Mr. Lonely

My new students find it amazing I don't do anything on my phone. This is from August 11, 2013!
I'm not good with phone-speak. I just learned this summer what a selfie is and that was only because it came up in the Aaron Hernandez case. (If you are as out of it as I was, a selfie is a picture taken with a cell phone to be posted on FACEBOOK or MY SPACE.) Since this entry is about my phone, I thought about a selfie but there's a problem; I don't know how to take pictures with my LG Xpression from AT+T. If you know me, you aren't shocked.

And if you know me and followed my recent mission trip to Vietnam, you also might remember that I broke my LG Xpression phone going through security in the Moscow airport. It was my fault- I put it on the conveyor belt without the use of the plastic basket which was available. It went through the cracks and busted wide open. I tried to piece it back together but when I got outside, I discovered the inner workings must have fallen out a second time. Shockingly, when I tried to come back in, they said NYET!!! Actually, the lady just shook her head but I thought it was more dramatic to add the NYET!!! part. Even more shockingly, they did not offer to reimburse me when I came through that same security check point three weeks hence. As soon as I got back to WCS, even before I went back to my apartment, I sought out and found Lisa Berglund, my personal tech guru, along with her husband, John. We determined the phone was not beyond repair and that only the battery was missing, and not the SIM card which could have carried some risk should someone else have tried to use it. Lisa, as is her specialty, offered to order the battery from Amazon.com. She did and after a slow delivery, returned it to me good as new via her daughter, the awesome Jenna, at basketball practice Friday, our first meeting of the year. I'm not lying about this- Jenna had to show me how to turn it on. After all, it had been 32 days since I used it. I have short term memory issues.

Here is what's really sad about the phone affair. When I figured out how to check my messages, I found out there were.......... ZERO. That's right- for thirty-two days, not one person called me. Anybody remember the Bobby Vinton hit, Mr. Lonely? I guess that describes me! There are several factors. One is that I do most of my communicating by e-mail and Facebook now. The main reason, though, is that I have given my number out to very few people. Yesterday, I was buying some back to school clothes at Jos A. bank and Silvia, my personal shopping assistant, asked my phone number to check on a previous order. Of course, I had no idea what it is. Last week, I told Lisa the bad thing is that I did not miss having the phone. Well, it was pretty inconvenient for Greg Glenn sitting in Bush Airport, waiting for my plane to arrive from Vietnam and I apparently walked by him twice in the lobby. And it was the first week of school. And his lovely daughter, Amber, was getting married in six days. But hey, what's a little inconvenience for someone else? I wonder if the Lord ever heaves a sigh when we stay out of touch until it's some emergency or we're in a bind or we really want something and then we dial in? Anybody remember, Operator- Get Me Jesus On The Line? Well, I'm going to do better. I've already informed my amazing student teacher aide, Megan Hill, that part of her job description this year is to bring me into the 21st century with phone usage. I am pretty sure I can- I just have to stay out of Moscow.

To listen to Bobby Vinton's Mr. Lonely, click or copy/paste link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djU4Lq_5EaM

Applicable quote of the day:

"I only used a cell phone for the first time after I was released. I had difficulty coping with it because it seemed so small and insubstantial."
Aung San Suu Kyi (President of Myamar)

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

www.hawleybooks.com

E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com