i have been sick for the past 5 days. at this point, i’m FINALLY shaking it off, to a certain extent, but it has been extremely exhausting. on thursday, the 12th, i went to bed, feeling marginal, and, during the night, i experienced the most extreme case of uncontrolled diarrhea and vomitting that i have ever experienced. 🤢🤮 then, thursday night, it snowed about 10 inches, which (naturally) caused the power to go out for most of friday. i thought i might be getting better, but between friday and saturday it just got worse, i spent all of saturday and sunday, next to the toilet, or asleep. monday it actually started getting better. tuesday i actually ate solid food, and kept it down, and today it feels like i might ACTUALLY be getting better…

WHOO-WEE!! getting old REALLY SUCKS!!! 😠👎👎‼‼ if someone had told me about this when i was 30, i would have made a much more concerted effort to actually DIE WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE… 😒

the fremont phil has one more rehearsal before the moisture festival, which, personally, i feel is nowhere near enough. snakez alive was going to busk today, but what with my not being sure whether or not i COULD busk, combined with thaddeus having to take his dog to the vet, we didn’t… which, theoretically, leaves two (or possibly three, if i want to busk, go home, change clothes, and return to seattle for the first day of the fremont phil at the moisture festival) days of busking before we have a night at the moisture festival. at this point, i’m not expecting very quality work from the phil, but snakez alive is going to BRING THE HOUSE DOWN with our version of “Der Fuehrer’s Face”, by Spike Jones

moe had “successful arthroscopic surgery on her knee” on friday the 6th (so she didn’t have the chance to get pooped on by a pigeon — it’s a Bobs reference. look it up.) and has been off work for the past two weeks, but she’s going to new york, tomorrow, for five days, to lecture a bunch of veterinarians on the correct use of the clicker to train dogs, which means that i will be left alone, here at home, with two dogs who do okay with moe, but when moe is not around, they feel like they don’t have to listen to me because i don’t use the clicker correctly, don’t have the right treats, or simply because they don’t feel like it, so that should be interesting. moe has been given an incredible business opportunity, which, if it happens, should increase her repute as THE “dog whisperer”, but it’s still up-in-the-air enough that i don’t want to give away the plot before it gets more finalised.

and the spam text messages have been increasing dramatically over the past few weeks. they have gone from 1 to 5 messages per day, to the current 5 to 20 messages per day, and they have gotten more and more ridiculous, which, in this particular case, is definitely NOT a good thing. i took the advice of one of the scammers i talked to recently, searched on google, and found this, which i have substantially modified, made more clear, and made LESS “Apple-centric”, which i hope everybody gets to see (although i am definitely not holding my breath, at this point).

after the normal “thank you for calling (whatever) support, my name is (whatever), how can i help you”, i started out with this:

HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU STEAL PEOPLES’ MONEY?

You receive a fake support alert. It emphasises an unknown, but pending transaction, or unauthorised login attempts.

You are immediately urged to call an unknown support number, in an unknown location. Scammers impersonate staff, and ask you for your user ID, password, and payment details “to secure your account.”

URGENCY IS THE KEY.

They gain access to your data. With that information, they can login to your account, change credentials, AND EVEN STEAL FUNDS.

So, I’m asking: HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU STEAL PEOPLES’ MONEY?

and, this is what i mean when i say that they have gotten more ridiculous:

SCAMMER: <unintelligible> I steal the money… first of all we go to the church, okay? And then there’s jeezis, on the wall, and then we stand in front of the jeezis and then pray, then the son of Maryam, please give us the advantage to steal the money of the people. Ho ho ho jeezis!

so, now i’m wondering if he really believes this? if he really DOES this?? if he really expects ME to believe it? does he think it is going to offend me? or prove his superiority to me? and how does he expect me to respond?