Memories I am afraid I'll forget

Day 56, Being alone, friends and my iPhone story

I love being alone. I am an only child, so I am most comfortable when being alone. At least I was, for a long time. Since in California, I love company more than solitude. However, since I lost my friend, I loved being alone once again just a bit more. I was angry, hurting and maybe hurting others, too. I just shut off from the chatty happy world. I did not need it, neither did I feel I deserved it. But life is slowly getting its way back, creeping back into my days. I even dare to be happy more often than not.

It's been good to just be by myself, a state that so many people are afraid of, I cannot understand why. If you are afraid to be by yourself, then you should definitely be by yourself for some days. You might be surprised what you would discover! Anyways. I have had enough, I now needed excitement and people around me once again.

In a situation like this, you eventually turn to exciting plans, events, and friends. Thank God we are going to Seattle at the weekend! I'm looking forward to hostel fun and Seattle rain (ok, kidding, not the rain). And then my people came to my mind. Who are my people really? My parents, yes. My hubby, yes. But people you call friends are my extended family. I realized that I had spent some parts of the last couple of days thinking about my friend circle. Who is reaching out to me, who is not. Painful enough, I now had one good friend less. Therefore, I think I got to appreciate those who are still around.

I have never had many friends. Actually, I get on well with most people, but I have a handful of very good friends only. Handful meaning 3-4 max. With them, I can share all my personal feelings, emotions, and pour my heart out in the belief that they would understand and love me no matter what. I lost one of those people, but I might have just gained another one. An ugly balance I had never wished for. This other one might not know this just yet, but now is considered a friend. We'll see. I am often wrong.

On a much less deep note: I got my new phone today. Just as I was having an interview, I was multitasking – you caught me. We were having a great conversation, but my interviewee answered a single question of mine for 5 minutes. That is what we call a great interviewee! From research perspectives, at least. But from other perspectives, my brainpower was not maximized, it needed more tasks. I was browsing the internet when I hit refresh on the Apple webpage (yes, I had it open for several days now – how desperate I was, hilarious!). And there it was.

My shiny new phone, with a bit more memory than I needed, but I guess once Apple becomes Hermés, you just take what you get offered. (This line of thought would worth a separate research article though.) Getting the latest iPhone was literally impossible at this time of the year. Everyone was watching the webpage closely, or circling the shops as hawks if they suspected new inventory shipping in. The new phone is like a holy grail you needed to get instantly. So, let's just say that I, when getting glimpse of available phones to pick up TODAY!!! in stock, while still conducting the interview, made the quickest online purchase I had ever done, so that I could pick my phone up in 3 hours in Palo Alto. This was, once again, something like hitting the jackpot. Or so I thought. Now I understand the myth around Hermés, the most prestigious and highest-end leather manufacturer in the world (check out their bags, they are art, pure art).

Shopping your new phone in Palo Alto sounds just as it is, very Silicon Valley-ish, though.

Shaking with excitement (now positively, for a change), I finished the interview and got to my confirmation email. I am sorry in advance, but I'll write down my whole Apple experience here. If you are not interested in extremely shallow story parts (especially compared to the deeper thoughts before), this is the one you need to skip.

There it was, among my emails, my appointment for today. I had to get my phone at 5:30PM, so I needed to get going, as Palo Alto was at least an hour away without car, and without heavy traffic by bus. To be on the safe side, I called the store to ask for a confirmation. The lovely lady advised me to wait for the email with a QR code, but all things considered, I should be able to pick up my phone at the given time. I got my stuff together, took the bus and was riding it happily to Palo Alto. By the time I was on the bus, I got the QR code in a message, so now I had my Apple ticket in my wallet.

I arrived early, as always. Almost 1 hour earlier. I thought why not risk it and ask if my phone was available for pickup, so I went in. I desperately need to write about customer service here in the US. It really is an amazing experience for customers here, locals might just simply call normal. Right at the entrance, this smiley guy greeted me and asked if he could help. He scanned my QR code and started chatting with me about my new purchase. We shared stories and he told me somewhat shamefully that he told his friends that there would be no shipments today, and yet there they were, the new phones! He noted down my attire, blue jacket, and brown backpack (this I found extremely strange) and told me to wait, and somebody will be with me shortly. I wandered off and just started browsing phone cases when somebody was looking for me. Anita? That was me. This another nice guy told me that here was my phone, all nice and shiny in this cute small bag he just handed over to me, no questions asked. And there I was with my new purchase. It felt so weird yet the whole process was so smooth. I loved it.

Then I went back to case shopping. I knew I was going for the deep green one, but I needed to check my options. Yes, deep green it was. Then I grabbed a screen protector, too and went to the check out desk. A nice shop assistant helped me pick the right screen protector and he even applied it for me. The first one had a small bump, so he immediately offered a replacement, which I gracefully (a.k.a. of course desperately) took. The whole experience was beyond anything I had ever imagined. I really felt like this is a customer experience you need to provide or receive, no matter which end you are at.

Taking a quick pic of my new purchase then hiding it in my backpack, I made my way back to the station and took the bus home. I knew I had a long night ahead of me, setting up the new phone. This went even smoother than I expected, as Apple really made data transfer fool-proof on the iPhones. I was no fool (I believe), but it was extremely easy. So, by bedtime, I had a fully functioning, almost total copy (except the 11k photos) of my previous phone, except that it was way bigger, heavier, faster, and had much better screen quality (and many more I cannot even enlist). I switched from a regular 11 to 14 pro max. I could instantly feel the difference.

Told you this part would be shallow, but I guess deeper topics are not always easy to write about, so this was something lighter and for me, a happy story in the end.

Hubby update: I told him we are getting him a new phone too once he arrives, as he needs to experience this customer service. I also needed some consolation now that I spent an arm and a leg on this phone, courtesy of Fulbright.

20 October 2022