Cell phone drama

So I've been using a Motorola Tri-band GSM phone I bought two years ago in Beijing. The main reason I bought it was so that I could use it in other countries -- simply swapping SIM chips in and out of it whenever I go to new countries. I've now collected SIM chips from China, India, South Africa, and now Peru.

Unfortunately, in all the aforementioned countries (with the notable exception of China), using cell phones is prohibitively expensive. As a result, most people send short text messages, which are far cheaper. An additional bonus to text messages, especially when service is a bit dodgy, is that communication is always clear. No constant "what? what?" as the other person descends into static.

I had already blown through about $10 USD worth of cell phone credit in my first week in Peru, so I tried to send mostly text messages. Unfortunately, I began to realize that my text messages were not sending when nobody was replying -- I checked the status of about ten text messages and saw that it just said "sending in progress." I was able to receive text messages but not able to send them. I gave up on text messages for the next couple weeks in Lima.

After turning off my cell phone during my time in Huaraz, and coming back to Lima, my cell phone magically discovered how to send text messages. As a result, about ten text messages were sent all at once, their contents no longer relevant. Examples:

"Good I'm in front of the office waiting for you"

"Dinner? I'm interested in the Quito move" (a response to a friend that had contemplated moving to Quito, Ecuador)

"Are we going to meet in the school?"

"Come to Miraflores for ceviche"

"I'm on Avenida la Marina I'm coming now"

"What was the name of the place we went to last night and where is it?"

As you may suspect, these messages were no longer relevant three or four weeks after I had originally intended to send them.

The replies I got were funny:

One called me three times before sending me an email asking me why I was bothering them.

Another responded "it's called Sargeant Pepper's let's go tonight" (in response to the last text; I know for a fact it was not Sargeant Pepper's, but I appreciated the reply regardless)

To "Let's meet at the school," the response was a curt, "I'm at work."