subtext

3 am. you're still up.

you get a text message in the middle of the night. ey! still up?

how predictable, you think. same person's been sending basically the same messages at the same exact time of the night for the past two weeks.

whatchadoin?
had dinner na?
go easy on the yosi, k.

you find yourself answering tersely, without so much as a punctuation (let alone a smiley) at the end of your msg. you're bored to tears by this quasi-ritual it's killing you. then you feel guilty for your rude reaction. someone has spent who-knows-how-many P2.50s to let you know you're remembered. couldn't you be more appreciative?

but what about my P2.50 replies? the beeyatch in you implores. when someone texts in a question, a reply would most likely be expected of you. and you--out of politeness, out of ethics-dictated obligation--just have to send out the same old answers to the same old questions, and it tires you out, really, when in truth you would rather post a blog entry, cut your nails, or smoke a menthol than make small-talk messages with such personages in the middle of the night.

the guilt flies. you decide that maybe you should give him a piece of your mind. tactfully, of course. just enough subtlety to let the person know that you're not finding this whole small-talk thingymajiggy cute at all.

yup still awake. favorite mo talagang tanong yan no? :-)

message sent. somehow he gets the subtext. the next evening he texts you a lengthy (tagalized) version of basically the same old message: maari po bang malaman kung anong pinagkakaabalahan nyo ngayon? grrrrr! you roll your eyes in exasperation. what is wrong with the world? why do people have this tendency to repeat themselves?!

not cute, buster. not cute at all.

same difference, different sameness. thought i've said that line enough times in the past. talk about people repeating themselves. in so many different ways, from txt msgs to catch phrases to whatnot.

it gets exhausting sometimes.