Monday, June 1, 1998
10:08PM
I knew it was too good to be true! I was having such a nice Monday, there just had to be a fly in the ointment. It came in the form of an e-mail, the second such e-mail I've gotten in the past week. They're from people reading another of my pages on another site, that I admit is on the sweet and sappy side. I like being sweet and sappy and cuddly and cute at times... some people, however, just don't appreciate that side of life.
It started a couple days ago, I got a one-liner from someone at AOL. The subject was "DEATH" and the body of the message was short and sweet: "die" I chalked it up to some little idjit who had nothing better to do, and reported him to AOL just because. Not that I expect them to do anything, of course, but it doesn't hurt. I also put him on notify in AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and he's been on for the last hour or two, but I haven't said anything to him.
After receiving the message, I figured I probably ought to check my guestbook too, and sure enough, a nother little idjit had signed it, something along the lines of "huuuuuuurl-aceous". How mature! I went in and deleted the entry, and added a little line to the guestbook signing page, stating that if they weren't going to say anything nice, don't bother signing, because it will just be deleted. And that their IP address gets posted with their entry, and I can track them down. Not that I will, but hey, it might discourage someone who would otherwise be mean and nasty.
So here I was, chatting with Jev this evening, fixing the geoguide on my index page, which had been deactivated because of a botched upload a day or two ago (sorry for anyone who got a popup, Jev pointed out the problem this evening), when ICQ told me I had mail. I looked and it was from an unknown person, subject "Barf!" Aren't they so grown up? I mean, you'd think they could come up with something better than "Barf!" as a subject line, don't you? But Barf it was. I knew what was coming, so I told Eudora to fetch the mail, and opened it.
I expected something stupid, but what I got was so stupid it's funny! Here, I'll let you read. I've already shown it to Jev, who I think was more upset by it than I was...
Ummmm........honey........are you on drugs or what?
Did that last eccy bend you just a little to far?
Hmmmmmmm.........either you are very stupid or very desperate for the love and attention mummy and daddy-kins never gave you.
And you met your "sweetie" on the net...whassamatta baby.........too ugly and socially inept for the bar scene......?
This message courtesy of:
Beyond Bitch Incorporated
Wasn't that just such a nice letter? I was hoping my Aussie friend was on IRC so she could translate "eccy" for me, as I have no idea what it is, but I'll have to ask her later. Anyway, I forwarded her sweet little message to her ISP just so they'd know what a wonderful user she was.
As I said, Jev was more upset by it than I was, and I got to thinking. The most obvious motive for such a childish message is jealously. Maybe she (and yes it was apparently a she) was just jealous that I have someone and she doesn't. I was tempted to reply to her message with a pic of Jev and I, but it's probably better just to ignore her.
Hopefully this isn't the beginning of a flood of rude e-mails, but if it is, I'll start deleting them unread if it gets bad. Responding is only fuel for the fire, of course. Maybe I'll just post a collection of their dumb messages here for the world to see and laugh at their immaturity.
There was a time when messages like the above really would have bothered me, and even brought me to tears. After all, teasing was a daily thing back in elementary school. But I guess I've grown up and grown more thick-skinned, or maybe just more self-confident and smart enough to know that the people throwing the insults are usually the ones who have problems.
Perfect timing... one of my NewZealander friends just showed up, and he's asking on an Aussie chat server to see if someone can translate. He doesn't know either, so I don't feel bad for not knowing what the heck an eccy is. Exercise maybe? *shrug* not that it matters.
Jev wants to talk on the phone before he goes to bed, so I'll finish this up in a bit.
Back again... Jev's been trying to find us a room somewhere for my first night there... He wasn't having much luck though, and he finally told me why on the phone. He's looking for someplace where the room has a whirlpool or jacuzzi. Yes, he spoils me rotten. He also bought us a "Gig-O-Color" -- a 10 pack of the rainbow zip disks -- to split. I imagine he'll spoil me even more once I get there. He hasn't found a room yet, but he said he'd look tomorrow from work, since AOL was rather slow.
Despite the rude message, today was a really nice day. I slept in, got up and hopped on to check mail and such, and started cleaning up my desk so I could find things I needed to pack. I decided I needed a bath, so I soaked for a while, and after that I was feeling pretty lazy. I spent much of the day working on my latest cross stitch (Jev didn't think I was so bad when I told him I started yet another yesterday after starting a small one the day before), and got quite a bit done. I came in for dinner and watched Babylon 5, and worked a bit on Jev's afghan, which is almost done, then back out on the porch to listen to my CDs (Diamond Rio: IV) and work on stitching until the sun started to go down.
It did get a little warm this afternoon, but all in all, it was a pleasant day to be out on the porch. The sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds, a nice breeze blew in with the smell of flowers, and made the windchimes tinkle, and I sat and stitched to my heart's content. If it weren't for the hoarde of cicadas making their racket, it would have been perfect. If it were the sound of the ocean instead of the bugs, and the smell of saltwater instead of the flowers, it would have been absolutely heavenly. Still, it wasn't half bad. Tomorrow, though, I need to get packing!
