Random Ramblings

It was just slightly over a year ago that I got my first smartphone, an iPhone. I can honestly say I can't imagine my life now without it. It would not be an exaggeration to say that almost every major area of my life has been affected by having this gadget.

Just a few ways I've changed in the last year:

- I no longer get lost, because I have a map app with a GPS. (And I used to take dozens of trips to a single place before I could remember how to get there.)
- I stopped reading almost entirely for about 10 months, and then, after discovering the joys of downloading books, started again. (Yes, I download books. I'm going to the special hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk in the theater.)
- I began taking the bus instead of the metro so I could have access to the 3G network.
- I'm never without internet, because I can always tether from my phone to my laptop. This is often even better than expensive hotel wifi.
- I check my email even more constantly than before.
- My first instinct if something goes wrong is to find an app. (I was at my mom's house and couldn't sleep because of a lack of white noise, so I downloaded a free white noise app. Problem solved.)
- I take many more pictures than I used to.
- Instead of posting large photo albums to facebook of specific events every few months, I post a picture or two at a time every few days.
- I have gotten re-addicted to time management games like Smurf Village, Tiny Village, and Castle Story, though generally I only have the attention to play one at a time.
- In conversations, when a trivia item comes up that no one knows, it takes an effort of will for me not to look it up.
- I run away from zombies for exercise.
- I look up online reviews of products when I'm physically in a brick-and-mortar store to see if I'm getting a good deal.
- I no longer struggle to remember song lyrics so I can look them up later, because I have an app that can identify songs as they're playing over speakers.
- I look up unknown words as I'm reading, because it's as fast as double-tapping the screen.
- I no longer memorize people's phone numbers.
- I always have a camera and a flashlight with me.
- I checked my email and facebook at Pennsic.

And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. The biggest change, though, is that I really cannot imagine downgrading to a "regular" phone anymore. My phone has integrated itself into my life that much. This might be the first step to becoming a cyborg. We may all be doomed. :)

Okay, it's been a while. Here's a short update:

1. Bread machine. I've been remiss in posting about this, but Marc's parents got me a bread machine for my birthday and I've been baking a lot of bread. Mostly I've been doing a Russian black bread that's hearty and wonderful, to the point where I've got a half-loaf of store-bought bread in my pantry that expired a week ago, which is nigh unheard of in our house.

2. Work. Two weeks ago, I spent a week at home taking a course from Learning Tree International on introductory .NET, which will hopefully be very helpful in my new role as web site maintainer. Last week, my boss was on vacation. Monday is a semi-important deadline, and all the panicky last-minute people are coming out of the woodwork. Thankfully, I am far more capable at dealing with them this year than I was last year. (Still no word on the final version of my updated contract, but it'll come.)

3. Pennsic. Prep has been slower than anticipated, due to a lack of free time. I won't have time to versify all the saint stories, but I'll try to have at least 6-10 familiar enough that I can tell them as stories. My schedule is shaping up and I've already got double-booked moments. Yup, it's definitely Pennsic.

4. Gaming and fanfic. Still in four games because (weirdly) none of them have ended in the last seven months. I'm still enjoying them all; I just wish I had free time. *grin* I've also written about 35,000 words since the beginning of the year, a variety of short-story fiction for my games, not counting the lines of the night I post after each session.

5. Relationship. Still good. Marc finished his stage last week, and won't be able to take his government licensing exam for a couple of months, which means we get to have a short breather. We're contemplating a trip to Disney World early next year, if our schedules and vacation time allow.

6. iToy vs. Reading. I admit, since I got my iPhone, I really haven't been reading books... pretty much at all. All the moments I'd normally spend reading, I'm now playing on my phone. I wonder if this makes me part of the problem with society.

7. Chocolate! Mark your calendars -- Sunday, July 15, will be the "Celebrate ALL the Things" Chocolate Fondue Potluck! Official announcement to come soon, but we're in arrears as far back as New Years, so we've got a lot of celebrating (and chocolate eating) to catch up on.

Right... it was very, very hot out today. I say this only for the benefit of people not living in Montreal: all the Montrealers are probably thinking, "tell us something we don't know!" I didn't even go for my daily walk today -- that's how hot it was.

My home is air conditioned. But for most of the evening, I was not at home. I was, instead, having dinner with Ian's parents. The good news is that the restaurant had air conditioning. The bad news is that Ian's parents do not. Furthermore, when we got back from dinner, we found a swarm of flying ants crawling on their curtains and so used Raid to kill them. This wouldn't be so bad except that it was very hot, very humid, and the Raid apparently stays in the air a long time. Oh, and I'm asthmatic. I am now the proud owner of some unhappy lungs.

On the other hand, I am also now the proud owner of a cell phone. Yes, I have finally succumbed, mostly due to my mom's generous offer of paying for the plan. Thanks, Mom! If you are not on my friend's list, feel free to email me for the number.

I need to go to work tomorrow. I sincerely hope it's not as hot as it was today. I know I promised book reviews, but I'm just too tired. Maybe tomorrow. G'night all.