Today, my cell phone finally returned from its peregrinations.
All last weekend I vacillated between hoping desperately that I had mailed it there (because while it hadn't done anything to merit a trip to Plano, at least then I would know where it was, because it sure as hell was not under any of the 15 cushions of my godforsaken sectional), and worrying about what, exactly, a Mental Health Care Professional might make of this little slip.
Last Monday, Steve got the call from his cousin, and I could only cringe nearby, trying to piece together the cousin's half of the conversation. On our end, it went a little like this:
Steve: "Hi, D! How are you?...How did the baptism go?....(Chuckle) Oh, yeah, Jen and I were wondering if that was in there...No, I don't know quite how it happened..."
Despite their promises to send it, the phone took its time in coming back. I was twitchy without it, imagining all sorts of O. Henryish misadventures and traumatic misunderstandings arising from my inability to even access my voice mail ("But I left you six messages! Why didn't you call me back?").
I'm not sure who these unnamed wounded callers might be (to the best of my knowledge I have no lovers, star-crossed or otherwise), and what matters of urgency couldn't be directed to my home phone instead, but I enjoyed conjuring up near-miss tales of technological woe.
This may be because I have been watching an awful lot of period dramas lately. It all started with that bitch, Jane Eyre. No, I don't really hate her (how could I? She's "spirited but plain," after all!), but I do envy her this Rochester, in all his disheveled smouldering acerbicness; even burned, blind and bitter, he is disturbingly sexy.
Watching it reminded me of how I avoided the book for years (I blame "Moby Dick" for instilling a virulent, blind prejudice against any book judged a "classic"), then finally, out of desperation, turned to it while I was studying in Spain. I had only taken a few novels with me, and devoured them within the first few weeks of my stay. I was dying for more English books, but with my four-book-a-week habit, the costs were prohibitive. However, at my nearby VIPs, they had Penguin classics for about 1/5 the price of contemporary fiction, and I soon lost myself in Austen and the Brontes, in George Eliot and Flaubert. So now, for me, these stories are tinged with memories of palm trees and bougainvilla, air perfumed with blooming orange trees and jasmine, sensations of the gentle sun warming my arms and shoulders as I read in the park or by the river. It is an odd, but lovely, juxtaposition, the chilly moors of England tinged with the lush warmth of Sevilla.
Shortly after seeing Jane Eyre, I found myself watching the entirety of the BBC/A&E version of "Pride & Prejudice" again. In my defense, Andrew was very sadly ill with a fever, ear infection and the impending arrival of tooth #4, and pretty much refused to leave my arms. So what else is a girl to do but seek solace in the beauty of a Regency-suited Colin Firth? It had been years since I'd watched it, and I was astounded by how good it was, and how resoundingly it kicked this version's ass.
We've recently moved on to "Bleak House," but I'm just not feeling the love; perhaps the dearth of dark-suited hotties is more of a factor than I'd like to admit, or maybe it's just my mercurial relationship with Dickens ("Tale of Two Cities": good! "Great Expectations": bad!).
In any event, at least now I know my cell phone is not part of any dark, dramatic dealings without my knowledge, and I will have to keep a more careful eye on it in the future.
I SO agree - the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice blows away the most recent version with Keira Knightly
Posted by: Diana | February 20, 2007 at 06:40 PM
um, you can check your cell phone voice mail from any phone... ;-)
Posted by: Cat, Galloping | February 20, 2007 at 06:57 PM
Tale of Two Cities - good?!?!?! ICK! I thought the reverse was the best - Great Expectations. But what do I know, it is truly the only Dickens novel I enjoyed at all.
I loved Jane Eyre and read it three times at different points in my life. I got something new out of it each time.
If you are looking for a movie along those same lovely English lines, I loved "Emma". :-)
Posted by: Sara | February 20, 2007 at 06:59 PM
Tale of Two Cities - good?!?!?! ICK! I thought the reverse was the best - Great Expectations. But what do I know, it is truly the only Dickens novel I enjoyed at all.
I loved Jane Eyre and read it three times at different points in my life. I got something new out of it each time.
If you are looking for a movie along those same lovely English lines, I loved "Emma". :-)
Posted by: Sara | February 20, 2007 at 06:59 PM
Tale of Two Cities - good?!?!?! ICK! I thought the reverse was the best - Great Expectations. But what do I know, it is truly the only Dickens novel I enjoyed at all.
I loved Jane Eyre and read it three times at different points in my life. I got something new out of it each time.
If you are looking for a movie along those same lovely English lines, I loved "Emma". :-)
Posted by: Sara | February 20, 2007 at 07:00 PM
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. I can't get me enough of the A&E P&P, though I've seen it at least five times. We bought the VHS set years ago but no longer have a VHS player, so I am waiting, anxiously, for it to appear in my "Now Playing" list on TiVo. No other version--even Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier--can compare. It is perfect. Whither has thou gone, O Fabulous Jennifer Ehle?
Also, the new Jane Eyre? Loved it, loved it, loved it. It's the only movie-length show I've seen in months, due to the dearth of down time. I actually stayed up late, giving up precious minutes of sleep, to see it uninterrupted.
Now if only one day I can find the time to READ again...ah, bliss.
Glad you and your cell have been reunited. And I don't know how to check my cell's VM from another phone, either.
Posted by: Dead Bug | February 20, 2007 at 07:12 PM
Bug, if you miss Jennifer Ehle, you must check out Possession, which came out in 2002 and stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart, Jeremy Northam (*sigh*) and Jennifer Ehle. Beautiful movie. Modern and period love story, all in one. The book by A.S. Byatt is gorgeous as well.
And Jen, you have hit three of my favorite period dramas in one fantastic post. God bless you, BBC! God bless you!
Posted by: Mollywogger | February 21, 2007 at 07:40 AM