On the Road: New York with Mollie
Mar302007
Mollie said, “There’d better be an On the Road post with my name on it by tomorrow morning.” It’s because Bob had one. Sibling rivalry.
So I spent a gorgeous day in New York with my brilliant and beautiful daughter. We had big plans that pretty much became talk all morning, then leave the apartment for Chinese followed by cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, then come back and talk all afternoon until her husband, Josh, came by at which point we left the apartment for dinner, and then came back and talked for a couple of minutes before they went home. I never did make it to MOMA with her, but we had a great time just the same.
Except for my cell phone problem. I am cellphone phobic. Don’t like ‘em, don’t like hearing ‘em ring, don’t like trying to figure out all the bells and whistles. I have one because you have to be crazy to travel without one, but I try to avoid actually using it. Mollie and some other people I could mention find this hysterically funny in that you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me, this-woman-is-a-Luddite kind of way. So when I talked to my dogsitter on the phone and Mollie began laughing, I ignored her. Turned out I had the speaker phone on the whole time, so now I’m wondering if I’ve been broadcasting all my calls in airports and on the street. Thank God I never talk dirty to anybody on it.
Then the phone rang again and I answered it (turning off the speaker phone) and there was no one there. So I looked at the screen and there was a text message. I do not do text messaging, hell, it’s a miracle when I answer the damn phone when somebody calls, but this one I got:
wonder how long it will take you to read this no fair if mollie does it
I said, “I think your husband is making fun of me” because although my son-in-law is a darling, he does think I’m hopeless when it comes to cell phones, possibly because he’s had to explain two other models to me, usually while sitting in a restaurant or a hotel lobby after I’ve failed to meet them on time because I don’t know how to pick up my messages.
Mollie looked at the number and said, “Nope, not Josh’s number. Who’s at xxx-xxx-xxxx?”
Three guesses. He’s stuck in an airport with nothing to do, so he joins with my daughter in making fun of me.
But I fixed them both. I sent my first text message. It said:
Ha.
I could have said more, but I wanted to start slow. Actually “Ha” had some garbled stuff after it because I screwed up the letters and didn’t know how to delete. Well, it’s a learning curve. And now he can sit down in Hilton Head and try to figure out what “gfe*lsn” means.
But Mollie and I had a fabulous day, and we only talked business for about half of it (gossiping about publishing doesn’t count, that’s pleasure) and she showed me the two gorgeous wallpaper graphics that she’s designed to be downloaded from the finished The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes website when it goes up (the site has a plain placeholder design right now, but you’re not going to believe what a beautiful job she and Mara have done on the design that’s going up in a couple of weeks). She’s a genius. I’d put up the graphic she gave me as an example, but she’ll kill me if I do. You’ll just have to take my word for it. Gorgeous.
Oh, and SMP delivered the Agnes galleys to me today, too. I’m betting Anne-Marie had something to do with that. “Come to the Village and correct your galleys.” Come to the Village and kiss me, Talberg.
Tomorrow it’s lunch with Dale who said, “I know some interesting places” which worries me. She told me once that the Tenement Museum had a great restaurant. The problem with Dale is, she has a sense of humor. So I’m having a big breakfast. And then tomorrow night, my pal Lani comes to stay for a sleepover. She’s more fun than Bob. For instance, she holds conversations. And unlike my daughter, if she heard me talking into a phone that had the speaker on, she’d tell me right away. Probably.
Actually, all my friends have great senses of humor. So there’s probably going to be laughter no matter what happens. Which is a pretty good thing, I’m thinking. So tomorrow: Lunch in a tenement, much hilarity at a slumber party, and obscene text messages about nuns on the speaker phone. Nothing but good times ahead.
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16 Comments to 'On the Road: New York with Mollie'
On March 30, 2007 at 12:30 am Teri Brown said...
Snicker. Glad to see a hole in your foot didn’t slow you down. Have a marvelous time.
Teri
PS. I hear you on the cell phone trauma. I was invited to a women’s retreat by a friend once and while they were praying it went off because I don’t know how to turn the stupid thing on buzz or silent or whatever. So in the middle of the prayer my cell phone is belting out I am Iron Man by Black Sabbath.( A song choice by my teens that I don’t know how to change either) Loudly.
I wasn’t invited back.
On March 30, 2007 at 12:38 am liz said...
ha ha ha…i love hearing you talk about your days! i am officially drunk on the day after my 21st birthday and am eating mcdonalds at 1:30 in the morning…perhaps not the smartest move but i was hungry! lets just hope i can make it to class tomorrow! sorry that has nothing to do with the post but i wanted to say thanks for brightening up boring days spent listening to boring professors. ya know, people always look at me funny when i burst out laughing in the halls on campus while reading your posts. oh well, let them think what they want! thanks for entertaining me!
On March 30, 2007 at 2:58 am downundergal said...
Sounds like a great day. Aside from smart-arse texting that is. One in every family…..
On March 30, 2007 at 3:45 am ZaZa said...
I am so with you on the cell phone. I love the convenience, but the bells and whistles confound me. This from the person who can swap hard drives on her computer, change the keyboard on her laptop, was an uber tech writer, etc. I think it’s the smallness. Tech stuff usually fascinates me, but cell phones are scary.
Although having one with GPS could save a lot of driving around aimlessly. If the maps weren’t too small to read without a magnifying glass. Or whatever.
Sounds like you’re having a great time. Fun sleepover with Lani!
On March 30, 2007 at 7:21 am Lynn said...
Cell phones? Hate ‘em. The scariest part is what people feel free to discuss on them in front of God and everybody. At work, in the library, I have heard people talking to their lawyers about deadbeat husbands and dads, boyfriends doing jail time, and all sorts of fun things I probably should not mention here.
Yes, I have one (I agree, you have to when traveling) but use it so infrequently that a few months ago it was set on vibrate during a meeting and rang. Three people looked at me and said, “that’s your phone, you should probably answer it.” All the while I was wondering what the annoying buzzing noise was.
Hey, you can always text that lucky case number in to Deal or No Deal now that you have that conquered!
Thanks for continuing to share your journey.
On March 30, 2007 at 8:08 am Andi said...
Just a simple cell phone with a regular ring. Amen! Although I do like the text thing, I’ve made up my own language, because I’m not 17 and don’t know the proper text jargon. Oh well.
You sound very happy, so yay for you! And I just went on a Lani bender, and I must say, she is very funny. You will, obviously have a great time!
On March 30, 2007 at 8:27 am Diane (TT) said...
I am not, actually, sure if I can send or receive text messages on my phone. I hope the situation never arises! I sort of like having it, and I did get it for traveling after a trip that was multiply mixed up, but then proceeded to not be able to get the thing to ring aloud.
Mostly I leave it off – it’s for my convenience, not anyone else’s.
On March 30, 2007 at 8:50 am roben said...
I’m with you on the cell phone thing. Have one, don’t use it unless I travel. Kids have tried to teach me the bells and whistles, just don’t get it. Text messaging, no way. The kids think I’m hysterical because I have an orange color code label (sticky back) on the back of the phone telling me how to retrieve messages and displaying an emergency #. I once had a message there for six months and didn’t know. One of my chapter friends had emailed me at Reno National. *grin* Oh well, I returned the call at Christmas.
Sounds like you’re having fun. Daughters are great aren’t they? Mine is trying to talk me into a free trip downunder for the Aussie National. Yikes, I see dollars with wings flying out the window.
On March 30, 2007 at 8:58 am wendy roberts said...
Cell phones. Sigh. My children enjoy changing my ring tone just to watch me glare at others wondering whose phone is ringing.
On March 30, 2007 at 9:06 am McB said...
Sounds like a great day with Mollie. And have fun today with Lani.
Cell phones – I have one mostly as a safety issue. Any woman who drives any distance by herself should have one, even if its just a disposable. Never know when you might need to call for help. However great gobs of time go by without my remembering to turn it on. I’m just not a telephone person, period. My cell has bells and whistles. Not because I wanted them, but because its hard to find a phone without them these days.
On March 30, 2007 at 9:32 am Office Wench Cherry said...
Cell phones should be *phones* – not cameras or music players or computers but phones. They should ring with a normal ring and have an easy-to-put-on-vibrate feature but that’s it. They should not play Bad Moon Rising just because my husband thinks it’s funny.
I actually typed Bad Mood Rising which pretty much sums up my day. Husband took the truck to the pool, got back 10 minutes before I had to be at work (like half a mile away) then wouldn’t quit talking and wanted a good-bye kiss and for me to let the cats out of the basement (we have new furniture, they have claws so they sleep in the basement). Argh. I was late. This from the man who thinks if I’m at work five minutes before they start paying me I’m late. And then I realized I forgot a bunch of work stuff at home and when I got her the courier guy was parked in my spot and I had to wait for him to leave.
I wanna go to New York and hang out with Jenny and Mollie.
On March 30, 2007 at 10:23 am Sheri said...
I love my cell phone–don’t know what I ever did before I had one. Text messaging–now that is a whole ‘nother creature. Haven’t a clue and it seems like a lot of work when you could just dial the freaking phone and TALK to the person! Seems like a big DUH to me, but then what do I know?
Glad you are having fun. My youngest daughter is convinced that she wants to live in New York. I don’t know why–she wanted to live in Ohio a few years ago after she did her state report. She gets on kicks. But she got over Ohio when she was stuck in the airport there on Christmas day for several hours when they bumped her and my aunt off their flight home–she was a basket case by the time she got home! Poor baby.
If I had cool people to hang out with I would want to go to New York also. Glad your foot isn’t keeping you down. Too bad you didn’t get to go to MOMA–bet it’s a fabulous place. The one here in San Francisco is pretty great.
On March 30, 2007 at 11:39 am me said...
I am laughing so hard I’m crying. I will now spend the rest of the day figuring out a Bob-appropriate definition for gfe*lsn.
On March 30, 2007 at 12:24 pm K.L. said...
I am totally with you on the phone thing. You are ahead of me. I have yet to send or receive a text message. I hope I never have to. I have worked on computers for 20 years, and yet I have to give my phone to my daughter to program for me whenever I get an upgrade. I don’t want pictures, or text, or song rings. I just want to use it as a phone. Sheesh.
On March 30, 2007 at 3:25 pm AndreaS said...
On the opposite side, I adore my cell phone and have recently discovered the joys of texting. Of course, a few months ago my entire family went cellular. My house no longer has a land-line attached to it because every member of my family has a phone. And I don’t even know the number to my dorm here at school. I never, ever use it.
But it’s still fun hearing about the trials of cellphones. I am always figuring out new things about mine and I’ve had it for a year already!
On April 7, 2007 at 9:10 am jude said...
Another cell phone phobe here. Just got one last summer to keep track of the little ones (or not so little), but forget texting, forget sending photos, even picking up voice mail messages is a rarity and puts me into a major crank. I finally learned how to put it on vibrate, but six months later, I still hit the ceiling every time it feels like a rabid gerbil has wakened to life in my pocket. Not cool during work when I am trying to impress people with my calm and cool management style.