On things

The issue isn’t just having the right number of things. It’s having the right things: the right computer, the right phone, the right friends, the right boyfriend, the right internet connection, the right books, the right furniture, the right pictures of your family…. Sometimes that results in having too many things as each one doesn’t quite fit the bill in one small way or another. For things that it’s OK to have many of, that can work as long as it doesn’t get out of control. But some things you really want only one of, like your phone, and if the one you’ve got leaves unmet needs, there’s trouble.

I’m here to tell you that I now have 4 phones. Yes, you read that right: FOUR. I only go regularly to two places (my home and the office) and with mobile technology such as it is, I see no need to have more than one. Unfortunately, not everyone in my life agrees: my work, for example. They gave me a desk phone (so people can reach me by extension) and a mobile phone (for its walkie-talkie feature). I already had a mobile phone (for everything) and a LAN (for my doorbell when other people are at my apartment and for dial-up internet when necessary). I’m sure there’s some way to make these 4 numbers all ring in one little pocket phone, but me and one of the largest internet companies in the world are not that sophisticated. Or maybe I just haven’t asked the right people in the right way.

Technology is funny. After I got attacked by that crack whore last weekend (I’m not kidding), the police actually came to my house and left a message on my home answering machine bc they didn’t get the number from the 911 call that brought them to me. I KNOW that 911 could see my number; I learned that on television. So instead, they sent one of San Francisco’s finest to my house when I was at work to leave a message.

I recently heard that people are calling this the “golden age of television” bc it has so much competition its forced to innovate to keep its audience. Can that be true of other things? Like, when a relationship is unraveling, are its members forced to approach it with more creativity? The reason that isn’t the case (in my life anyway) is that when a relationship is unraveling it usually means that one or both members aren’t putting the needed energy into it to keep it going. It can’t be held up by one person trying harder bc what makes a relationship work is when both parties together become more than the sum of their parts. I believe to do that you have to free fall into and trust you’ll land on something soft and gentle at terminal velocity.

Accepting the premise that television is better now than it’s ever been (which I don’t have an opinion about since I don’t watch TV anymore), maybe television is better now bc it lacks the weight of its own success. Fewer people watch so fewer people judge. It’s no longer trying to please everyone. Now, it’s just trying to please itself and the few it can hold onto. But I’m just talking here.

I was returning a DVD to the library at 24th and Mission the other day with my backpack on my front. Two guys stood in front of a café. It was early morning. I overheard one saying to the other: “that one’s got great legs. She just needs to have her breasts fixed,” and then they laughed. Do guys really talk like that to each other?