Well would you look at that-I have a phobia! Telephonophobia! I am reluctant and, at times, afraid to have a conversation on the telephone. I’m not usually someone who supports self-diagnosis (I am still not a doctor) but in this case it’s pretty obvious.
And it makes sense. It’s the last vestigial element of my general social anxiety that took me years of effort and determination to cope with and master for he most part. I don’t avoid large social gatherings, in fact I kind of like them now. I am very comfortable speaking in front of a crowd, because I love the sound of my own voice and my own opinions. It’s the Me Show, starring Me!

So what if  I have one more tiny social demon clinging to my heartstrings and whispering its fearful words into my ear. It’s actually a relief being able to isolate the stress into a single source, instead of worrying that I was just a big pile of awkward failing. Some people hate spiders, I hate telephones. I’ll beat it, eventually, but until I do I have to remember to draw upon the support and help of my loved ones (Hi Honey! I love you very much).

More Music Nonsense: Triumph just wasn’t a very spectacular band. They tried hard, sure, and I can believe that some people have been “rocked” by Triumph, but listening to any of their songs other than their few hits will leave most people underwhelmed. Adequate, but not inspiring.
Also, I have a surprising fondness for hardcore Techno, I think. It’s hard to tell what to call it, since even the aficionados of electronic music can’t agree on any kind of labelling system. Maybe I like breakbeat, or maybe its grime. Whatever it is actually called, I like percussion heavy songs with computer noisy noises. I put on the eclectic electronic music channel while I was cleaning the kitchen, and it was dad’s one man cleanup rave (glow sticks and hallucinogens not included).

Which, I assume, my last post was as well. the unfortunate outcome of blogging while tired on a malfunctioning keyboard. You don’t know how essential your friend the space bar is until he stops working. Oh well, I’m back on my normal keyboard and (relatively) awake.

It makes me laugh my angry and dismissive laugh when I see the repeated references to Apple, and specifically the iPhone, as “overhyped”. Really? How many millions and millions of phones do they have to sell before the hype level is scientifically determined to be the correct amount? What is the adequate hype threshold for a consumer electronic product? If you need a good example of this kind of nonsense, check out Gizmodo and the majority of their sad iPhone coverage.

At the heart of it, people want to see something rise up and be great, and then they hate it for becoming great and they yearn for its destruction. They’ve found one minor issue with some of the phones, and they want to ride it to the angry mob with pitchforks and effigies of Steve Jobs. Microsoft has seen the opportunity in scoring a few cheap points and they referred to the  iPhone 4 as Apple’s Vista.  If the people amused by that comparison could logically compare the two things, they’d remember what an unholy mess of unwanted and unuseful garbage Vista is.

In other news, I’ve added another band to my no listen list. Sorry Doug and the Slugs, but you were terrible examples of Can Con gone wrong, and the world is better without your “Last of the Red Hot Fools” or “Makin’ it Work”. especially the second one-I hear that noise on the radio and I change it to the next available station. I don’t care if it’s static or a sermon about the jesus, it’s got to be better than those damn slugs.