worst. night. ever.

I exaggerate a lot. I admit it. But truly, honestly, from the bottom of my heart. This was the worst night ever.

I must start at the beginning. Today was a fine day - more Czech class, and afterwards I went and had my cell phone from home unlocked (the used phone I had bought was great...I just couldn't hear anyone when they called me). With my phone unlocked, I began the trek back home and ran into Evan W in the metro. He turned me around, and we went to a thrift shop in the center of town that he had heard was the best in Prague.

He had heard right, the place was awesome. I'm not much for thrifting because nothing fits me, but I still like seeing places like this. I bought a few ties (so sweet) and a scarf (best buy of the day), and Evan spent 480Kc ($24) on several shirts, 5 ties, a vest, a cardigan, and a plaid suit. Definitely legit place.

Tomorrow, we meet at 8:30am for our day trip, so I wasn't exactly looking to go nuts tonight. But hey, I'm social. I don't need sleep! I'll go out for a bit, catch a few hours, and be a little tired tomorrow, no prob. Everyone else was going out anyways.

So I had dinner at home (goulash, followed by pancakes with jam. heaven) and waited till about 8 before trying to get ahold of anyone. For a change, no one was committing to anything, and finally I just decided to head to Evan's apartment and figure out what was up from there. This was at 9:30.

It's tough to tell when I started to get the feeling that tonight wasn't going to be the best. Maybe it was the realization that this phone, too, has issues (I can receive calls but can't make them, and it loses signal for absolutely no reason). Maybe it was a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I was tired and shouldn't go anywhere for the night. But I really really wanted to wear one of those ties. And hey, I'm a sociable guy, I'll wake up once I see some people.

I made the trek down to the tram, all the while attempting to text Evan that I was on my way. "Sending..." the phone said...and then it failed to deliver the message. I sent again. Five minutes rolls by. It sends. I board the tram, no problem. As I'm getting off again, it's about 10pm, and I text Evan again for directions to his apartment...I waited for it to send...it failed...I sent again and waited...success! (this seems tedious, but it's important) His reply: "go south 2 blocks and turn right on Lozarka. and by right I mean left."

I walked. It snowed. The wind blew. My face froze. Knowing how long it took to send a text message, and that it would probably fail on the first attempt, I quickly texted back "Which building"and waited. Failed. Try again. Failed. Again. Failed. By this time I had walked almost to the previous tram stop. I started to walk back to where I began, looking for the street and trying to send this damn text all the while. This was great; I had a phone that could neither make calls nor receive nor send text messages. Wind. Snow. Cold.

As comedic irony slowly turned into bullshit, and 10:30 turned to 10:45, I began to entertain the thought of just going back home to a cup of tea and a warm bed. And here, my friendly readers, here is where my phone started to mock me. Because when all hope was lost, when I had returned to my starting point and tried walking the other way for a block, I turned the phone off and back on, and found signal again! A quick text message (it worked!), and a short wait for a reply meant another trip the way I had come (howling wind. really literally howling, I've never heard anything like it)...and I found the street! Surely this was it, the payoff for all my hard work! The building would be obvious, or else he would have told me which one it was.

There were two apartment buildings on the street. Neither had a recognizable name on its outside buzzer. I pulled out the phone to tell him I was outside, and was astonished to find...there was no signal. I tried texting. Failed. Again. Failed. I turned the phone off. on. off. on. off. on. off.

...back at the tram stop, as I waited for the tram to come and take me home, I took off the cell phone's back cover, removed the battery, took out the SIM card. Then I turned around and, in a magnificent heaving motion, chucked the phone into the Vltava river.

Ok, no, but I seriously considered it and it sounded super dramatic. It's interesting how much my life depends on technology. Not neccesarliy a good thing (look what just happened to me), but something I have to deal with all the same. I'm getting a new (brand new, not used) phone on Monday, because this is truly ridiculous.