I bought a new cell phone last night. It’s an LG Chocolate, in “Cherry”; it’s very shiny, and red, and I like it very much so far. I tested it out last night and the reception seemed fine (apparently some people have had bad reception in the Ottawa area) and it didn’t fall apart in my hands or anything.

I am very hard on my electronics. Every electronic I have ever purchased or had given to me for personal use either breaks entirely or malfunctions. For example:

•  my laptop (busted USB port, motherboard failure, hard-drive crash, and the disk drive makes funny noises, not to mention the general slowness and constant random reboots)
• my clock radio (the alarm clock always works, but occasionally it won’t let me change the times, so I’m stuck either getting up at 4:30 or 11:00…yes, I have an alarm set for 11:00 am. You know, in case I need to get up early on the weekend.)
• my camera (“accidentally” doused in Coke. No longer functions AT ALL. Technically NOT my fault, but still makes the list.)
• my portable CD players (prior to the iPod, I owned several CD players, each of which had problems, including intermittent skipping, abnormal humming noises, and loud and constant static. As far as I know, my last CD player still works, but I haven’t used it since 2005, and it’s sitting in a drawer in my parents’ basement.)
• my parents’ PC (technically, this wasn’t just for me, but since I was the primary user, I was the one responsible for causing it to function at the pace of a slightly mentally-challenged snail, “what with all the pointless downloading”.)
• my iPod (sometimes it just sort of stops working…randomly, in the middle of a song, and then I have to hold the buttons down and plug it in to get it working again.)

So, imagine my surprise when, after two years of daily use, the one electronic item that didn’t stop working was my cell phone (although I did have some battery issues when I first got it).

In the spirit of “better safe than sorry”, I also purchased a warranty along with my shiny new cell phone (I’ve read some pretty bad reviews of the Chocolate, and wanted to make sure I could get a replacement if the microphone goes/the buttons stop working, etc). While doing this, I remarked to the Roommate (who came with me), “Well, I think Dad will be pleased that I got a warranty. You know, just in case.”

Dad wasn’t pleased.

Him: “You shouldn’t have to buy a warranty!”

Me: “But…but…I thought you’d want me to!”

Him: “Tsh. It should just work. Besides, you never had any problems with your old phone.”

Me: “Well, no. But…”

Him: “You wasted your money!”

Lesson learned: Even when you think you’ve done what they want you to do, you’re wrong.

—–

I’m being good today, and not going downstairs to buy chocolate or chips, despite the fact that I’ve actually got cash in my wallet for once. Nope. I’m staying right here, for two reasons. Reason 1: I’m tired of spending more on empty calories that don’t do anything for me. Reason 2: I need to lose weight, and eating chocolate isn’t really conducive to that. Besides, I have a chocolate bar at home (which I bought 2 days ago and haven’t eaten yet! Unprecedented!). I had to wear jeans to work again today because I took my dress pants out of the dryer and now they’re too tight. Because I’m fat. So I’m wearing “skinny” jeans (which are actually more loose than my regular jeans), a short-sleeved mock neck (because I’m not happy with my boobs just now) and my office-sweater. Oh, and sneakers, which look really stupid with the jeans. Uh huh. Sexy, no? It’s almost as if I got up 15 minutes before work and just threw on whatever! (I didn’t! I had to try on the too-tight pants first, and then came all the low-cut tops, and then I finally put on the clothes I’m wearing now.) Ugh.

So anyway, after I finish that chocolate bar tonight, I’m giving up chocolate for Lent. Despite the fact that I’m not a practising Catholic, I think it’s good motivation, like a reboot to my failed New Year’s resolutions. Anyway, I think I can go 40 (or 39, whatever) days without chocolate. I’ve been cola-free for 2 weeks today, and it’s really not that hard. My problem is the sugar, really. I get really bad cravings for something sweet, and instead of eating a fruit or something with natural sugars, I binge on chocolate. So, giving up chocolate seems to be the logical step, no? I foresee much gum-chewing in my future.

 —-

CS continues his campaign of annoyingness as I type. He’s blah-blahing to the guy in the office behind my cube. “Wah wah, here’s what wrong with the government today,well, when I did this it was so special, blah blah, everything is done wrong here and I would fix it by undermining the process, etc etc. This is insightful to me, blah blah.” Seriously? STFU. “Let me impart my amazingly insightful advice to you!” Um, how about NO. I don’t know what myproblem is, but he just grates on me. “Let me complain about everything, and yet do nothing!” Argh. ARGH.