So, there are times I think I am soooo witty and funny, or more appropriately, hope I am. But, just like everything in life, almost every thought, every moment, every feeling, every job you have (which is monumental to you!) has all been had before. As it turns out, this proof rears its ugly head once again, that I am in fact NOT as special as my mother made me out to be.
(Funny thing about that is as child I was told to reach for the stars and never settle, as an adult I was told that life was not meant to be extraordinary and that I must envision less…oh mom…how I love your mind-messing schizophrenia).
Anyways, have you ever noticed that today’s version of dating BY TEXT is somewhat equivalent to the grade school pastime of passing notes to one another? It’s impossible to know whether you are actually “dating” anymore or just passing time… and so many people hide behind modern-day technology and cannot live without those little screens. We are all so afraid of actually talking to one another, wasting our oh-so-precious time and wanting to appear non-committal, we just seem to have resorted from one version of passing notes to another.
In the movie “He’s just not that into you”, the character Mary rants, “I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work so I called him at home and then he emailed me to my Blackberry and so I texted to his cell and then he emailed me to my home account and the whole thing just got out of control. And I miss the days when you had one phone number and one answering machine and that one answering machine has one cassette tape and that one cassette tape either had a message from a guy or it didn’t. And now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It’s exhausting. “
You know, she’s kind of right. When this phenomenon hit a few years ago, I was somewhat taken aback that gone were the days of 4 hour phone calls, falling asleep on the line together whispering “you hang up…no YOU hang up”…and it was replaced by constant little one liners of “how was ur day?”, “what r U up to right now”, and “just out with friends 4 a beer, U?”. I was frustrated as hell when I actually liked the guy that his cell phone didn’t seem to get coverage in a voice-to-voice conversation, yet somehow I magically received texts 24/7. However, also elated about the ability to hide behind this little screen when I was busy, but still wanted to check in, or frankly just “wasn’t that into him”.
But, the old-fashioned days of actually meeting in person for coffee or having long and meaningful phone conversations appear to be gone. We are now in the age of technology where only by the trail of little e-notes you carry around in your iPhone you can actually prove to your friends that you do, in fact, have a boyfriend. Which is really, essentially the same as when you were in grade 5 and somebody asked you out by note. Check the box, “Yes, No, Maybe” and there you had it. You didn’t speak, you didn’t hold hands, you rarely looked at each other without giggling, yet the proof was there, clear as day…you checked the box marked YES and had a bonafide BOYFRIEND.
I wish, oh how I wish that dating was simpler. That it wasn’t through phone, that maybe you did have the anticipation of talking to one another instead of the instant gratification of a text, and the WORST is when you know the text is read and yet they haven’t answered back (DAMN YOU iPHONE!!), but once again, it appears I am not original in these thoughts, nor am I alone.
My friend, the Single Girl says it here and says it well. http://adventuresofasinglegirl.com/index.php/2011/11/e-t-phone-home/. Don’t worry, someday, someone will find you important enough to pick up the phone and dial those simple, little, digits. Someday my phone call will come.
The Ginga Ninja
The Ginger Girl Chronicles 