It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, Parts 1 & 2

I love cell phones.

I don’t love them because they make life easier, even though they do.
I don’t love them because they can make travel safer, even though they can.
And I don’t love them because they are just so darn techy-awesome, even though they are.

I love cell phones because of their ringtones.

Ringtones make my heart sing!
They also make my phone sing…and rap and shout, and (on some special occasions) cluck like a chicken.

The first “personalized” ringtone I downloaded oh so many years ago was the witched witch music from The Wizard of Oz. It was awesome. And addictive. Very addictive.

As of this particular moment, there are 18 personalized ringtones on my phone, each assigned to a special person or group of people.

A few years back, I added the Law and Order Cha-Chang sound to my phone as a text message alert sound. As a fan of the original Law and Order (You’ll always have a special place in my heart, Detective Briscoe!), hearing that particular ringtone everyday made me happy. But then the original Law and Order was canceled, along with roughly 28 of its spin-offs .

Law and Order from Mindy Haws on Vimeo.

Currently, the only Law and Order still in production is the sex crimes version that I refuse to watch due to my long-held belief that sex crimes should not be considered entertainment (Yes, I realize that is a bit hypocritical since the majority of the shows I enjoy are crime-based, but my varying levels of hypocrisy are not the topic of this post, so we will have to revisit that another day). Since I didn’t want to give everyone with within earshot of my phone the impression that approve of that particular TV show, I decided I needed a new text alert sound.
And what better text alert sound could there be than Harry Potter shouting the all-important dementor-repelling spell at the top of his lungs?


Harry from Mindy Haws on Vimeo.

But as the title of this post implies, what seemed like a good idea while sitting in my parents' kitchen turned out to be a little embarrassing in other situations.


I know what you’re thinking.

You are thinking, “But Mindy… In what situations could Harry Potter shouting ‘Expecto Patronum!’ at high volume be embarrassing?”
Well, as it turns out, it is embarrassing in pretty much ANY situation where people other than junior high kidlets or my nephews are present.

But as embarrassing as it can be to have my phone shout spells in an emotionally charged voice while I sort books in the library, make copies at the institute building, or interview applicants for the two English positions at my school, I still haven't changed the text alert sound. I just can't do that to Harry. I mean, the poor guy has been through so much already. Banishing him from my phone becuase I happen to live in a muggle-rich envionment just seems selfish.

And while we are on the topic fictional characters to which I have developed an unhealthy attatchment...

I have become completly obsessed with the BBC's Sherlock, the best show in the history of television. Sure, there are far worse things to be obessed with (anything and on the E! network, for example) but my fascination with these modern-day retellings of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classics is wreaking havock on my summer. Buying the DVD's seemed like a good idea at the time, but now doing anything other than rewatching them seems like a colossal waste of time.
 
For example, my schedule last Wednesday looked like this...
5 a.m. Walk with Diane A.
6 a.m. Work on mission prep lesson
8 a.m. Water the Barker's garden
9 a.m. Aqua-Zumba!
11 a.m. Organize classroom file cabinet/rewrite lesson plans
1 p.m. Interview potential 8th grade English teachers
4 p.m. Sort books for library book sale
5 p.m. Finish mission prep lesson
7 p.m. Teach mission prep lesson
9 p.m. Download new ringtones
 
But what I wanted my schedule to look like was this...
Morning: Watch episodes of Sherlock
Mid-Morning: Watch episodes of Sherlock with commentary
Afternoon: Start e-mail campaign  to convice the BBC to make more than three episodes every 18-months.
Evening: Rewatch the end of episode #3 from season two over and over looking for more clues, while trying not to cry each time John begs his best friend to stop being dead.
Night: Download Sherlock ringtones (This, by the way, is the only item on this list that I actually accomplished that day)
 
You can see how that could be a problem, right?

I guess there is always the chance that I could injure myself setting up for the library book sale and have no choice but to recooperate on my couch while watching Sherlock over and over... But that would probably just result in another, "It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time" post.