my virtual memories

I know, I’m already home. But this just happens to be a song title of something I’m listening to currently because I like the female vocals so much.

Right now, there are 2 items on my list that I would really like to get. The first is something more practical, that is a new phone. My current phones are still functioning, but the E71 that I have is almost 3 years old and it gets a little wonky at times. Plus even without using it much since not many people call me on that number these days, the battery life is shit. The 3GS that I have is coming to 2 years really soon, and yes it’s still working although it threatened many times to die on me, and it’s getting more and more laggy as the day passes. Obviously, the release of the 4S has something to do with my train of thought, because if they hadn’t released it I wouldn’t have thought of getting a new phone, at least not so soon unless I decided to try out the Samsung S2 that apparently has earned many rave reviews, some of my friends use that too and they swear it trumps over the iPhone any day. I have no doubt about that, but I am really lazy when it comes to getting acquainted with new technology and stuff. I am no techie, in fact I think I’m one of those for whom idiot-proof ‘gadgets’ work best for me, so since I have used an iPhone for 2 years, or close to, it makes sense to stick to it. I am resistant to change yes, in this form. I advocate change in my job so I have to put a disclaimer somewhere just in case I get called out on it. Always have yourself covered.

The 3GS that I have is black, because back in those days when I was about to buy a new phone, the white version wasn’t available. So now, I thought that perhaps I can get the white since really, to me, Apple products look best in white, unless of course it’s chrome that we’re talking about, which you will see later… But you know, in my department of 10+ colleagues, there are 6 including my boss whom I lunch with almost on a daily basis. Among them, 4 of them have gotten the white 4S, and my boss is using the white 4G. It’s kind of scary how the iPhone has proliferated our lives and I know for sure there are always people who want to be different, yes me too sometimes, but where technology like phones are concerned, I am quite happy to be among the crowd because when something goes wrong at least there is a wider pool of help available to ask. It’s a lame way to justify me getting the iPhone again, but anyhow we shall see what happens in the end. Unless in the midst of me deliberating the 5 comes out, which I highly doubt. Not so soon anyway, I hope.

Then, there is this thing that I have been thinking about for the longest time. I don’t think I have considered a purchase for so long. From getting a [insert various brands here] laptop to a netbook to an iPad2, I have more or less decided that I will probably get this.

Yes. The MacBook Air. My colleague and I even went to an Apple rep while we were out for lunch one day, and asked him the difference between the MacBook Air and the Pro. I think he probably thought we were morons but then we asked him for some comments on which he thought might be more suitable for someone like me. Well, obviously it came across that yours truly would be the bimbo sort of user who will be using the laptop for really simple tasks, so he recommended the Air. Hmm. Ok, it was more like I told him I just needed it for simple photo-editing since I am no Photoshop expert, blogging and watching videos and stuff, etc., things that don’t need the kind of processing speed that a Pro would offer (it will probably be wasted on me). Plus design-wise this looks much better, although it has the drawback that you can’t ‘expand’ it or upgrade it in future if you’d wanted to. And if you plan to work with storage media like CDs and the likes, then you will need an external combo drive since the Air being this thin, doesn’t come with much, save for a couple USB ports. My decision was between the 11″ and 13″ but after thinking a little bit more, I don’t really think I will be carrying it around with me much when I’m travelling because I really cannot imagine lugging the Air (even if it weighs only about 1 kg) in addition to the monstrosity of a laptop that the company provides to me (not yet now but soon after they do the refresh). I don’t check in laptops because I have had a laptop’s hard disk crash on me even though I hand-carried it, I didn’t want to run the risk of something like that happening if I were to check it in, the risk is just too great. And I don’t honestly think it’s safe.

So, the 13″ makes more sense if I were rationalising in that direction, although at the back of my mind I still harbour whimsical ideas of me blogging on the go from the Air (I can do that on my current laptop too if I have a LAN cable because that stupid thing’s wifi doesn’t seem to work at all, bleah). Someone suggested the iPad2, but that’s not really something that was considered much; it was for a while but I still very much like the aesthetic features of a laptop somehow. Don’t ask me why or how.

Gadgets… these should hardly be the things that I should worry about. But maybe for good reason. I don’t think so much about other things that cost equally much or more, but these days I find it easier to let go of ‘those things’. For a while, then I will start obsessing about it or something new, and the cycle goes on. I can’t afford to keep purchasing new leather every now and then because I need to save for the roof over my head, and even though I know, females never have ‘too many’ bags/shoes/clothes/etc., for the time being, I think I don’t have the luxury of space to not think that it is enough at this point in time.

All images above from www.apple.com