New Phone Woes

I'm finally in the 21st century. Or at least being a poser so people think I am.

Justin got the new iphone 4, which means I got his "old" 3G. It is quite an upgrade from my [truly] old phone. A phone so old that I couldn't even find a picture of it to put on here. Granted, I didn't look very hard because I thought it was a waste of time and wouldn't really enhance the post. But it didn't show up on the first page of Google Images. So...it's obviously not a hot commodity.

On my old phone, I couldn't get e-mail or play games. I had a camera, but never tried to figure out how to use it. I tap-tap-tapped out my text messages on an old school keyboard. And I was good at it, too! I didn't even have to look at the screen...Those were the days. My 5th grade students had nicer phones than I did. I considered this to be a good form of security since none of them were the least bit interested in stealing my phone. That is, unless they wanted to look at it for a good laugh or take it on Antiques Roadshow to see how much a "vintage" phone might go for.

I had my moments of frustration with not being able to look up directions or check my personal e-mail at school. Pictures that other people sent me were a hazy mess. But at the same time, I felt...freedom. I wasn't checking it every two seconds for the latest e-mail or Words with Friends update. Now I'm turning into one of them. You know them--the people who aren't content to just...sit. I feel like this guy.

Here I am, though, getting sucked into the vortex. Justin made me a Words with Friends account and I currently have 3 games going. All of which I'm losing. Miserably. Yesterday my cousin Kaley and I finished a game and I lost by about 230 points. You might not have thought that was even possible. My situation reminded me of the movie Elf and how Buddy feels when he's not good at making toys:

I'm gonna be a little bit short on today's quota.

It's all right, Buddy. Just how many etch-a-sketches did you get finished?...Come on, Buddy. How many?

I made, uh... 85.

Eighty-five? That puts you...915 off pace.

[Female elf:] Ooh... that's bad.

Why don't you just say it? I'm the worst toy maker in the world. I'm a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.

(My apologies for the text transcript. I couldn't find a video of this exact scene. And believe me--I tried. I even looked on the second page of the search results.)

Just substitute "Words with Friends player" where you see "toy maker" and you basically just eavesdropped on the conversation that Justin and I had yesterday. Just add in some laughter on Justin's part. At me, not with me.

My problem is I don't have strategy. I can play legit words. Things like "lieu"or "deluge" or "android." Even "jihad." Turns out they don't give bonus points for culturally relevant terms. But I haven't gotten the knack of how to situate these words where they fall on double or triple letters or words. So I'll earn 6 points for big, fancy words. Whereas my opponents will play the word "ax" and earn 36 points. Or randomly put letters together and figure out that "qi" and "qat" are actually words. Who knew? Not me. I distinctly remember in kindergarten when Mr. Q and Mrs. U got married. They go together. Always. Except not...apparently.

I could throw out a word like cotton headed ninny muggins and earn 3 points. Which proves how much of a cotton headed ninny muggins I really am.