Future Me: December 7, 2018

Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by Joshua Yaw Frimpong Barimah in Future Me

Dear Diary,

First of all, I see no point in writing in a diary, but with the events that I have undergone today, I think I’ll give it a try.My therapist suggested it some time back and he says it is a good way of de-stressing. I tend to get easily agitated and he thinks writing down my daily experience will help me get everything out (as if), but I guess it can’t be helped.

Okay, so the day started out with me being very nervous. I had to check and recheck that everything was in place for tonight, I mean, I was gonna meet this lovely girl for the first time; Willemina. It’s interesting how we met, I must say. How many people can get a VoIP address mixed up…I wonder, but that’s for later. Long story short, we’ve been talking for about a month and today was gonna be the D-day we get to see each other for real.

I had done my homework, the plan was to get her to the mall for an ice-cream, take her to a private cinema for an in-movie, take her home (so I could know where she lives, smart huh?), and maybe, possibly, you know get some’n some’n on the side.

Due to the current project I was working on, my phone had been off the hook like a call center. Before I realized it had almost run out of juice, so I called Willemina and gave her directions to my office. As if that wasn’t bad enough, as soon as she got there my Project Manager came in with his bossy attitude telling me  about how the data porting of the website needs to be looked at . One whole hour passed before I was able to get off work.

Now this where things really got out of hand; thinking about it makes me laugh. I pulled out of the office in my Toyota hydrogen car (I had sworn I’ll never buy one of those, but here I am). We started out with a nice conversation with the little interruptions of calls and wayside vendors trying to sell us ‘authentic’ African items. We got to the traffic light, and the traffic began to grow. Just when the light turned green, my car jolted to a halt not to start again. I tried and tried but it won’t budge. Patient like a lady, she waited for me to finish with my bullish prance of anguish and suggested we call the toll service so they come for the car. Red faced, I agreed, but before i could start the process my phone died on me.

Calm and collected she offered her phone (what a lady), she even teased me a bit so that I could relax on the whole issue. I took her phone and called the toll service. As usual I had to wait to get the confirmation of a system plug-in before I hooked up the phone to the car navigator system. Quite a brilliant invention I must add. The navigator acts as an error tracking system.

Funny story, I was with a friend one time on the motorway and we realized that if the car is to break down there wouldn’t it be cool to be able to send information about the breakdown to a towing service, like AAA in the UK so that they just come and fix it. We left the matter at that. Ten years later this dude comes out with this system without even mentioning me in it. It was pretty simple, taking into account what was happening with the navigation systems in cars way back in 2008, where they could give you information on your mileage, suspension, ABS, the list goes on, so it wasn’t that impossible to  adopt this technology.

Oh I’m getting off-track again. Back to the topic; so I download the info and send it across, get the confirmation and then I’m asked to enter my E-zwich pin for mobile transfer. Another fascinating technology that started in Ghana, I mean, the E-zwich tech, many thought it won’t work but much to our surprise when the size of the card read was reduced many people started using it. It was quick, no fuss and you needed both a pin and fingerprint before any funds could be transferred, plus you could choose which bank you wanted to transfer the funds from as the card automatically updates itself on which banks you have funds in.

Anyways so I did and we decided to walk to the mall so we could get to talk some more…oh! Willemina! We got to the mall and got the ice-cream. As if with indignation the waitress took my card, inserted it into the card reader and I went through the ritual of verifying the card and the bank I usually withdraw funds from.

For a moment I thought she was gonna give me my receipt and then she said, “Excuse me sir, but it seems you have no funds in your account”. What! That was a shocker. Willemina immediately offered to pay but I wouldn’t let her. I chose another bank from my card and fortunately there were funds in there.

Very soon I had forgotten about that incident as she engaged me in a thrilling and a very suggestive conversation. We finished our ice-cream and headed off for a place called Living Room for the in-movie. Come to think of it, that place is old. Anyways we got there, got ourselves a room and got comfy. After ordering some drinks we turned on the TV and scrolled through the brochure channel to see which movies were streaming online.

We settled on X-men Redemption (I still can’t believe that they kept on making X-men, not that I’m complaining) and I slotted in my E-zwich card, chose the bank and punched in my pin along with my fingerprint. Willemina looked very astonished for no apparent reason, and I asked her why. “I’m sure you remember the pin for each bank you save at. I can’t so I use the same pin for all of them.” I laughed, cos I couldn’t agree more.” I know it’s not safe, but I also do the same thing, I can’t afford to waste precious brain power just memorizing numbers.” She laughed at my response and etched closer to me.

I could feel the connection between us growing between us. There was a moment of silence, and then she cleared her throat and said, “Oh, uhm, could you please get me so ice for my drink?” “Certainly” I answered, and I was off. I came back with the ice and we settled in to watch the movie.

She would sip her drink, laugh, hold me, I mean, everything that was screaming “AFTER PARTY” if you catch my drift. I didn’t want to drink much so I just took a few swigs. We were enjoying ourselves but I suddenly started feeling sleepy. Next thing I knew, the movie was done, the drinks were finished and Willemina had disappeared. The only thing I had was a murderous headache constantly reminding me of the weirdness of my situation.

I got out and went to the bar.”Oh, sir, you’re up. The lovely lady said not to bother you, she paid for as long as you might be in the room.” Said the bartender. I still was a bit dizzy but I pulled out my wallet to pay for the ice but he told me that Willemina had paid for that too and that she was very generous.

But one thing I realized from me bringing out my wallet was that my E-zwich card was missing. Did she…

(To Be Continued)

Related posts:

  1. Is E-zwich internet payments ready?
  2. Fraud. Is it a valid excuse for banks not embracing online payments?
  3. Month of Electronic Payments: Zap by Zain
  4. Month of Electronic Payments: MTN MobileMoney

Tags: , ,

10 Responses to “Future Me: December 7, 2018”

  1. Name

    14. Dec, 2009

    Interesting piece. I like the blend of personal emotions and serious explanation of events and gadgets, I want to know what happens next…..

    Reply to this comment
  2. Name julz

    14. Dec, 2009

    Interesting piece. I like your style of writing. The blend of emotions and vivid description of events and gadgets is commendable. The flash backs are a bit too lengthy though. I would love to know what happens next…..

    Reply to this comment
    • Tryongliph

      14. Dec, 2009

      Thank you julz. Will do more with the advise. I'm glad you enjoyed the piece but what do you think of the E-zwich capabilities in that period? Do you think they are feasible?

      Reply to this comment
  3. DarkChild

    16. Dec, 2009

    I really enjoyed reading this. I like the way you write. Can't wait to read the next installment…I'm a fan!

    Reply to this comment
  4. kofi

    17. Dec, 2009

    Really creative writing man… Masashi Kishimoto should come for titbits from ya. Keep it up bro…

    Reply to this comment
  5. abena

    24. Feb, 2010

    I must say I am impressed with the mix of controlled drama, IT knowledge and a touch of suspense…You should write a book…trust me.

    Reply to this comment
    • just2izy

      24. Feb, 2010

      Yes we think he's good too? Are you a writer yourself? We are always lookin for talent in other topic areas.

      Reply to this comment

Leave a Reply