This morning I was having a record session in Echo Park to pick up some audio for an animated short I’m working on. We’d planned it for weeks.

I pushed it to the limit, as far as getting ready and out the door on time. I didn’t look up the address where I was headed until I was getting in the car. I generally knew where I was going, I looked at a map briefly when I got the email about the location, sure, Echo Park. Google Maps will get me there!

Out of the blue, my iPhone has been going in and out of a mode I didn’t know existed: SOS. It means the phone only works for emergency phone calls and messages. It was running in that mode again right when I was leaving for the recording session.

SOS mode meant I couldn’t connect to the internet to get directions from Google Maps while I drive. I pulled over to see if I could fiddle with settings to get the service to come back, but nothing worked. I had to keep going, hoping for the best.

Somehow, suddenly, GPS kicked in for a bit, I got to where I was supposed to be, but I was 10 minutes late. Everyone who rode a bike, or didn’t wait till the last minute to look up how to get there, was waiting for me. They were probably early, even! DANG IT THAT USED TO BE ME. Now my brain is like soft hands that never do any work, and arrive late to everything.

I was just talking to people at the recording session about how maybe one day, we will again carry Thomas Guides with us to know where we are going, rather than devices.

My iPhone connection wasn’t working on the way back home, so instead of stopping to get take-out, I drove back home using the maps-autopilot in my brain, and ate leftovers, saving myself some money.

When I got home, I tried turning my iPhone on and off, turning on airplane mode for 15 seconds, resetting carrier settings. Then I finally logged into Twitter, on my computer, to see if anyone else was having the same issue. Turns out, yes, they were. There wasn’t much more to be done but wait… And look at the new basic phone I got yesterday.

Oh.

I used it to txt and then call Kevin, to let him know what was happening, and to see if it was happening for his iPhone. For some reason neither his iPhone nor the FLIP PHONE were affected by the outage, even though both are also Verizon.

I cannot believe the audacity of life, to send me messages so loud and clear. Flippin’ outrageous, cowabunga dudes.

[Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song music: midi version]

Hope you’re havin’ a real one, too!

-Elizabeth