Task: Describe a common object without actually naming it!

When I had my first one, it was one of these really old-fashioned models. It didn't run on batteries or any other form of electric power, but instead it had to be wounded up regularly, and then it started this silent, but steady ticking. Whenever I wanted to set it, I had to turn these tiny gears on the back. Wasn't easy, the gears were as tiny as they were stubborn, and sometimes I had to use a pen to get them moving.

Still, it was a useful piece to have. Once in my childhood I woke up in the middle of the night and started watching TV, and the strange and funny things that I watched there - some that my parents really didn't appreciate - fascinated me so much that I wanted to do that some time again, and this little ticking thing helped me achieve this.

Throughout the high school years I had replaced it with one that had a digital display instead of arms, and it didn't have this noisy bell anymore that woke the entire house instead of just me, but an electronic beep. That one ran on batteries - they told me in the store that the batteries should be changed once a year, but I found out that it could even run on the same batteries for two years or more before it showed first signs of fatigue. And it was irreplaceable for getting up early enough to go to school. The downside: Even the beep became obnoxious after a while. I actually started to develop some sort of phobia for it. At least I was happy about every morning when I would manage to wake myself up before it went off.

And now? I don't have it anymore. My smartphone does the trick, it has one built in. And I even can choose what sound or music it plays when it goes off.