French Kiss via cellphone

I never imagined that one day I'd be able to do video calls on the fly. It was always such an internet thing plus you would need a video camera hooked up to a computer and a high speed data connection.

Two weeks ago, I got 3G phones for me and my hubby. We tinkered with them a bit, learned to put in the data chips, agonized over setting up video streaming with a local channel and got used to the keypads. The one big wow we got out of the phones was the video calls. He's in Makati and I'm in Mandaluyong but we get to see each other over lunch. He just texts that he misses me and voila! We do a video call and see each other face-to-face. At first, it was a bit awkward with everyone in our respective offices hovering in the background. Also, when we said, "I love you" to each other, the whole world (well, all our officemates within hearing range) could hear and we got "I love you too's" from everyone in the background as well. But it's been great, lately, especially because I'm so "show and tell." I show him my lunch, my officemates, a website that I think is great, other people's food and pictures. He does a lot of body language and weird facial expressions to make me laugh. Once, he gave me a video kiss and then stuck out his tongue. I asked him what that was and he quipped, "That was my version of a french kiss." What a cutie.

In other countries, a lot of guys dread the advent of video calls. Now, their wives will be able to see where they really are. If they drop a video call, they immediately get suspected for hiding something. Well, at least that doesn't seem to be a problem for me and my husband. Well, I do realize now that I can't tell any white lies anymore like "Honey, I'm already at the elevator and I'm on my way down." And he can't say, "Honey, I've left the office already and I'm on my way to pick you up." But that's a little price to pay when I have the opportunity to not only hear his voice but see his face. I can already imagine how great it would be to call home and see my newly-born baby even if I'm in the office.

Right now, the price of video calls cost just as much as a local call. That's because there aren't too many users yet and the coverage is limited. I wonder how much it will be later on. Hopefully, not too expensive.

Wakefulness

I live for the cracks of sunshine in my life
in-between meetings and paperwork
when I get to sip hot berry tea
and taste the sweet-sour redness
of the fruit.
Maybe I'm supposed to be in Egypt
writing about the dusty sunsets
there.
Or inhaling the harvest of lavender
in Nice.
Maybe I sometimes slip past
my electronic calendar
and live somewhere else,
some other time,
some other life.

I take it with me,
I hope.
The spirit of places
that haunt me,
dreams.

I will live it
I will live it
I will take it with me
when I wake.