Oh, and the dead cat!

So to finish that story, my three-year old niece was finally told that the cat had gone to heaven, that heaven included people and animals and the cat was with god etc. So my niece thought about it for a while, came back and said that her imaginary friend had gone to heaven to be with the cat. Remarkably enough, however, a new imaginary friend came down from heaven to replace the old one. So now we have a new dinner companion to take elijah's seat.

Pandora

My experience with pandora has been challenging but ultimately it appears to finally be paying off, kind of like my experience selling multiple items per day on amazon. I was introduced to pandora some while ago but didn't begin to truly appreciate its benefits until the charger for my ipod broke and I faced the possibility of sometimes 18 hours straight of work without music or video, a concept that is akin to asking me to walk across hot coals. For 18 hours. So I've been on a single channel for a few weeks now, approving of and disapproving of individual songs. For a while it was like the people at pandora were playing opposite day games and all the songs were ridiculously awful. But now that I've actually identified nearly every song they play that is acceptable I finally have a good play list. So I guess it's a tepid review. You have to either have great patience or ADD that multiple doctors refuse to diagnose (sigh...).

Weather

So you get up in the morning, start rummaging through your closet and realize, wait, I need to know what the weather is first (plus I need to know which coat (if any) to wear and whether an umbrella is necessary). Thus, every morning I turn on my television to the weather channel (sadly, often when I turn on the television the weather channel is already on because I watch so little tv but that's a different tale of woes) and I wait patiently for "local on the 8s." Unfortunately I'm not exactly patient - the issue is more that I sort of constantly need to be getting things done and multi-tasking - so sometimes I'll miss the next "local on the 8s" and sometimes this leads me to need to turn on my computer and reach out to weather.com. And here's where my complaint arises - weather.com provides totally irrelevant (albeit meterologically accurate) information. For example, I don't really care about the chance of precipitation - I want to know if I need to bring an umbrella. So what I really need to know is, will it rain during hours I will be outside and will it be heavy and long-lasting rain. I also don't need the temperature so much as an analysis of what kind of coat would be most appropriate. For example, it said it was 40 today and it felt like 70. I mean, that's totally misleading from a coat-choice perspective. The best way to judge these things is actually to see what people who have already left their houses and are wandering the streets are wearing. Unfortunately I can't see that far down so that is no longer an option for me (I used to wait for like 10 minutes in paris for someone to walk past my window in the morning...)

Spam scammers reach beyond Africa..."I have an obscured business suggestion for you"

Here is the latest. I post it as it deviates from the standard formula somewhat and the tone makes me laugh. The from e-mail address is UK, the address you are meant to reply to is a Hong Kong e-mail, and yet, oddly, the e-mail claims to originate from Russia.


"GREETING FROM RUSSIA"
To:
mrslarisasosnit07@yahoo.com.hk
Subject:
FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION !!!
Date:
Sat, 10 May 2008 12:48:37 +0000 (GMT)

Mrs. Larisa Sosnitskaya
Personal treasurer to former C.E.O of
Yukos Oil Company and Bank Menatep,
31A, Dubininskaya St.115054 Moscow ,
Russia

FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION !!!

It is understandable that you might be a little bit apprehensive
because you do not know me but I have a lucrative business proposal of mutual
interest to share with you as partners. I got your reference in my
search for someone who suits my proposed business relationship.

I am Mrs. Larisa Sosnitskaya, personal treasurer to Mr. Mikhail
Khordokovsky Former C.E.O of Yukos Oil Company and Bank Menatep here in
Russia. I have an obscured business suggestion for you. I will need you to
assist me in executing a business project from Russia to your country. It
involves the transfer of a large sum of funds over US$46(forty six)
million Dollars. Already the funds have left the shore of Russia to a
European Bank where the final crediting is expected to be carried out.
Everything concerning this transaction shall be legally done without
hitch. Please endeavor to observe utmost discretion in all matters
concerning this issue.

But in summary, the funds come in via Bank Menatep to a more secured
Bank in Europe . This is a legitimate transaction. All I need from you is
to stand as the new beneficiary of the above quoted Sum and I will
re-profile the funds with your name, which will enable the European bank
transfer the sum to you. Then once the funds have been successfully
transferred into your account, you will be paid 20% for your "management
fees, please take note?

I will prefer you reach me on my private email address
(mrslarisasosnit07@yahoo.com.hk).

As Soon as I confirm your readiness to partner and assist me on the
transaction, I will provide you with the full details contain therein and
my identification
.
NB: I advice you read more of this ordeal from


http://www.supportmbk.com
http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2003/11/13/51215.html
http://mikhail_khodorkovsky_society.blogspot.com/

Please if you are not interested delete this email and do not hunt me
because I am putting my career and the life of my family at stake with
this venture. Although nothing ventured is nothing gained.

Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Mrs. Larisa Sosnitskaya
(mrslarisasosnit07@yahoo.com.hk)

Alternative to common sense

I'm not sure if this is a recent development or what, but it turns out that I have to do the exact opposite of normal people when food shopping, e.g., I need to shop when hungry. I just returned from another post-lunch shopping trip and have a bag full of junk food, primarily sweet. So there are two possibilities. One is that I have to shop hungry. The other is that I need to make lists before I go and follow them. Neither may present a legitimate possibility.

Sadness and Cats

So on Friday my family/brother's cat died. It was the second identical cat with the same name to die (although we're talking 16 years apart and the second one sometimes had "II" appended to his name). Now I don't particularly like cats: I have allergies, they spread scary diseases to an extent that isn't even fully known yet (sorry that that's a weird cached link - I am still sleepy although in throes of insomnia again - see Fight Club for a wonderful description of what insomnia is like - although I don't have the same stamina and end up sleeping at random times and suddenly being wide-awake instead of just going days without sleep)
, and this particular cat bit me not that long ago. Given my paranoia about getting diseases from animals and the fact that I was trying to help him feel better about my brother's absence (my brother and the cat are very close) this was a notable occasion.
So I otherwise wouldn't be writing about it. But as my mother was telling me this she started going through the cat's last 24 hours. It was heart-wrenching. The cat had played tea with my three-year old niece a couple times, they had read some books together, run around playing and then, the cat was found dead splayed across my niece's toys.
I'm assuming that my niece's limited vocabulary will limit her from reading this post as they haven't told her yet. I'm worried how she'll take it. When her imaginary friend went to talk to god for a while she got very teary-eyed as she briefly told us about it and then refused to talk any further for the rest of the evening. We thought that meant he was dead but he actually came back with a new car so who knows.

The other thing about it is that a lot of weird things have been happening to me lately, like my phone suddenly erasing all its information, things randomly exploding etc. So when the cat died (and I noticed a hole in the pocket of my jacket, I know small but all these other small things have been adding up like vivid/lucid dreams that I am acting out) I started worrying again - these pockets of weirdness bother me. A close and trusted friend has suggested demons are haunting me. This would not surprise me. The obvious question would be why. But I will explore that later.
(back to try to sleep again)

Autism as a Positive Evolutionary Development

So recently at a dinner I heard that this is going on in society - this group of people who argue that autism is actually a positive development and not something that should be treated. In essence, the idea is that this is an evolutionary growth period and we are seeing the advent of a new and better version of mankind. I find that a little bold and to be perfectly honest, I think it just belies some of the narcissism that accompanies not being able to accurately and consistently process the meaning of consequences of social interaction and thus, a significant part of the purpose of being human. I can't find a good site for it right now because I'm sleepy but may update later. (I owe dues to whoever brought this up at dinner two weeks ago and I apologize for completely forgetting who it was - let me know if it was you and I'll attribute appropriately). Shavuah Tov!