Thursday, January 22, 2015

good news, first of its kind

I am on the phone with Erik from Apple and I see Alexander's number pop up on my caller ID.  This never happens.  Well, not often.

To reach Alexander, I need to text him first and ask him to call. I have learned that my unannounced calls will be ignored. I have reluctantly come to accept this.  So I need to text my son and ask him to call, and then he will.  But the time between text and call back is inversely proportionate to my needs.

"Call me," for example, is sufficiently vague to suggest a relaxed response.  But my son knows that this means there is something I really want to talk with him about, so a text like this usually takes additional clarifying texts.

Something more pointed, as in, "Call me.  Did you follow-up with your $90 refund from Short Line Bus?" could be ignored entirely.  Especially when the answer is — a very likely no.

But if I write, "Hey, what do you think of Deflation-gate?  Call me." Then I expect a quick response. Maybe even immediate.  

Same with, "I just watched Magnolia.  You were right, great movie. I have a question on it.  Call me."  This too will result in a very fast call back.  Although sometimes he gets suspicious and thinks of this kind of text as a ruse to get him to call me faster. He'll call me, but preface the call with,  "This better be why you wanted me to call."

But an unsolicited call from Alexander?  Very rare.  So when it happens today, I even put Erik from Apple on hold.

"Hi.  I can't talk.  I'm on the phone with Apple.  Let me call you right back."

My son ignores this and begins talking as If I've just said, "Hi.  What's up?"

"I got my grade." He's referring to the 3-credit, two-week course he just completed on Green World Blue Planet.  "I got a B+."

"Great," I say. 

"No, I'm just kidding.  I got an A+."

Since Alexander has been at Cornell, I have never gotten a call like this.  I'm thrilled.  He tells me his GPA will now increase by .05 points.

I wonder if instead of enrolling during Fall and Spring semesters, Alexander should have just taken classes during summer and winter breaks. There would be no distractions and an empty campus. Probably wouldn't have been much fun, but he'd have an enviable GPA.


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