The Preservationist Ethic

Sure my cell phone was doused in a glass of water as I slept. Sure its component parts were soaked in sweet, wet sustinence for the entire night. Sure, as I woke, its screen was clouded and appeared as a petry dish with rapidly spawning cultures of bacteria. Sure its speaker barely survived the drying process, forcing me to hold the phone upside down and necessitating speaker phone for others to hear me during a call.

And yet, there's something special about this circa 2006 phone to me, this T-Mobile Plum. It's slim, it's not a flip-top, it's not got any ringtones other than the embarassing synth-y type that makes it sound like an early 90s video game, it's not got one percent of the features of a Blackberry, it cannot access the internet or send instant messages--I love it, probably not in spite of, but because of those things.

And so, I think, even in its less-than-useful state: well, it's not too far gone. I think I shall save it.

And no, I do not have the "classic ring" ring tone on the phone; it's faux-history.

(Oh...and I will probably rehab that poured-on Plum when the money comes in...)