Day Thirty-Nine: The Story of My Demon Phone

Sit back, dear children, and let me tell you a story. It is a story of pain, confusion, suffering, addiction, and being really pathetic. It's the story of dropping my phone in a sink full of water.

About a year ago, I was in my friend's apartment getting ready to go out on a good ole' night on the town. After one of the ladies left the bathroom after her primping session, I strolled in, phone-in-hand, and prepared to relieve myself. Not realizing that the sink didn't drain properly (or have a completely flat surface), I set my beloved outer-body organ on the edge of the vanity while I prepared to do what I had to do. And then I watched, in horror, as my huge, computer-like monstrosity of a cellular device slipped gracefully into the sink and readily submerged itself in soapy water.

Naturally, I panicked. No, I didn't just panic, actually -- I threw a complete and utter freak-out fit. Now before you think me a technophile (if that's a word) and someone who treats their phone like a member of their family (which I don't...I drop it all the time. I don't drop my family members), I need to explain the significance of my cell phone, to those who may not know. My boyfriend, whom I love very much and am actually pretty attached to, gave me my phone as an early birthday gift. Actually, it was the first gift he ever gave me, that wasn't a small token of thought. And although he didn't buy it, he still worked very hard to get it, by talking to people and asking favors. So after doing some tricky thinking and talking to sales guys at his work, he nabbed a brand-new, free, Tony Hawk Sidekick LX leftover from a promotion. So, not only is it a pretty damn cool phone, but it as some significant sentimental value. He also presented it to me right before we left for our first major vacation: a nine-hour drive to Cleveland to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

So, my friends, I was watching something pretty important to me (and something I text people on....a lot....) fall into a sink full of water. Thus, I did freak out. But I think it was somewhat warranted. But thankfully, after a lot of hair-dryering and refrigerating, and TLC, it made it through the night, and lived to tell the tell, little worse for wear. But as I watched it twitching and turning itself on and off, flashing its multi-colored lights, and turning the volume up and down on its own, I thought it was a gonner.

I was reminiscing about this amusing story today, because as a scar due to its quick submersion, my phone, every few months, will drain its battery immediately and turn itself off, absolutely dead until charged for at least 15 minutes. It happened to do just that today, conveniently after I received a phone call I had needed. But it always comes out of its coma just fine, and hopefully it will last me as long as a normal, unharmed phone should.