City of Legends

3:45 am…eastern daylight time (9:45 am Johannesburg) An SMS (text) message from Candy speeds its way at the speed of light towards my cell phone (the time is the timestamp on the message, which may be from any of several nodes) The content (sparing you poor people the mushiness we enjoi) is "Had to go to meeting, will not be on at 11, will call later"

4:50 am…eastern daylight time (10:50 am Johannesburg) I am awakened by my alarm, check for messages (none) and stumble downstairs, glass of ice water in hand, to have my morning catchup call with Candy

4:58 am…eastern daylight time (10:58 am Johannesburg) Having checked my email, comments and FaceBook, I bring up Skype, call Johannesburg and get…Candy’s voicemail. Well, pooh. She’s probably in the next room fixing coffee or had something come up. I’ll try later.

5:09 am eastern daylight time (11:09 am Johannesburg) Checked messages again (still nothing) and I dial again…still nothing on either line. Double pooh. I leave a note in case she comes on that I am going to take a shower.

5:27 am eastern daylight time (11:27 am Johannesburg) Checked messages again, dialed again. Main phone make funny noise and dies after two rings. I try again and am greeted with busy signal, as it is still ringing from my first call. Leave good-natured voicemail on cell.

5:30 am eastern daylight time (11:30 am Johannesburg) Remembered I owed Candy a rewrite of my most recent post on her blog. Procrastinate for five minutes by playing with cat.

5:35 am eastern daylight time (11:35 am Johannesburg) Start rewrite of post.

5:47 am eastern daylight time (11:47 am Johannesburg) Finish rewrite. Congratulate self. Check messages. Try Candy’s phones again.

5:50 am eastern daylight time (11:50 am Johannesburg) Check CNN and politico.com, consider going over to Warcraft for a few.

5:59 am eastern daylight time (11:59 am Johannesburg) SMS arrives (see 3:45 am eastern daylight time) I respond, letting her know it took its time getting to me.

6:02 am eastern daylight time (12:02 am Johannesburg) I decide to write piece about the dependence we have on our technology, disguised as narrative of communications timeline.

6:19 am eastern daylight time (12:19 am Johannesburg) I finish entry and publish.