It took me about 4 hours of being home to remember that I’m not nearly materialistic enough to be an American again. I’m living in the Stone Age here. I mean, I don’t even have a cell phone! And the car I drive is a piece of crap. In England, a young person can get away with not having a nice car. In fact, most young people don’t have them at all. I forgot that here, cars are such a status symbol that I can’t possibly pick up cute girls this fall without one.

And cell phones are just as bad. When I IMed my friends to tell them I was home and we should hang out, they wanted to know my cell phone number, and they complained about how I was too hard to get ahold of when I said I didn’t have one. To be fair, people are just as attached to their mobiles in the U.K. (maybe moreso), but none of the Carleton students had them, so it didn’t matter.

If I plan to do anything but sit at home all fall, I’d better do something about this. It’s time I get a cell phone. And much as I may want to turn off my phone all the time so no one can call me, I’d probably better just suck it up and take a zillion calls a day. In fact, I’m pretty sure that if I don’t become that guy that nobody likes that’s talking in the store/theater/car, no one will like me. Ah, the paradoxes of modern culture.

As for the car, there’s probably no hope for me. My dad’s car is on its last legs, and is currently entirely unsuitable for picking up friends, dates, or anyone really (read: the driver’s side door doesn’t open). He says he wants to replace it with a pickup truck, which isn’t likely to make me look much better. I’m not sure which is worse, going on dates in a Ford F-150 or a Dodge Caravan. And of course, I have no money for a car of my own. I think it’s time I get a motorcycle.

You know, for how much cheaper everything is here, being an American can be so expensive.

Posted on August 25th, 2004 by Lee
Filed under: Uncategorized