Can You Hear Me Now?

For years I protested the idea of getting a cell phone. A house phone worked perfectly well for keeping in touch with people; and if I was out, I didn't want to be taking calls anyway. Then, eventually, I began to discover a social life, a working life, an life of many different sorts, all of which included the need for people to be capable of reaching me whether or not I was at home. Since then I've found it extremely useful to be able to call people up where ever I am and to have them able to call me and get ahold of me no matter which house I've decided to wind up at or whether I'm out elsewhere.

Still, I retain one particular complaint. I don't like listening to a cell phone. For whatever reason, I can't hear as well using one as I can with a regular phone. The headsets don't work for me because they won't stay in my ears, and it's frankly impossible to balance a cell phone on your shoulder the way you can a regular one. After listening for too long, my ear ends up hurting.

Enough with the complaints. I've now discovered a gadget that, were my birthday not unfortunately many months away and Christmas even farther, I think I would be begging for. It's a phone. More specifically, it's an actual "retro" phone handset.. you know, that old fashioned thing you put up to your ear and listen to, before they came cordless with the buttons right on them. It's been modified slightly to be able to plug into most cell phones. It probably wouldn't be too useful when out and about - I doubt it'd fit in a pocket, or even a purse of a size I'm willing to carry, but it would work especially well for the longest conversations I have which all tend to be while sitting at home, and, coincedentally, also seem to be when I would most appreciate a regular phone.

Of course, if you DID carry it out around town, it could be extremly amusing to walk around talking into a seemingly unconnected handset. One of those things to try in a crowded elevator sometime, right?