the pull of the familiar

I finally got myself a new phone which is the exact replica of the one that was stolen. Nikki and I went to Greenhills and looked at many phones, each with feautures that, to me, seemed ultimately unphonelike. It will displease my phone whore buddy, but I prefer to take pictures with my digital camera, use my laptop for various things like watching online videos, and watch DVDs on my DVD player - rather than have all these things on a phone with an astronomical price tag. It would have been different if I had engaged Marco to accompany me - he would have waded through the confusion with blinding speed.

It was also phone model fatigue that got to me, all the model numbers and variations, all the different choices. Faced with all that, I reacted as like a new customer in a resto in a foreign country and ordered the only food I safely recognized. I got a discount because the muslim vendor recognized my family name and we chatted about Marawi City and Lake Lanao in Mindanao.

She also turned out to be the wife of Billy the Pirate, from whom we got a pile of films for the 3 Alfars. The pick of the lot: House of Flying Daggers (with the luminous Zhang Ziyi, whom I will love forever) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (a film everyone should watch).

Today being the last day of the extended weekend, I plan just to laze around and do next to nothing, because tomorrow I will reap the whirlwind as my company explodes back into action with the rush of Christmas accounts.

And today's alloment of Salamanca is done. Whew.