sms

Have you ever sent an SMS to a person and then think for a few seconds and then open up the message that you have sent to check if the words came out right? I have a habit of doing that sometimes especially when I feel like I have not been really paying attention to what I was writing.

I learned how to do this from the first time I got a mobile phone which was in Form 4 or 5. I got a Nokia 3310 which is legendarily hardy and extremely user-friendly. All you need were the 'Cancel', 'Left', 'Right' and a central main button to work all its functions. I could type my message while watching TV and at the same time think about something not related to what I was watching. I could even be replying a message halfway through my sleep and then not remember about it. Sometimes people call me when I'm asleep and I would reply like I was really thinking but then I won't remember what I said when I wake up the next morning. Therefore, sometimes I too wish our conversations on the phone could be recorded each time so that I could listen to it again to see if I said anything... I was not supposed to say. It's like how I read my sent messages.

I don't just read it from where I have written the message under "Write New" after I send it. I close it and then go to "Sent" and read it as how the receiver will get to read. Why do I do that? Hmm. Beats me. But I do have a habit of replying messages while multitasking and sometimes the message might not sound or feel like how I meant it to be.

For example, if I wanted to say that I can't go out for dinner or something, I might have typed (while snacking and answering calls or writing my 'to do' list):

"Sorry, can't go out tonight. See ya some other time!"

But if I were to be really focusing on the message, it might have been typed as(maybe while only snacking):

"Sorry, I don't think I can make it tonight. Hope to see you some other time though. You have fun! :)"



And if we are not pre-occupied, we might be pressed for time. I've been replying messages when I'm busy too but I always try to type it as I feel it. One of the worst example was

"K" (in case you were wondering, it means OK)

Of course I don't do this. This is way too... erm... disconnected.

Erm, how hard is it to type an 'O'? Or and an exclamation mark?

Anyways, I normally type OK as:

"Okie dokie!"

Sometimes it would be:

"Okie dokie! :)"

Sometimes if I am feeling really happy, it would be:

"Okie dokie darling! :)!"

If I were to type to my boss, it would be:

"Certainly! :)"

When I'm not too keen:

"OK!"


There are also times when I have received messages which have had too much attention from the sender and all those flowery words and more-than-one SMS just to say one thing. For example:


"OK, no problem, I'll surely get it done for you because you have been so nice to me. Think nothing of it. What goes around comes around. Maybe one day you can get to help me too..."

OK, maybe it is not just saying ONE thing but seriously, get on with it. I'll prefer:

"OK, no problem. Anything for you.:)"

Wah. Now that's a message which will actually influence me to help the sender when there is a need for it. It will actually encourage me to reply too.

You'll definitely know that I'm not interested in replying a message when I don't even bother to use a fullstop. For example:

"Yeah ok see you soon whatever"

Erm, minus the whatever. Hehe. I'm not that rude.


I don't really use those SMS short forms(what do we call it?). Basically, the SMS short forms are ways to save time. For me, if I were to actually think about all the short forms, I'm actually making an extra effort and am concentrating. For example:

"c u l8er. w8 4 me @ d Ntrance. ttyl."


I will have to also say it out loud to see if it makes sense. Effort, I'll say.


There are also times when I feel the need to use more words, especially when I am asking for help. Haha. I once sent a message like this:

"Base on our friendship of 2 months plus, I need to ask for a favour. Do you think you can assist me with something which I think will probably be peanuts to you since you are an expert in what you do?"

Or something like that. Can't really remember. But I got a positive reply. Cool! So I didn't just waste my time typing. Luckily I use T9.


Wah, so much to say about such an ordinary thing. I do prefer calls but of course SMS is still the most cost-effective and still gets the message across. That is if we actually pay attention while we SMS. I once sent a message complaining about this girl A to girl A. Because I was doing other stuff and since her name was somewhere there in my head, I naturally selected her name and pressed "Send". Dangerous, I tell you. Don't ever do that. Nuh-uh. Oh yeah, that's also one of the problem with Nokia 3310. It is too easy to send a message that I didn't even have enough time to realize what I was doing and stop it in time. My current Sony Ericsson is alright. Not too easy but not tough either. Maybe I should switch to Samsung. My dad's Samsung is such a mystery. But phones being so high-tech nowadays, I guess we really do need to know what we are pressing or clicking to get the functions working, so yeah, should be quite safe. And yeah, I want a new phone. :(