I was talking to someone the other day about when I first got a mobile phone. When they came out, most of us weren't interested. Why would we need one? We had telephones at home. What a contrast to under 16s this week in Australia lamenting about the government ban on social media. I'd give anything to go back to the days where we weren't connected 24/7 with algorithms teaching us how to think. Anyway, the reason I got the mobile - a Nokia - was because it came with a discman. I was far more interested in playing music than a phone. The Nokia had ten emoji and a game of Snake. It was pretty cool. Still, I didn't even take it away with me when I went travelling in Europe in 2001. They just weren't necessary to everyday life.
@tarazkp asked this week about other 'firsts'. I found it interesting enough to go on a little memory lane trip. Like him, I also grew up in Australia around the same time, though we grew up in adjacent states.
Getting drunk
I'm not sure. It was probably at the Blue Light disco, which was an underage disco at the Surf Club. We were too cool for that so would have been dropped off and then pretended to go in and then escaped to the sand dunes to drink goon (cask wine) and smoke bongs. Gross 🤢
First real kiss
Tongues?? What's a real kiss? First kiss was a boy called Malcolm who was a bit of a bogan. A thousand million kisses later, my first real kiss was with my soon to be husband when I was 30. Swoon.
First girl/boyfriend
Mark. He was cute and blonde and sang me 'First cut is the deepest' really loud on the school bus.
So embarrassing. We also listened to Talking Heads and went surfing.
First smoked
I was 14, at high school. We would crouch down in the girls loos with a view under the entrance partition for teachers shoes whereupon we would piff the smoking but into the toilet bowl where it would hiss like the devil and hide the evidence of our sins. We also smoked joints under the portables. I smoked with relish, moving from Winnie blues to Champion Ruby roll ups in the UK. Quit twenty years ago.
Getting a smartphone
An iPhone, 2004 I think? Not a significant a memory as my Nokia. I have had an Oppo X2 Find and will have it til it dies.
Getting a job
A health food shop, making smoothies, and a sandwich bar come fast food come ice cream shop, 13.
Getting ears pierced
Mum took me. Perhaps 13? Then it was garlic and a needle in the school toilets for the other four in each ear, two nose piercings as well. Makes me eyes water thinking of it. I only have one hole now and I've even taken out my belly piercing.
Losing virginity
Sixteen, to Joy Division.
Moving from home
18, but I came home a lot between rentals and travelling. I loved my parents and they were always welcoming and supportive.
Getting married
2004, after a year of being together. I never wanted to marry anyone but I took one look at Jamie and a voice in my head said 'shag him then marry him'. Three days later we decided to get married. That's a long time ago now. We still get excited to see each other after a few hours apart.
Fancy having fun with these questions? Go for it!
With Love,
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I loved this!! I thought it was Kurt Cobain when i saw the thumbnail xD Nice.I love these posts getting to know you a little more, and honestly, you and Jamie are, as the kids say these days, total #goals. ;)
Ha isn't it a cute pic? He assuredly doesn't look like that now!
The first iPhone came out in the summer of 2007, and I didn't see anyone else using it until the fall of 2007. When I first saw a guy swiping something on his phone, I was shocked. In 2008, I traded in my Motorola smartphone for an iPhone 3G.
I remember your Nokia, I was selling mobile phones back then. And my first mobile phone ran on 4 AA batteries :) When I took it out on the train, the whole carriage looked at me like I was an alien.
I couldn't for the life of me recall when I got an iPhone or even when they came out!!! Crazy how it really wasn't that long ago and now they own us!
Technological progress is so rapid. It's wonderful to see so many technological innovations in one lifetime. This was unattainable for people before the 19th century.
It is super cool. It's wild to remember anticipating new tech. I removed Jamie telling me about how movies would be online to rent and video/CD shops wouldn't exist. I couldn't wrap my head around it... And now we have streaming apps on our phones. Just wild.
Jamie is a true visionary!
I was sitting in a class with Nokia R&D a few years before the iPhone. I was teaching them English, but in one class I asked - what if they put a phone in an iPod? They laughed at me.
This laughter cost them dearly :)
Ahead of your time!!!
Funny, honest, and very human. The contrast between “firsts” back then and how things work now is both amusing and a little unsettling, lol
What unsettling things will we recall in another 20 years??
That's just so touching. Honestly, I've never seen a marriage that actually worked. I hope Jamie reads your blog.
He knows how much I love him. Honestly it's lovely, we divided to conquer shopping the other day and 15 minutes later I found him in an aisle and found myself smiling to see him. We do work at it though and we do also fight... We arent total freaks.
Ah bless! That gives me a touch of the warm and fuzzies. You're a lucky lady.
Reading your firsts really remind me of some memories!
Do tell!
My first kiss was at a Blue Light disco!
Tongue. Pecks don't count :P
It has been decades since I have heard "Winnie" that wasn't followed by "the Pooh."
So many rebels getting their piercings done with needle and garlic!
To the whole band? ;)
Great toy see you got the post out :)
Haha, when grammar matters! I'm not River Blue he he...
It was fun to write... Thanks for the inspo.
I didn't think much of mobiles or of the nokia. But then a few years after it came out, there was a big ice storm that knocked out power and phone service across the city. After that, I decided having a way to get in touch in emergencies might be a good idea and I got a flip phone. The coolest thing about it was the music and that we could set our ringtones to the first 10 secs of any song we bought. How far we've come!
Oh my God yes I remember that!!! Paying for ringtones... Funny how you can't remember when certain things just fizzle out like that.
In 1982 there was a catastrophic bushfire on this coast. Dad had taken my sister and I to the beach (an hour from where we lived in Melbourne at the rime... I was 10 and my sister was 8) as it was so hot - I remember burning him leaves falling around us from the fires some thirty km away. We had tea at my uncle's house who by then has already moved there. As we were driving home the evacuation order came out on the radio so we turned back to telly uncle who we knew had gone to bed, and we couldn't call of course as no mobile. My mum was beside herself as she was listening to the radio in Melbourne about the fires and had no idea how close we were to them or indeed where we were , because NO MOBILE PHONES. So yes, though they drive us nuts as well, they are useful in emergencies!
Oh and hey... Nice to see a comment from you ;) ;)