419

Now I'm in a hostel, and an old lady eats spaghetti loudly.  I wish I had spaghetti.  I have had 50% off packaged sushi from the grocery store and a vat of potato salad, eating them both with chopsticks.  All there is is tap water in my water bottle, but I think there should be vodka, too.

There is a Jesus Fest going on downtown as we speak.  I walked past it being drawn to the music, because I haven't heard music in a few days.  When I found out it was about Jesus, I kept on walking.  I prefer my  lyrics to have a satanic tinge.

I'm reading 419 by Will Ferguson.  419 is what the Nigerians call scamming people because that is the number it falls under in the legal code.  It's when e-mails are sent out describing a person in peril, or something else to engage a person's humanity.  Once someone agrees to help, there are a whole bunch of fees that need to be paid which go straight into the scammer's pockets.  I can't believe anyone would actually fall for this, but if you were old n' slow, or naive n' slow, or extremely compassionate n' slow, then it's no wonder these scams bring in billions of dollars to Nigeria.  But anyone that slow deserves it, right.  It's foreign companies taking all the resource money out of Africa, so this is to get back at them... Wrong!  419ers will target anyone with money, including fellow Nigerians.  I'm not sure if it only happens in Nigeria.  I've received a few lusty e-mails from buxom blonds in Russia.  It might also happen in Russia.

I have also been scammed, but only in the trade of hockey cards.  I was so young n' naive, and an older guy traded me several of his stupid cards for my one good card: Gretzky's 50/50.  That's when he scored 50 goals in 50 games.  I also traded Sergei Fedorov's rookie card for something I forget.  And that was my own friend who pulled my pants down like that.  I bet he's still laughing about it today.  I bet he's eating spaghetti loudly and laughing merrily, and spaghetti sauce is flying from his mouth.  Maybe he will choke on his spaghetti and die.