Thursday, October 18, 2007

wat was the foundin date of 1st church. do we need 2 print religion
from a 763 phone number, Monday, October 15, 10:33 PM

I wish I knew the answer so I could help this kid out, but sadly I don't even know what the 1st church is. Honestly, though: Isn't this what Wikipedia is for?
Got the message got the time did not get the airline dc
from an 808 phone number, Monday, October 15, 8:19 AM

I texted this person back and told him to re-send the text, but I hope he managed to do so before Leila was actually airborne. It sucks to be wandering around an airport, trying to figure out... was it American? USAir? Who knows?

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Omg leila im scarred now
from an 808 phone number, Sunday, October 14, 4:12 AM

Sometimes I'm jealous of other people. I believe that when other people receive texts at 4:12 AM on a Saturday night, those texts are pretty much guaranteed to be from their boy/girlfriends, texting to say, "hey baby im drunk an i love you so much xxx"

Other people never run the risk that their 4:12 AM messages will be Leila Texts from Hawaii (where the time difference means that it is not, in fact, 4:12 AM).

Other people have all the luck.
I think i pulled my groin mustle durin soccer
from a 310 phone number, Saturday, October 13, 10:32 PM

Sometimes, instead of sending a text like this to your friend Leila, you accidentally send it to me. And that is pretty much the 21st Century equivalent of "Smile! You're on Candid Camera!"
I love this! go bruins! u c l a ucla fight fight fight!!!!!!
from a 310 phone number, Friday, October 12, 11:39 PM

Once again, the Leila Texts teach me important things about sports. Apparently UCLA has a team called the Bruins. And apparently they are winning. This can turn out to be incredible conversational fodder.

"So, did you hear Tom Brady had a boy? And how 'bout them Bruins, eh?"

Honestly, with news sources like this, I don't know why I ever bother to read the paper.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Im going to hebrew school
from a 310 phone number, Monday, October 8, 9:39 PM

Oh, man, that sucks. I'm sorry. I have been in your boat, child, and it is no fun. Just keep your head down and eat a lot of kosher candy. That's all the advice I've got for you today.
It's Stephanie. For cleaning today key is under mat.
from a 203 phone number, Tuesday, October 9, 8:43 PM

Is Stephanie texting Leila with this information because Leila is Stephanie's house cleaner? I don't know many people close enough to their house cleaners to text them the location of their hidden house keys. My mother has house cleaners, but honestly I doubt she knows their cell phone numbers at all.

I wonder how much Stephanie pays Leila to clean her house. More or less than $85 per week, do you think? I should ask her and then use that information to reply to the 909 person from last month who wanted to know if $85 per week is good for a house cleaner. I think that would be a real service that I could provide.

Funny, isn't it, how many text messages revolve around house cleaning?
Where the address
from a 409 phone number, Tuesday, October 9, 2:23 PM

Um, 10 Elm St., some city in southeast Texas, right?

Well, okay, maybe not street number 10. Maybe not even Elm Street, either. But probably some city in southeast Texas. I looked it up.

Does that help you navigate any, 409 guy?
Good luck at practice
from a 646 phone number, Tuesday, October 9, 6:06 PM

What a sweet text message! Thank you! Thank you for your good luck wishes! (Again, unless you are a creepy ex who's just looking for any desperate excuse to send Leila a text message.)

I wonder what Leila practices. Soccer? Violin? Debate? I hope it's something cool. Like basket-weaving. Does one practice basket-weaving? Is that the terminology?
Dumb ass
from a 248 phone number, Wednesday, October 10, 11:04 AM

Maybe 248 thought Leila didn't respond because she was offended. Maybe when he sees her later, he'll be like, "Hey, sorry about the text I sent you earlier today. Obviously you're not a dumb ass. I was just kidding."

And she will say, "What?"
come here
from a 763 phone number, wednesday, October 10, 4:22 PM

No. Maybe. Where's 'here'?

Oh, wait, I just looked it up. Minnesota. Definitely no, then.

Monday, October 8, 2007

c Just poured 1 gal distilled h20 in fountain will need more tomorrow
from a 310 phone number, Sunday, October 7, 1:09 AM

This sounds like an intense science project. This obviously belongs in the "Materials" section of a lab report. As in:
Materials:
1 beaker
1 fountain
a centrifuge
1 gal. distilled H2O

However, I still don't understand what the "Method" section would be. Or, more to the point, the "Hypothesis." Because my working hypothesis right now is, "If I pour 1 gallon of distilled H2O in the fountain today, then I will need more tomorrow."
Hi
from an 805 phone number, Sunday, October 7, 11:06 PM

Shut up.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Cell 573**** I will have a car tomorrow so you dont need yours. I will take you home after
from an 801 phone number, Thursday, October 4, 11:46 PM

Obviously the text included the full phone number, but, as you know, I try to preserve the strangers' privacy when I can.

So... this sounds fun, doesn't it? Leila doesn't need her car because the 801 person will take her home after. But after what? That's the question. After a party? After apple-picking? After her court hearing? Isn't it existential to think that we will never know?
Call me after 3, ok?
from an 814 number, Friday, October 5, 10:34 PM

3? That's a pretty arbitrary time, don't you think, 814 guy?

Well, maybe Leila wouldn't think so. Maybe Leila knows that you have a meeting until 3. Or maybe you are an elementary school student and don't get home until 3. I guess Leila would know.

Personally, though, I want to know what the heck is so special about 3 that you can't receive calls before then. Picky, picky.
hey u just wanted to say hi
from a 909 phone number, Friday, October 5, 6:09 PM

As with the 949 person who asked Leila "how's skool" a few entries back, this text could either be really sweet or really annoying. It all depends what Leila's relationship is with the 909 guy. If it's a friend of hers who lives in a different state and they don't get to talk all that often, then it's nice of him to text just to say hi, just so she knows they're still friends.

On the other hand, if this is a boy with whom she once, a number of months ago, went out on a date, and she's been avoiding him ever since, and he's still texting to say, "hey u just wanted to say hi," then really he should just lay off. And had Leila received this text, as was intended, she would have turned to her friends and been like, "God, that guy is still texting me, and he has nothing to say, even; he can't even come up with a good pretense for texting me."

It's all a matter of perspective, is the point.


To ponder: Is a text message saying "hey u just wanted to say hi" better than those text messages that I constantly criticize that just say "hi"?
R u going to the hw game i am
from a 310 phone number, Friday, October 5, 7:33 PM

You know, a number of colleges have their homecoming games this weekend. (I learned this from my coworker Leslie, don't worry, it's not like I actually have any sense of when or what homecoming is.) Do you suppose "the hw game" is supposed to be "the homecoming game"? Or is that too much of a stretch?

In my experience, "hw" stands for "homework." But "R u going to the homework game i am"? No. That makes no sense. Homework is never a game.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

FWD: Men are like toilets. They're either dirty, unavailable, out-of-order, or FULL OF SHIT. If you agree, send to all of your girls.
from a 646 phone number, Tuesday, October 2, 5:50 PM

While I appreciate the "boys suck" sentiment, I honestly find this analogy to be a little factually inaccurate. Although some toilets are dirty, unavailable, out-of-order, or FULL OF SHIT, many toilets work fine. For example, today I used the toilet in my office. It was fine. Then I got home and used the toilet in my apartment. Also fine.

So men may still be like toilets, but at that point all you're saying is, "Men are like toilets. They're either dirty, unavailable, out-of-order, FULL OF SHIT, or-- and this happens most often-- perfectly normal and usable and fulfilling their purpose."

Sort of diminishes the statement's power, doesn't it?
MUAHHH!!!! I WANT ONE BACK! You've been blown a KISS. If u get 1-3 ur sweet, 4-6 adorable, 7-9 freaking hot! So start kissin!
.:.~%"LoU"%*~.:.

from a 928 phone number, Tuesday, October 2, 7:55 PM

I only got this one kiss, so I guess I'm just sweet. Which would really be a compliment, if I didn't know that the other two options were "adorable" and "freaking hot." Sweet doesn't sound so great any more, when compared with freaking hot. But I guess I take my compliments where I get them.

P.S. I have NO FUCKING CLUE what that random string of punctuation at the end of the text is. Is it supposed to look like a kiss, maybe? I don't know, maybe kisses do look like a string of colons and percentage signs. I mean, who's to say?
Bourne is awsome chicken is in the frig as of 12:30
from an 865 phone number, Tuesday, October 2, 6:18 PM

Ahem. This is where the PR people for The Bourne Identity are supposed to give me free CDs and liquor and stuff because I mentioned their movie in my blog, and that is good advertising. In fact, I not only mentioned it, I called it "awsome."

Go on, then. Show your gratitude. I'll accept even free Bourne clip-on earrings (if they exist). I am not picky.