I Suck At Talking On The Phone

On Monday, I did something that I have not done in quite some time: I had a conversation on the phone. I generally suck at talking on the phone. In fact, I hardly use the phone to speak with anyone anymore. The only times that I use the phone now are when people call, like my mother.

Yes, I know. I'm a terrible son and friend because I don't usually call anyone. That whole "Keep in touch" line that is a staple of high school yearbook signings has been lost on me.

I wasn't always like that. Growing up, I used the phone all the time because back then the phone was the only means to keep in touch with your friends. And when you're a kid, using the phone to endlessly chat with your friends, who you would see the next day, did not seem like such an oddity.

I remember talking to my friend (Aimee) for hours. I use the word "talk" lightly. Aimee and I used to have conversations of silence... or so I would joke. Again, I was young and keeping in touch with friends seemed like it was life and death back then. So being on the phone for hours did not see unusual. Unfortunately, life gets more complicated.

And for anyone curious, to show how old I am... I would still prefer using the phone over texting if given the option. I would prefer to hear the voice of the person I was contacting. Yes, I know. I'm old. And if you think about it, in terms of efficiency, calling someone takes a lot less time than sending a text, especially if you are waiting for an immediate response.

Needless to say, I was quite surprised on Monday to actually use the phone on Monday. My BFF (Kerry) had called and we simply just talked for awhile. It was great. Granted we did not talk about anything in particular. For me, it just reminded me of the past when I used to talk on the phone a lot.

Among the things that Kerry and I discussed was the upcoming photo scavenger hunt that I am an organizing. She had a question in terms of camera use. This Saturday will be the third scavenger hunt that I am organizing. So, I have been making tweaks here and there, a result of feedback based on previous scavenger hunts.

This year, I added an option for teams to have an additional member designated as the photographer. There were suggestions to have that option because taking team pictures proved to be difficult for some as all of the members of the team were required to be in the picture. Hence, the photographer.

Anyway, having the photographer would make those team pictures easier. Based on that, however, the question of camera use came up from Kerry. She was curious if the team could then split up, use different cameras, and take pictures for the scavenger hunt. Efficient? Yes. In the spirit of things? No.

One of the reasons I had started the photo scavenger hunt a few years ago was to simply have a day where you can spend together with your friends. Granted, the team would be working toward the same goal of taking pictures for the scavenger hunt and splitting up would allow for possibly more pictures. By splitting up, however, I thought the action was not really in the true spirit of what I had originally envisioned for the hunt. Plus, with the addition of having a person designated as a photographer, it made no logical sense to allow for teams to split up.

Consequently, I decided that the team had to use the same camera. In essence, the photographer had to take all of the pictures. Why else have a person designated as a photographer? Sure, it's a work in progress still. Should I organize another scavenger hunt for next year, perhaps I'll change things again and do away with the photographer altogether. Who knows? You can't please everyone. The only thing as an organizer that I can do is try to accommodate the majority of the participants.

Anyway, I thought it was a good discussion with Kerry. I'm glad she called. It was fun. Plus, I'm glad she brought up the whole camera thing because I probably would not have thought of it otherwise. I just want people to have fun on Saturday. If that is achieved, then I'm happy.

And Kerry would probably be happy to know that Karen and I did not go without her again to Not Your Average Joe's for dinner that night. Karen and I actually ended up at Bertucci's in Hingham for dinner. Yum! Bertucci rolls! It was a good night.