Taking time out of studying to rant...

If there's one thing that I hate, that's my pet peeve, that PO's me a lot... it's prank callers/texters. It's annoying when I get them. It's like, "dude, I have a life, I have friends, good friends, I don't need any more!"

If it's prank texters, it's easy to ignore - just don't text back. Even if they give you missed calls or text, "why don't you reply? :(" or "please reply", I don't. I'm not shelling out 1 buck just to inform some person that I don't want to talk them or get to know them or anything like that. The fact that I'm snubbing them should be plenty words enough. Besides, during the few times I text back that I'm "not interested", about 50% of the time, I get back, "why not?" Yeesh.

And I also don't like people who text who are all, "I know you, guess who I am" blah-blah. I lose patience quite quickly. I mean, I'll text a few times, asking who they are, how did they get my number... but if no satisfactory answer is forthcoming ('satisfactory' does not necessarily mean their name), then I stop texting. I figure, if he/she is really a friend, then they'll know that I dislike all that.

I had this random texter person who was quite matyaga. He texted goodnight every night with an occasional good morning and how are you during the day. When prodded, he admitted that he got my number from a cousin and yet didn't know my name. I asked who the cousin was and he said it was just a cousin. So I said that if he got it from my cousin's phone then my name should be written on it so he doesn't have an excuse to not know my number. And if he really is as stupid as he says he is, that is, forgetting or not taking down my name, then how come he can't tell me the name of this fictitious cousin who supposedly knows me? So, yeah, snub away. He stopped after a while.

Then I got this text while in class from a classmate whose number I wasn't familiar with. I knew he was my classmate because he was saying what I was doing at that moment. I had a feeling I knew who it was, but since the number wasn't familiar, I wasn't sure whose phone he was using. After a few days, he came clean and told me he was using one of our classmate's phone - one I (and my friends) weren't familiar with. That was fine with me. I mean, I can take that - just tell me who you are, y'know? And at least, I am assured that I know you and that you know me and that this is just all a game we're playing.

But phone calls... especially here in my dorm? Ugh. See the ringtone, although set on 'low' is really quite loud, and my dorm's just a one room so-and-so square feet big. It jars you out of the deepest sleep you could possibly have. And some really annoying people call up at all hours of the night WHEN I HAVEN'T HAD A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP IN A WHILE. Or keep up half the night WHEN I HAVE AN EXAM THE NEXT DAY.

Do you detect the note of anger there? And I try so hard to hide it.

I had the misfortune - the very very VERY bad misfortune - of mistaking a caller as someone I knew (parang paos kasi, so I thought my friend was just sick). I got an inkling it wasn't anyone I knew when he kept asking what underwear I was wearing - ye gods, some sick jerk wants phone sex. When I finally got an inkling of what he was about, I hurriedly slammed the phone down. Then unplugged it. Then took a shower. Ganun pala yon. Iba talaga feeling na parang binastos na ewan. You feel unclean even if you've never laid eyes on the person, even if it's just a voice. After, I spent the rest of the night muttering blistering set-downs that I wish I had said to him before hanging up - all of them NEVER said in polite company.

There are some ~considerate~ callers who call during proper waking hours. They're better, but you know what would be best? If they didn't call. AT ALL. And they don't bug me so much because they usually stop after I hang up on them. But some just don't get it. When someone hangs up on you without even bothering to make convesation, it means that she's not interested. So lay off. The person you're nagging has a life. Sometimes, I just want to say, "Look, I know it's so sad that you've got no life, but just because you don't have a life and no friends who want to talk to you, doesn't mean that the rest of the world are losers like you. Get. A. Life. And don't bug me because not only do I have a life and enough friends to talk to, but I actually have responsibilities, aims, ambition, a goal to which I work for. My life has meaning." Of course, if I did say that, the caller would undoubtedly nag me until death because I had the nerve to insult him. And then, to piss me off, he might even spread my number around so more people would bug me to death.

I dunno if I want a caller ID or not because of all this. But wouldn't it be really annoying to spend money because of annoying strangers with no life? Sasama ata loob ko nun.

Very few people know my dorm phone number... and while it probably would be nice to just turn off the ringer, I can't take the chance that my friends, or even family (y'know, people whose phone call I actually look forward to) might actually call.

And while I rant and rave about these people, I have to admit that there was a time in my life I was one of them. Out of sheer boredom (usually summer months), I (alone or with a friend) would randomly dial a number in the hopes that they'd want to talk. Granted, we did it during proper waking hours and if the person wasn't interested, we sure as heck didn't bug him/her any further than one phone call. That's probably why I don't feel so pissed if someone calls during waking hours and stops after I hang up on them. Because that's fine. They were just testing the waters. I can take those.

But please, why do people call late at night or in the very early morning when majority of people are enjoying REM sleep? And why, oh why, do some people never stop at one phone call?!

Get a life, people, get a life!! Or better yet, get a job. That way, you won't be a blight on society.

Well. I feel better now.