Aspies For Freedom

I bought a new mobile phone today. Its a Samsung E330 which is a very nice lightweight silver flip-phone with a built-in camera, WAP, and Java games. The main reason why I bought it is because the ringtones sound louder and clearer than my old phone.

I'm still keeping my old phone so that I can take it to most places and not having to worry about my new one getting stolen. I will use my new Samsung phone for special occasions and home use.

Does anyone else have mobile phones/cellphones and do they use them for anything other than calling?

I have one, but I don't use it much. My parents got it for me because they rarely know where I am. I hate talking on the phone unless I am alone in my room, and it's a frend, so I mostly just send SMS messages from it.

I have one, but I use it for the radio and emergencies. So I checked other. Right now it can't make calls, but I don't care.

I have a nice one, but it's on 3G services, which has an awful lame spending deal which doesn't work for me.

I don't want to go on 3 either. They are 3G based and very limited for content, just like AOL before that was integrated into the internet.

I have one just for emergencies. I take it along when going on long drives, and when driving in the winter. Once in the winter, when driving with five children in the van I hit sheer ice, and slid into the opposite ditch in an isolated area (fortunately, the footboard kept us upright on the deep snow). We sat there for three hours before a tow truck happened by (there were cars in ditches all over the place, several people got killed that night).

After that, driving in slick conditions has always scared me to death. That's why my husband finally gave me a cell phone three years ago for Christmas. But everybody who goes on long drives uses it.

We  have only the emergency plan (which is the cheapest one), because I wouldn't use it other than for emergencies anyway. It is never turned on, because I would hate it if people would actually call me while driving or being somewhere. Nobody even knows the number.

I have a mobile sitting at home with dead batteries and probably lost the number from not turning it on in months.
I checked other because i do have a phone but don't use it.

Actually, that is something I forgot to mention (probably the phone took this fear away, so I don't think much about it any more). I get lost very, very easily. When I am lost I get upset and confused and often don't know what to do. So, I will call either whoever I was going to visit, or my husband. Most of the time I just need them to calm me down so I can think again, to figure out what to do. It's worst when it is dark, as I am afraid of the dark. Plus, you can't see very far in the dark, and things just seem to be closing in around me.

Mind you, after finding out about AS, I realized that I am not just crazy, and that I can overcome this problem (to a degree). Now, when I know I am going somewhere unfamiliar, I make my own directions. The problem in many cases of getting lost was, following somebody else's directions. And they seem to just imply things, or assume too much (omitting details that to them are obvious). Or they would say: Go North (or whatever direction), instead of left or right. But if you have a poor sense of direction and don't know where north is, you've got a problem.

So, now the night before going anywhere I get out my maps, and I map the best route and write it down in large letters (so I can read it without reading glasses) and in great detail. That works when there are no detours. I still get lost and might need to call if anything is different (and detours are different and often very confusing). But often I just stop somewhere safe and get out my trusty maps, find where I am and where I need to go to find my way again.

But I don't do city driving, I am hopeless in big cities. I am talking here about country driving (like the six-hour-trip to Ottawa to see our oldest daughter and her family), or any of the other places our kids are. If I'd try to drive into Toronto, no phone would help, I'd end up in tears anyway. So, I just go to the subway station on the outskirts and take public transportation to wherever I am going.

This may be off-topic but have you thought about getting GPS Uschi?

No, not really, I know those are quite expensive. I haven't really looked into how those work, maybe I should and decide if I want one. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks, Noetic, I'll keep it in mind and will let you know if and when I want one.

I have a Motorola C350 on Vodafone and a Samsung SGH-E330 on O2, and I can make ringtones on both. The Samsung is the best for making ringtones because its got an FM Synthesizer.

Which phones do you all have?

I have a mobile but I don't have a landline in my flat. It's a Nokia. I chose a polyphonic ringtone called "Fantasie" in its gallery: it's actually Chopin's Impromptu Piano Fantasie in C# minor.

My dad's programmed his mobile so that it will play a different tune for different members of the family. For me he chose the Cat from Peter and the Wolf (as he plays the clarinet it has a personal significance for him); the other family members are represented by some of Schubert's Lieder. I suggested that he extend the Schubert theme by having me represented by Heidenröslein, as I'm the rose between two thorns (meaning I have an older and a younger brother).

I've often thought it would be cool if my mobile would play a different ringtone depending on the type of call. So if it were chit-chat it would play the Tritsch-Tratsch Polka and if it were something serious it would play Dies Irae from Mozart's Requiem.

What are your favourite tunes of all time?

Not all tunes will sound good transposed to a mobile-phone jingle. Allegri's Miserere, oh God, please no!