Photo Finish
A recent email exchange between me and my friend Jessica, who has recently returned from a trip to Iceland:
=== 1 ===
From: Jessica
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 3:30 PM
To: Dennis!
Subject: are we on for tonite?
=== 2 ===
From: Dennis!
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 3:46 PM
To: Jessica
Subject: RE: are we on for tonite?
dinner tonight? sure. where and what time? i have to meet someone for drinks at around 9.
=== 3 ===
From: Jessica
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 3:47 PM
To: Dennis!
Subject: RE: are we on for tonite?
6:30 -- don't care where -- any suggestions?
=== 4 ===
From: Dennis!
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 3:53 PM
To: Jessica
Subject: RE: are we on for tonite?
Did you like Sala Thai? Cloud had some decent tapas. And, though it's not as fancy, I am becoming a fan of Baja Fresh.
=== 5 ===
From: Jessica
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 4:22 PM
To: Dennis!
Subject: RE: are we on for tonite?
i could eat thai -- you know that i don't think tapas is enough food. i do love baja -- but let's go for better atmosphere.
=== 6 ===
From: Dennis!
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 4:37 PM
To: Jessica
Subject: RE: are we on for tonite?
let's go with sala thai then. 6.30. see you there. bring pictures.
=== 7 ===
From: Jessica
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 4:38 PM
To: Dennis!
Subject: RE: are we on for tonite?
cool. don't have pictures at work -- you have to ask in advance!
=== 8 ===
From: Dennis!
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 4:54 PM
To: Jessica
Subject: RE: are we on for tonite?
isn't that how this dinner date came about in the first place?
me: "oh my god, you totally have to show me pictures!"
you: "oh, we can have dinner and i can show you pictures. i have TONS of pictures."
me: "okay, sounds great. i'm SO jealous. can't wait to see the pictures! i'm sure they're beautiful!"
=== 9 ===
From: Jessica
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 5:02 PM
To: Dennis!
Subject: RE: are we on for tonite?
i have no memory lately. do you still want to have dinner? i can describe the pictures.
Dinner went fine, even without the pictures, or even descriptions of them.
4 comments:
When I first started reading this, I thought you were text messaging, then double checked, and you said e-mail. I heard on the news the other day a study done on freshmen in college and things they do, or have awareness of: the purpose of the study is to make you feel old; for example, none of them have knowledge of eating a meal on an airplane. One thing it said was that they predominantly text message each other, rather than speak to each other on the telephone or e-mail each other, and I guess my point is that we seem to be moving in society toward that "remove" in our communications. Chat rooms give way to blogs. Instant messaging gives way to texting. Yesterday, a friend of mine told me his neighbor on Capitol Hill text messaged him, asking if he could borrow his hedge clippers, rather than knocking on the door.
Well clearly you know how I feel about texting! Actually all in all, I far prefer text messaging when communicating with friends. It's a time saver to me. I don't need to carry on a convo to ask what time we're meeting at the bar. That said, when you're having an important discussion, one should always call.
It is interesting to me that texting is such a phenom. I also heard the other day that the kids entering high school today have never owned/bought or listened to cassette tapes. They also have never not had a computer at home.
Personally I am not a fan of texting. Guess I'm just old. That and I don't really care for having to this the "3" key three times to get the letter C. Oh, and up until last month I didn't have a plan which included texting, so I had to pay extra for every message. Not much, but still, I'd deliberately make my texts long for cost efficiency, and I'd get annoyed when friends texted me one-liners like "OK."
I have never owned a turntable or a vinyl record in my life. Guess that's the analogy to the cassette tape (which I still have a box full of). I even still have some 8-tracks, though I have no machine to play them on.
And texting one's neighbor about hedge shears is retarded. If you're borrowing them, I presume you're going to walk over to get them anyway. Otherwise, asking to borrow something then assuming that it'll be walked over to you is presumptuous.
I'm not a fan of texting for the same reason that you mentioned. It just takes to much time (not to mention that I can't figure out how to turn off my predictive text, so everything comes out really really weird).
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