TUI - Texting Under the Influence

I refused to own a cell phone for the longest time, up until 2005, when I found out that my work and personal life were both so inextricably linked to the use of a cell phone that I had to get one. I basically got it so that I could call my parents all the time from wherever I was (I'm a bit of a worry-wart, so I tend to worry about how they're doing).

Now that I am back in Vancouver, I use my cell phone all the time, although I do have a land line. I use it because I have a pretty active social life and people love to call me. If I didn't have a cell phone, I wouldn't be able to organize my social calendar at all. Anyhow, a number of our friends were chatting about how there has been a shift from 'dialing under the influence' (DUI, the same acronym used for "driving under the influence" (although my friend A also calls it 'don't drink and dial', similar to 'don't drink and drive') to 'texting under the influence'.

On the night of the finale of the HSBC Celebration of Lights, I was guilty of intexticating. This made-up word means 'texting under the influence'. Yeah, I sent a drunken text message to someone I'm interested in. And another one to a very close friend of mine saying "miss you and wish you were here". So, really, nothing to be ashamed of. But it's funny how things shift.

So the lesson, my friends: don't dial, text, email or blog under the influence. Bad things can happen! According to Wikipedia, drunk dialing often associated with booty calling :-) [but I plead the Fifth here]... Not that there's anything wrong with booty calls, but I'm just saying ...