you'd be appalled if you knew what i was doing when you called

Do you remember landline calls? Few people talk on the home phone nowadays, with everyone exhausting their unlimited texts and calls on their mobile service provider. Other than P and my clients, I seldom get landline calls, and if I do, my staying power and attention span has shrunk to a few minutes compared to the midnight-to-sunrise marathons when I was still a giddy schoolgirl.

I can still recall how anxious I was everytime the phone rang -- or when it didn't! I would patiently wait by the phone for calls in the morning, after lunch and before going to sleep, and faithfully call my best friends everyday even if we've seen each other all day at school! When I got too impatient I'd even pick up the receiver to check for a dialtone, or call the other person's landline to check for a ring (predecessor ng missed calls hehe)!

There were times in the summer when my parents would actually call the neighbors' phones to check up on us kids because the line was always busy (wala pang call waiting nun) -- and that was because we were 3 teenagers hogging the line all day, not just for phone conversations but for dialup internet as well! As if telebabad weren't enough, we succumbed to the novelty of ICQ and MIRC, and enjoyed the convenience of Edsamail!

As communication channels continue to diversify and with webphone and mobile call rates dropping, they say that the landline will soon be a thing of the past. But it played such a significant part of my wonder years that I think I won't be able to give it up just yet.

Now only if the wireless landline units weren't so bulky...