A Life of Crime and Chocolate

FM, it's great to see you!

GailD said:

*goes off in search of cybercriminals*

Click to expand...

Dear Much respected Gail,

GREETINGS,

permit me to express my Desire to enter a Business relationship with you. I am a much esteemed And experienced Cyber Criminal in my home Country of Nigeria and I am in possession of Much information I am desiring to share with You.

Right now I am currently Retired from Cyber criminalling since I was discovered while Hacking the pentagon and was shot in the Buttocks. It has Since come to my attention that it is Not required to be physically present at the location Where the Computer is located to hack it. But because of This I must now pass on my Massive training in Cyber criminalling to a New generation, so I am proposing this Simple and Sincere business deal to you.

To access my Mad Hacking Skillz you will only need to Transfer the small sum of Money of USDOLLARS 3000 (three-thousand) to the account of an intermediary at the Royal bank of Nigeria who is my Trusted friend and I will need it as a Sign of Good faith it will be returned to You once our transaction is Complete.

You will then be in The possession of much wealth of Information to help you receive much wealth of Money from Cyber criminalling which is sure to be guaranteed to exceed the small sum of Money of USDOLLARS 3000 (three-thousand).

Please for further Questions email: [email protected] Without delay.

Thank you and Remain blessed.

Has anyone seen Gail since she went off in search of cyberhackers?

French, it's so good to see you back here again. You've been in my thoughts.

Thanks all. Although things have been tough, I' e been trying to find the joy in life again. Spending time with Christian, going out, homeschooling, we got a new pup, not only to keep our family a family of 4, but because Freya was mourning something cruel. She carted a rubber chicken around for days crying, searching ever room for her best friend. The crying lasted weeks. We got our new baby girl, a then 9 week old maremma whom we named Starr, since Starr's arrival Freya has perked right back up. She's happy again. She's no longer pining. She still isn't back to hr normal self, and does behave differently at times, but she,s closer to being back to what she was.

I can't seem to upload a picture of Starr, but here's an image from google. She looks exactly like this maremma http://www.google.com.au/imgres?img...MygCMAI&iact=rc&uact=3&page=1&start=0&ndsp=12

She's been a brilliant distraction.

French!! So good to see you. And congrats on the new 'brilliant distraction'. That is one very cute pup.

asroc said:

Dear Much respected Gail,

GREETINGS,

permit me to express my Desire to enter a Business relationship with you. I am a much esteemed And experienced Cyber Criminal in my home Country of Nigeria and I am in possession of Much information I am desiring to share with You.

Right now I am currently Retired from Cyber criminalling since I was discovered while Hacking the pentagon and was shot in the Buttocks. It has Since come to my attention that it is Not required to be physically present at the location Where the Computer is located to hack it. But because of This I must now pass on my Massive training in Cyber criminalling to a New generation, so I am proposing this Simple and Sincere business deal to you.

To access my Mad Hacking Skillz you will only need to Transfer the small sum of Money of USDOLLARS 3000 (three-thousand) to the account of an intermediary at the Royal bank of Nigeria who is my Trusted friend and I will need it as a Sign of Good faith it will be returned to You once our transaction is Complete.

You will then be in The possession of much wealth of Information to help you receive much wealth of Money from Cyber criminalling which is sure to be guaranteed to exceed the small sum of Money of USDOLLARS 3000 (three-thousand).

Please for further Questions email: [email protected] Without delay.

Thank you and Remain blessed.

Click to expand...

Greetings, honorable Asroc.

I am much indebted to your Trustworthy advice and I am cogitating a payment method that would avoid the paying of unnecessary taxes.

Since I am still Awaiting my share of a Massive inheritance from your Department of Social Dispatch, for which I paid $1,500 in USD to cover administrative monies, I think we could come to some Kind of compromised - i.e. When they pay me, I'll pay you.

But pleased to be adviced that I am much in need of your're Mad hacking skillz and, after much searching through my currant account, I can be raisin the amount of $1.87 as down payment. Furthermore, it should also be stated that hacking into my bank account will result in a bitter disappointment. But if you are wearing the Whitehat, that should not be problem.

I shall be trying the email link and trusting that my system will not become diseased by some bug.* (Besides the normal amount of paranoia involved in talking to people who know infinitely more about computers than I do, and have Mad hacking skillz.)

Thank you, and remain awesome.

* Seriously, I found several hacker's websites but I was too nervous to click on any links in them in case, you know, they end up doing something awful - like hacking my webcam when I'm still in my pj's and with no makeup on... that sort of thing.

Oh, French, I'm so glad to hear from you here. I try to keep up on your FB page. Glad to hear Freya has a new friend. Poor thing...

GailD, your response is brilliant.

Randomly, my ipad corrected response to eye sponge. I don't know if Gail has a brilliant eye sponge. I'm not sure it's appropriate for me to even ask.

Tarak, I don't have a brilliant anything, except perhaps, a pathological dislike of predictive text. The thing is clueless

HJ, there are worse words. (Or you could tell them to just go forth and multiply.)



ETA: I still don't know if Asroc is offering to help me, or just messing with my head.

So I'm waiting on tests results to find out what is troubling me so much lately. The doctor mentioned CFS last Friday and it isn't the first time I've been told that and fibromyalgia but I don't really want to hear it so I just ignore doctors when they tell me that.

I'm being tested now for Celiacs and for Hoshimoto's disease and I'm certain he's checking for diabetes. I'd really love it if I could drop a ton or two. I think that would cure most of my exhaustion and pain. Oh and yay me, I have a herniated disc and several bulging discs...so it's going to be surgery for me soon.

On the up side...I have a job interview today for a full time position as a controller. Any tips on how to hide the dragging of my sorry backside around?

GailD said:

ETA: I still don't know if Asroc is offering to help me, or just messing with my head.

Click to expand...

Well, I don't actually know anything about computer crime. I would accept $1.87 worth of raisins, though.

Cassiopeia, that doesn't sound like a whole heap of fun. Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Hope you get a diagnosis and treatment soon. In the mean time.....*sends biltong, melktert and koeksisters*


Asroc,... You messed with my head.

heyjude said:

I love autocorrect. Except when it changes a word to read "fornicate" in a text to my boss or my mother.

Click to expand...

Trust me, I've done worse.

Cassiopeia said:

So I'm waiting on tests results to find out what is troubling me so much lately. The doctor mentioned CFS last Friday and it isn't the first time I've been told that and fibromyalgia but I don't really want to hear it so I just ignore doctors when they tell me that.

I'm being tested now for Celiacs and for Hoshimoto's disease and I'm certain he's checking for diabetes. I'd really love it if I could drop a ton or two. I think that would cure most of my exhaustion and pain. Oh and yay me, I have a herniated disc and several bulging discs...so it's going to be surgery for me soon.

On the up side...I have a job interview today for a full time position as a controller. Any tips on how to hide the dragging of my sorry backside around?

Click to expand...

Good luck with the test results and the interview. Hope it goes well.

GailD said:

Asroc,... You messed with my head.

Click to expand...

I think you need something stronger than a , Gail.

This should do it...

I don't feel safe here anymore...

GailD said:

Cassiopeia, that doesn't sound like a whole heap of fun. Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Hope you get a diagnosis and treatment soon. In the mean time.....*sends biltong, melktert and koeksisters*

Click to expand...

*perks up* Oh my gosh...you have no idea how much I miss all three of those. Especially melktert. I try to make it here but the corn flour just isn't the same and I lost my recipe from a lady I knew at church in Cape Town. It was THE best. It uses Rooibos. Which thankfully I have a ton of. Now I'm missing SA. LOL

muse said:

Good luck with the test results and the interview. Hope it goes well.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Muse.

heyjude said:

How did it go?!

Click to expand...

I'm not sure. I was told by the owner, "I can see why you were pulled in for the second round, you are more than qualified." I was told they would decide by today but I haven't heard. I was certain if it was no they'd tell me so I'm thinking they are still deliberating.

Thanks everyone for so much support!

Cassiopeia said:

*perks up* Oh my gosh...you have no idea how much I miss all three of those. Especially melktert. I try to make it here but the corn flour just isn't the same and I lost my recipe from a lady I knew at church in Cape Town. It was THE best. It uses Rooibos. Which thankfully I have a ton of. Now I'm missing SA. LOL

Click to expand...

Maizena = corn starch(US), but I don't know if anything, anywhere would work as well as Maizena.

I have the 'Kook en Geniet' cookbook. As you no doubt know, it's chock full of the best original recipes for SA goodies, including things like... bobotie and ystervarkies and other awesome stuff. If you need any recipes from it, just let me know and I'll PM them to you.

For my non-SA friends: Ystervarkies = little iron pigs (direct translation) = porcupines, but this recipe is for Lamingtons. And Bobotie is a deliciously curried ground beef dish.

Good luck with the job, Cassi. I'm holding thumbs for you.

Cassiopeia said:

I'm not sure. I was told by the owner, "I can see why you were pulled in for the second round, you are more than qualified." I was told they would decide by today but I haven't heard. I was certain if it was no they'd tell me so I'm thinking they are still deliberating.

Thanks everyone for so much support!

Click to expand...

Sounds promising. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Bobotie is one of my favorite things ever. I have a recipe for it I keep meaning to try. Maybe I'll bust it out this weekend.

Cassiopeia, I hope you hear good news soon!

tarak said:

Bobotie is one of my favorite things ever. I have a recipe for it I keep meaning to try. Maybe I'll bust it out this weekend.

Click to expand...

Oh, that got my attention! Now I'm curious. (I know, I was weird before...) So, I wondered if you'd visited S. Africa but then I wondered... Pennsylvania -->Dutch -->Afrikaans, perhaps? But Bobotie is actually a Cape Malay dish, so now I'm confused.

I give up. Tarak, how did you come across Bobotie?

Cassiopeia, hope you get some answers,and feel better soon.

Books have been my friend this last week and a half. I've read 4 books and and about to start the 5th.

I also bought a new office chair and changed up my writing space. I sat and wrote 950 words as well. I don't know why but I felt really sad after I wrote them. Not crying sad. That doesn't happen a lot. But just feelings of crappiness. I've not written anything more in a couple of days.
I want it to be a positive experience. I just don't know how to make it one.

French Maiden said:

Books have been my friend this last week and a half. I've read 4 books and and about to start the 5th.

I also bought a new office chair and changed up my writing space. I sat and wrote 950 words as well. I don't know why but I felt really sad after I wrote them. Not crying sad. That doesn't happen a lot. But just feelings of crappiness. I've not written anything more in a couple of days.
I want it to be a positive experience. I just don't know how to make it one.

Click to expand...

To echo everyone else: it's so nice to see you here, French.

As for the writing, I think all you can do right now is roll with it. Follow your heart and you can't go wrong. If it needs to stop for now, that's okay - it'll still be there when you need it.

What book did you start?

GailD said:

Oh, that got my attention! Now I'm curious. (I know, I was weird before...) So, I wondered if you'd visited S. Africa but then I wondered... Pennsylvania -->Dutch -->Afrikaans, perhaps? But Bobotie is actually a Cape Malay dish, so now I'm confused.

I give up. Tarak, how did you come across Bobotie?

Click to expand...

LOL. I don't know how authentic it was, but I've stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando a few times. Many of the staff are from South Africa and they serve it at a few restaurants there. They also have a breakfast dish that is roasted tomatoes, but it's a little sweet. I can't remember what it was called but holy cow, I could eat a huge bowl of those every day of my life.

French Maiden said:

Cassiopeia, hope you get some answers,and feel better soon.

Books have been my friend this last week and a half. I've read 4 books and and about to start the 5th.

I also bought a new office chair and changed up my writing space. I sat and wrote 950 words as well. I don't know why but I felt really sad after I wrote them. Not crying sad. That doesn't happen a lot. But just feelings of crappiness. I've not written anything more in a couple of days.
I want it to be a positive experience. I just don't know how to make it one.

Click to expand...

French, you have every right to be sad. If reading is good and writing hurts, focus on reading. The writing will come back, I'm sure.

Thanks Liz and Tarak. I think I'm going to leave the writing for a bit. I just thought it might have been a good escape. Not right now apparantly.

I've read a few Liz. I read D.B Reynold's Vampires in America (just the first 2 in the series), I enjoyed them, but didnt get that deep reading experience that I crave, the kind where the rest of the world falls away for however long you're reading.

I read Kindle Alexander's Always -it was very emotional, and I bawled my eyes out for quite a while after I finished. But it gave me my first deep reading experience in about 8 months.
I then read Christina Lauren's Sweet Filthy Boy.
And I'm now on the 3rd Stage Dive book by Kylie Scott.

It's light, easy reading. Nothing heavy, and nothing I have to think about.

French, I agree. There's nothing quite like losing yourself in a good book. Elizabeth George does that for me. She writes these enormous tomes but her characters are very complex and utterly believable. Also, her English is so good (sometimes a little OTT) that I find my own writing improves while I'm reading one of her books. I'm sure all that reading you're doing will inspire you to write when you're ready.

tarak said:

LOL. I don't know how authentic it was, but I've stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando a few times. Many of the staff are from South Africa and they serve it at a few restaurants there. They also have a breakfast dish that is roasted tomatoes, but it's a little sweet. I can't remember what it was called but holy cow, I could eat a huge bowl of those every day of my life.

Click to expand...

Traditional SA food in Orlando! I'd never have guessed that. But I'm so glad you liked it. I don't know about roasted tomatoes, though. I've never come across those.

GailD said:

Maizena = corn starch(US), but I don't know if anything, anywhere would work as well as Maizena.

I have the 'Kook en Geniet' cookbook. As you no doubt know, it's chock full of the best original recipes for SA goodies, including things like... bobotie and ystervarkies and other awesome stuff. If you need any recipes from it, just let me know and I'll PM them to you.

For my non-SA friends: Ystervarkies = little iron pigs (direct translation) = porcupines, but this recipe is for Lamingtons. And Bobotie is a deliciously curried ground beef dish.

Good luck with the job, Cassi. I'm holding thumbs for you.

Click to expand...

just bought the English version Cook and Enjoy from Amazon.