I haven't owned a cell phone for very long (less than three months), but I've become so used to having it I've become one of "those people". You know the kind. We don't where watches because we have clocks on our phones. Throughout my life I wore a watch practically every single day since I entered high school. Once I got a phone my watch magically disappeared. Seriously, I have no idea where it is.

I also am incapable of remembering any more than the phone numbers I grew up with, i.e. my parents and if I'm on a good day one of my grandmothers. My friends though, no chance. If I were to be wandering around downtown and then got mugged losing my wallet, my car keys, and my phone I would be unable to call anyone for help (other than 911) even if I did somehow find a phone I could use.

Not only that, my cell phone is my only phone. The place where I live has no land line. So my phone is almost always with me and since it's not tethered to anything I am now physically incapable of sitting still when talking on the thing.

And the biggest change of all, I actually like talking on the phone now. When I was growing up phones existed for one reason: for me to call you. When I still lived at home I never answered the phone (it was never for me anyways) and rarely used it outside of work. I was the king of screen, a title that's still with me today...unless it involves my own phone. Formerly a device used to meet or set up things only, I know find myself contemplating calling people just to chat, which leads to interesting phone conversations with some people as I still get a weird feeling talking to a person I can't actually see. If I have my phone turned off for any reason, I often get excited upon finding I've missed a call and thanks to caller I.D. know exactly who it was. This feeling is compounded if they bothered to actually leave me a message. In case you're wondering, my phone is for personal use only and not business, so I like receiving calls.

So upon returning home from work today I find that someone has indeed left me a message. I punch in my code and wait patiently to see what will be revealed...only to have my ears graced with the robotic noise of a home mortgage advertisement. And I got all alert for nothing. Blah.