old phone to my new. I chose one of their free varieties - a Samsung - and went on my way. When I arrived home and fiddled with it, thinking that ANYTHING designed in the past three years would be better than my old phone, I was proven dead wrong. I hated the Samsung. I don't usually come to definitive and violent conclusions quickly, but in this case... I wanted my Nokia back. Even 3-year-old Finnish design is sleeker than today's Samsung crap.

I'd called my mom on the way to the Alltel store and told her how excited I was to get a new phone, so when she called later on Friday and asked how much I liked it, and I replied that I didn't at all, she was disappointed. She offered to cover the cost of the phone of my choice, as long as it had a reasonable sale price, for a birthday present. So, yesterday afternoon, my dad and I went to the Alltel store together and looked at all the phones, which I SHOULD have done to prevent the first fiasco. I talked about what I wanted in terms of features, and I tend to be particular about aesthetic design (when I can afford to be!). I looked at all of their phones, I asked the service rep which ones generated the most complaints and why, and I compared prices. I settled on an LG with a beautiful display, but my father brought my attention back to the most expensive Motorola, which I'd liked more but had immediately discarded as too flagrant. He told me that he would be glad to get it for me.

So, now I am in possession of the nicest-by-far phone I've ever owned, and I'm perplexed to find myself so pleased by it! o.O