My Nokia 1100

Three years ago, my brother gave me a gift out of the fruit of his job as a bagger in Walter Mart. It was unusual! For one, I’m not used about my brother giving me something wholeheartedly and two, we constantly fight over our own needs, whether over food or pillows or school things or chores (and the long list goes on).

So one afternoon while sitting quietly in the sofa and he harshly handed to me a purple paper bag as he got inside the house, I was consciously trying to hide a smile upon realizing what’s inside.

My brother told me long before that if he already can, he would buy me a cellphone—while he would constantly ridicule me about my kind of lifestyle and the second-hand Nokia 3210 that I own. If you’re in my shoes, I think you’d be irritated, too. But you’ll be equally pleased when in exchange for that your brother would thoughtfully give you a brand new cellphone. In spite of the booming camera phones on the market back then, I felt that I got to be a notch higher with 1100 than with the bulky 3210 (though I enjoyed playing Snake and Memory Game in there). It was also my brother’s first gift to me (I think). So I felt that the price for that phone just got doubled than any other camera phones available.

Aside from the larger storage for messages and phonebook (as compared with my 3210), its built-in flashlight is equally useful! There are also two kinds of Snake games in it that you can battle with. My thank you to my brother was done in just a soft and abrupt manner, though my heart shouts with so much appreciation.

So there’s the story of my original 1100. If I wasn’t that forgetful and careless that I was able to keep my phone in safe places, I would have saved it from numerously falling that its LCD would not have given up. The backlights first waned away, and then I couldn’t see anything on the screen anymore, until finally I felt it just needed to retire from service. I had to remove my SIM card and find another phone for it to settle.

From my salary as a call center agent, I was able to buy a Samsung E250, which life didn’t last long as well because of its problematic slide design. I ended up phone-less. Then, as if it resurrected, my aunt gave me another phone, her Nokia 1100. I’m still enjoying it today though the keypad’s letters and numbers have already been erased. Its built-in flashlight is my helpful companion especially when I go home late at night because I could avoid the dogs’ poops that may be scattered somewhere in the neighborhood. I also don’t have to be overly cautious to bring it out in public places while I text or save my immediate ideas in the Drafts folder.

By the way, I’m still keeping my first, old and busted 1100. Why not have it repaired? Or for a more environment-friendly act, shoot it in the Nokia-gadgets bin located on the malls?

There are some things I cannot let go of just yet. Do you have that kind of sentiments, too, especially if you associate a certain thing with a person?