From The Teenage Textbook
I received a surprise phonecall a couple of nights ago. Surprise because rare it is, these days, that people actually make real calls instead of resorting to smses, emails, icq, and what have you. Rarer it is, that someone dialed from his house phone to reach you on your mobile.
Me: Hello!
He: Hi! You know who I am?
Me: Erm…yah? I know who you are.
He: Oh, you have my house number? *pause*And caller ID?
(I can imagine him kicking himself for sprouting such killer lines as the preamble)
Me: Well, you have called me from home before.
Haha. Makes me laugh just to recollect the exchange.
Don’t ask me. But I’m pretty sure it was an innocuous phonecall, just that somehow, I felt this “phonecall” can be a scene straight out of The Teenage Textbook, in which Cheung Kai was trying to brace himself to call Mui Ee (his crush) and guessing what’s a good and proper time to call. Advice from The Teenage Textbook (yes, it is an extremely tongue-in-cheek novel with plenty and self-deprecating and self-referential remarks, a smarty-pants story in short, a novel that refers to itself to dish out well-meaning advice – often backfiring – to people with crushes, people who are its protagonists. There’s the wonderful sequel called, what else, The Teenage Workbook. Very well-written and witty stories with a strong and engaging local flavour. But back to me) says one should always call after 8pm, any earlier she will be having dinner and watching TV. So checked.
Overjustification. Checked.
Attempts to ensure a steady streaming of conversation. Checked.
Attempts to prolong. Checked.
Anyway I told him to call my house because I was at home and then we combed the SISTIC website together (albeit separately in the comfort of our individual homes) to get Rent tickets. We have bought first tier, yay!
I feel good.
Me: Hello!
He: Hi! You know who I am?
Me: Erm…yah? I know who you are.
He: Oh, you have my house number? *pause*And caller ID?
(I can imagine him kicking himself for sprouting such killer lines as the preamble)
Me: Well, you have called me from home before.
Haha. Makes me laugh just to recollect the exchange.
Don’t ask me. But I’m pretty sure it was an innocuous phonecall, just that somehow, I felt this “phonecall” can be a scene straight out of The Teenage Textbook, in which Cheung Kai was trying to brace himself to call Mui Ee (his crush) and guessing what’s a good and proper time to call. Advice from The Teenage Textbook (yes, it is an extremely tongue-in-cheek novel with plenty and self-deprecating and self-referential remarks, a smarty-pants story in short, a novel that refers to itself to dish out well-meaning advice – often backfiring – to people with crushes, people who are its protagonists. There’s the wonderful sequel called, what else, The Teenage Workbook. Very well-written and witty stories with a strong and engaging local flavour. But back to me) says one should always call after 8pm, any earlier she will be having dinner and watching TV. So checked.
Overjustification. Checked.
Attempts to ensure a steady streaming of conversation. Checked.
Attempts to prolong. Checked.
Anyway I told him to call my house because I was at home and then we combed the SISTIC website together (albeit separately in the comfort of our individual homes) to get Rent tickets. We have bought first tier, yay!
I feel good.
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