This is one of my stories that I'm thinking of publishing. It's written particularly for teenagers.​                                 

                                Daniel's Diary

1 January 2026
​How to begin? Not with "Dear Diary." Well, I've already begun so I'll continue. Keeping a diary is more of a girl's thing, but I'm a guy. Why am I explaining that I am a guy? Well, when I was born, the doctor designate me a boy and I don't plan to transition into a girl. So who might be reading what I'm writing? Perhaps me, myself. Hi me. If you are reading this seventy years from now, say when you are eighty-five years old, what are you thinking? Perhaps you don't read any more––you scan it and listen to a robot voice. I hope you chose a nice baritone voice for me. I envision you croakily ordering your robot car, "Take me to the bingo hall." Or perhaps, in fifteen minute cities, there won't be cars and you will be ordering your robot buggy to take you places. That's easier as you have forgotten how to navigate there yourself. What's left of your memory? I'll remind you of my exciting New Year's Eve. Mom and I watched celebrations on television, but she was tired so went to bed. I stayed up till midnight, then went to bed. New Year's resolution: I'll write in this diary every once in a while.

16 January, still the same year
At school today one of the guys was talking about his sister getting caught smoking. His dad's lecture went something like this: "Why punish your lungs?" Silence. "So now that you know what it's like, why continue?" She didn't come up with any good reason. Seems like they have good family dynamics there. It must be nice having a sister, or even a brother. Maybe I have a half-sister or a half-brother that I don’t know about. Or maybe I have a dozen or more siblings. I've never met my dad. Seems to have been a fly-by-night sort of guy. Mom tells me very little about him, not even his surname. Maybe it's Iranoff. Get that? I ran off. But when I fill out official forms, I give him Mom’s and my surname. Supposedly I look a little like my dad––brown hair, hazel eyes, light complexion, slight stature. Wonder if my dad had pimples when he was a teenager? It has been suggested that drinking orange juice brings on pimples. I stopped drinking orange juice during breakfast but it didn’t seem to help.
 
22 January
I got a call this evening from someone claiming he was responding to a request for help with a computer problem. Great! This time I was prepared for such a call. I explained to the caller that I was unable to access something on my laptop. He asked me if he could take remote control in order to fix the problem. I gave him access to the laptop to which I had added a fictitious name and bank account. During our conversation, I got him to open the “problem” program in which I had installed a vicious virus. I should have added a pop-up message such as “Ha, Ha! Got you. Maybe this will teach you to scam people!” I could have told him that over the phone but I didn’t as I’m not sure the virus got into his computer. (Actually, I’m a bit timid when confronting people.) After a while, he told me he was handing back control to me. I could see if I could now open the program. I didn’t try to open it but told him that I still couldn’t open it. He gave me a few suggestions as to what I could do, then said he had to go. He hung up. I wiped out the spyware that he had installed on the laptop.
 
2 February, Groundhog Day
I understand that if the groundhog sees its shadow, the winter will last a while longer, but if it doesn't see its shadow, there will be an early spring. But because weather conditions are different in different parts of the country, different groundhogs have different predictions. I wouldn't mind an early spring as I find long winters depressing. In fact, I wouldn't mind a bit of global warming. (During cold winters, instead of "global warming" they call it "climate change.") I and all my classmates might be wearing shorts to school. Sonja would look even nicer in shorts. To explain about Sonja, she is the prettiest girl in the class, slender, with dark hair and eyes. She has a pleasant personality also and doesn’t put on airs like some other pretty girls. Trouble is, she pays little attention to me. That could be because I haven’t approached her––just admired her from a distance. Shouldn’t butt in. She seems to be going with a guy named Aaron. He’s an okay guy, but not so bright in my opinion.
 
3 February
When I was with some of the guys at school today, I remarked that the climate doesn't seem to me to be warming up. During the following discussion they accused me of being a climate-change denier, somewhat similar to a holocaust denier. I wouldn't call myself a denier but I'm not a climate-change alarmist. Although Mom, herself, doesn’t spend much time on her phone, she has friends who gave her internet addresses revealing the other side of the climate-change story. She passed on the addresses to me. It could be that human activity has affected the climate. It could be that the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing. It could be that the atmosphere and the oceans are warmer than they were a decade ago, although that is debatable. It could be that the volume of ice in Antarctica has decreased from what it was ten years ago, but some are saying that it hasn’t. You would think that it would be easy to prove ice volume diminishing or increasing, but that’s not the case. Just google it? Maybe it’s Google with the “misinformation.”
 
7 February
A while ago, I got a text message on my phone from someone with the name Sophia. Although I ordinarily don’t respond to non-acquaintances who don’t address me by name, I decided to respond with “Do I know you?” She answered that she would like to get to know me. We have been texting regularly since then and have exchanged photos. She’s quite attractive––dark-complexioned like Sonja. She says she has just turned sixteen. Her home life is not so good––her father is molesting her. Actually, he’s not her real father; he’s her foster father. Like me, she doesn’t know her real father. Today we got on the subject of Bitcoin. How? She was saying that she would like to get back at her foster father for mistreating her, but she didn’t want him to know that it was her getting back at him. Perhaps we could fleece him. He had quite a bit of money in Bitcoin. She could give me the info and I could hack into his computer and his Bitcoin wallet. Then we could share the wealth. I agreed to try, more interested actually in honing my hacking skills than in the prospective thievery.
 
7 February and, as I finish, early Sunday morning
I’ll first explain that I do have a Bitcoin wallet myself with the equivalent of a few hundred dollars in it. I’ve been collecting Bitcoin in order to buy a cellphone from a guy I know. He’s an honest guy––no possibility of fraud. The reason that I want to buy another cellphone is that the touch screen on my phone is cracked. I dropped the phone. But I’m still a bit short of enough Bitcoin to buy the phone. Now I’ll continue with the story. Sophia gave me all the details and I hacked into her foster father’s computer and Bitcoin wallet. It was suspiciously easy. I transferred only a bit more than enough, when added to what I already had, to buy the phone. The moment the first transaction was completed, I started buying the phone, which would leave only a bit of Bitcoin in my wallet. By this time, it was late Saturday evening. I went to bed but couldn’t go to sleep. So I got up and checked my wallet. The little that had been left in it was no longer there. Don’t know how she/he/they got the rest of my Bitcoin! I didn’t bother texting “Sophia.” Will wait for a possible response.
 
8 February, Sunday evening
Went and picked up the phone that I just bought. Transferred everything from my old phone to my new one. Gave my old phone to the newspaper boy distributing papers in our apartment block. When he has extras, he will leave one outside our door, for free, of course. Mom prefers reading newspapers rather than reading the news on her phone. I like reading the comics in the Sunday paper. Thinking about comics, I have a comical video on my phone. I’ll first explain that at school we have a guy we call the joker. He likes to play pranks on people. His locker is near mine. Between our lockers is a locker belonging to Padre, as we call him. He’s a Christian and shares his faith with everyone who wants to hear, and even with some who don’t want to hear about it. I wasn’t at the lockers for the occasions I’m about to relate, but the joker explained what he did and forwarded the video to anyone who wanted it. This is how it went: The joker was pretending to be doing something in his locker when Padre came and unlocked his locker, leaving his unlocked combination lock hanging on his locker door.

continued from Sunday
When Padre wasn’t looking, the joker switched locks with his, an identical-looking lock. Finishing getting books from his locker, Padre locked it, not realizing it wasn’t his lock. The joker waited until Padre left, then unlocked Padre’s locker and pasted pornographic photos all over the inside of the locker door. Then he locked the door with Padre’s lock and locked his own locker with his own lock. When Padre next came to his locker, the joker was nearby with his phone out ready to take a video. Padre opened his locker, stared wide-eyed at the photos, looked around, saw the joker taking the video, and quickly closed the door. “Did I see some photos pasted on the inside of your door?” the joker asked. The subsequent discussion included topics such as the road to hell, Greek gods, the one true God, sex being natural, sex outside of marriage being condemned, naked Greek sculptures not being considered porn, and other similar subjects. The joker recorded it all. It ended with Padre opening his locker door just enough to get his arm in to get his coat, then closing and locking the door. The joker wasn’t able to get another shot of the pornography.
 
11 February
Haven’t heard from “Sophia” and I’m not going to initiate reconnection. She/he/they realize I outwitted them, though I sure would like to know how they cleaned out my Bitcoin wallet. They, and I’ll now simply say “they,” may try to retaliate. But they can’t swindle me out of riches as I’m not rich. That’s what I told the guy who called me this morning saying that I had indicated an interested in investing. That was before going to school. Since then, when my phone was on silence, I received six more phone calls from numbers that are not in my contact book. None of them left a message. I tried calling one of the numbers back but got the message, “All circuits are busy.” Guess someone, or something, is quite busy.
12 February, a short note to fill up this page in my diary: I’m keeping my phone on silence. Got eight unsolicited calls today. Would have liked to answer one of them to give them a piece of my mind, but all the calls were when I was at school. (I had my phone on silence.) Probably giving my name and phone number to investment agents was “Sophia’s” vengeance act.
 
14 February, Saturday evening
This is supposed to be a romantic day but my only romance is with my computer. I wouldn’t mind being romantic with Sonja but she seems to have a boyfriend already––Aaron. He likes to present himself as “cool,” smokes marijuana instead of tobacco. It may be that marijuana is easier on the lungs than tobacco but it seems to me that pot users often lack incentive. I want to have my faculties in top shape. For what? For whatever the future might present. What might my future be like? It would be great to be living with a nice girl and working with computers. For guys without girlfriends, or girls without boyfriends, Valentine’s Day is not so happy a day. Too bad Mom and I don’t have a dog so I could go home and console myself. A lonely man must have coined the saying that a dog is a man’s best friend.
I made up a poem for Valentine’s Day:
Roses are red; violets are violet
Sugar is sweet, but ruins your diet
 
8 March 9:30 pm
I usually go to bed about 10:30 but I’m going to bed earlier this evening as we’ve changed to daylight-saving time. Tomorrow morning when I have to get up at 6:30 to get ready to go to school, it will feel like 5:30 am. The change may be more of a power-saving scheme than a daylight-saving plan. With the emphasis on using electricity rather than fossil fuels, there is that much more of a demand for it. Thus we need to conserve electricity. Maybe I could use candle light while getting dressed these dark mornings. But LED lighting doesn’t use much electricity. Electric heating uses a lot. To conserve electricity, we are advised to lower the temperature on our thermostats and wear additional clothing in order to keep warm. We should take only short, warm showers, not hot baths. And to lessen peak demand, we should use the clothes drier during electrically slack times of the day. Mom pays the power bill for our apartment so we conserve electricity anyway to limit expenses. She barely earns enough to cover expenses. Our food expenses might be higher than the average for two people as we buy organic fruit and vegetables whenever possible.
 
27 March
Well, my birthday came and went. Didn't want a party but Mom invited some of her friends over and we had birthday cake. Didn't get what I wanted for my birthday but at least I didn't get what I didn't want, like Christmas when I got this diary. "Good for you to express your feelings," she said. "Write it all down and when you read it in your old age, you'll probably laugh over it." Well, I don't feel like laughing now. Life is a drag. Home, school, homework… Guess I should socialize more, jam with some friends, or join a sports team, but I don't feel like it. I’ll speculate on the situation seventy years from now. You, dear old me, might still be living in this apartment. You might hobble to the window to look over the girls sunbathing in string bikinis on the beach below you. (Because of climate change, the ice caps melting, and the sea level rising, this will be waterfront property.) You might have to use binoculars as your eyesight isn’t so good. Shame on you, goggling girls like that. You're past it. It's only in your mind!
 
28 March
Hi again old man. Don't you have anything better to do than read an old diary? You may be thinking "That insolent kid!" Well, what do I think of old folk? Boring! You sit around talking about the good old times, out of touch with the here and now. Am I being disrespectful? I wouldn’t call you a “useless eater,” but I do respect those who are producers or training to become producers. I admire those who are smart or talented or good-looking. It sure would be nice if Sonja showed a little more interest in me. She did smile at me the other day. It could have been in response to me smiling at her. I was thinking of saying something, but what? "How's it?" To which she might have responded, "How's what?" Then what might I have said? "Oh, life in general?" "Fair to middling," she might have responded. An answer like that would have called for further discussion but there wouldn't have been time before the next class. But here I am dreaming. In response to a question like "How's it?" she probably would have replied, "Good."
 
1 April
As I was going into the school this morning, one of the guys said, "Your fly is open." I looked down and it wasn't open. "April fools!" I did feel foolish. It may be foolish also to dream of a possible conversation with Sonja, but I'll persist with my daydreaming. If, in answer to a question such as “How’s life,” she responds "Fair to middling,” I might have analyzed that, if middling is average, fair is a little below average. Both are below good as most people answer. So if life is good for most people, wouldn't that bring up the average closer to good? Perhaps others, like me, just pretend that everything is okay. Or we don’t want to bore others with an account of our troubles. Perhaps some "cool" guy (thinking now of Aaron) when he gets home, trips over the doorstep and falls flat on his face. Then his mom says, "You didn't make your bed this morning. No supper for you!" Then his computer notifies him "I’ve caught a virus. Not doing well so won’t be working today. Try again tomorrow or maybe next week."
 
5 April, Easter Sunday
This is another special day when everyone is supposed to be happy. When I'm supposed to be happy, it makes me all the more miserable when I'm not. Why am I miserable. Guess I'm lonely. Mom doesn't understand me. Sonja doesn't seem interested in me. But she and Aaron don't seem so friendly any more, so I might, if I build up enough courage, try starting a conversation with her. One way to make myself feel better is to daydream about Sonja and me together, having a good time. But escaping from reality is not so good either. It would be better during this holiday time to get caught up on assignments that are late. It isn’t only dreaming about Sonja that causes a neglect of homework. I have been honing my hacking skills. I hacked into the school’s system but haven’t figured out how to upgrade my marks. Perhaps I shouldn’t be mentioning this as, if I get caught, they might use this diary as added evidence. Perhaps, when finishing writing, I should hide this diary under my mattress.
 
20 April
Aaron overdosed on the weekend and died! Some think it was intentional. Rumour has it that Sonja jilted him. She wasn’t at school today. But why would she jilt him? He had his faults but he wasn't a bad guy. So Sonja is now available, but I couldn't make a pass this soon after Aaron. But what if some other guy does, some good-looking guy with a sparkling personality. Just my luck she would pick up another boyfriend. A counsellor talked to us in class today, telling us not to hesitate to come and talk about how we feel about Aaron. "It's good to express your feelings." Where have I heard that before? What if I told them that I too have thought about ending it all? That would make them pay attention. But that would be like saying "Sympathize with me." Like cutting myself but not bleeding to death. If I did kill myself, I wouldn't want to make others guess if it was intentional or not. I would want people to know they failed to understand me. But that wouldn’t be nice of me––making others feel bad.
 
22 April
"Why stay holed up in your room?" Mom says. "Get some fresh air." It may be true when she says that exercising more would help me feel better, but I don't feel like exercising more. "Why don't you continue practising the guitar?" I don’t feel like it. I can't stop thinking about ending it all. When I find myself thinking about it, and purposefully think of something else, I soon find myself thinking about it again. My schoolwork is suffering. When I'm doing homework, I can't concentrate, so I'm not getting assignments finished. If I did end it all, it wouldn't matter not finishing assignments. In fact, all of my schoolwork so far would be a waste of time and effort. My whole life would be a waste. But Mom has implied that having me gave her a purpose in life. If I did do it, she would be devastated. She knows a bit about suicidal tendencies. If I were acting happy and carefree she might be alarmed. People who decide to end it all often seem happy and carefree after they have made the decision.
 
10 May, Mother’s Day
Would it have been better if I had never been born? Thinking solely of the economic factor, so far in my life I have been more of a consumer than a producer. Thinking of marrying and having children, adding to the world’s over-population would not be good. Thinking of possible continued existence after death, that existence might be no better than my present life. What if it’s worse? Hellfire preachers say that murderers burn in hell, and I suppose I would be judged a murderer if I killed myself.
What started me thinking about existence and nonexistence was the poem I composed for Mother’s Day: 
If we didn't have mothers, I wouldn't be here
Composing a poem again for this year
If not for my mother, I wouldn't be me
Simply stated, I wouldn't be
 
12 May
I overheard guys talking at school today saying that Sonja’s friend Angie is thinking of transitioning into a boy! That would be a shame as she is quite attractive as a girl. She is sort of a tomboy but it’s okay for girls to be tomboys without transitioning into boys. The guy that said that Angie was thinking of transitioning has a girlfriend. The girlfriend probably told him that Angie was thinking of transitioning. Perhaps she just made that up out of jealousy because her boyfriend was admiring Angie. The girlfriend is overweight while Angie is nice and slim. Angie has nice neat breasts––just observing the bulges on her T-shirt. It would be a shame if she got them cut off. Perhaps I should tell her that she’s nice just the way she is. How should I begin a conversation with Angie? “You have nice boobs.” No. She’s quite athletic. Maybe something to do with that. But I’m timid when talking to pretty girls. It would probably be good for me, however, to be more outgoing, making an effort to talk to people.
 
22 May
Well, it's been a while since I last wrote something in this diary. Since I'm writing, it means that I didn't end it all. It would have been too hard on Mom, for one thing. I am, in fact, feeling better. I’ve been going out with Sonja’s friend Angie. She's okay––blond, blue-eyed––but not as beautiful as Sonja. I didn’t mention that I was going out with Angie before this as I was waiting to see how it would turn out. Perhaps “going out” is overstating it. Putting it more precisely, Angie is teaching me tennis. I’ve learned how to keep score––love, fifteen, thirty, forty, game! Angie’s encouraging me, saying that I’m doing well for a beginner, but I have a long way to go before getting to her level. Her encouragement and, though I hate to admit it because Mom told me it would, the outdoor exercise has helped me feel better. And simply talking with someone other than Mom has probably been good for me. Before talking to Angie, I even built up enough courage to talk to Sonja. To my question, “How’s it?” she responded, “Good.”
 
6 June, Saturday evening
It seems that I end up writing in this diary more on weekends than on weekdays. Why? Because I'm lonelier. The weekend is when those who are going out on dates usually go out on dates. I should have asked Angie to go to a movie with me this evening, but I didn't. Why not? She was saying that she had a good book to read. She may have a good book to read, and she may be reading it, but probably she is reading a less interesting book such as the history book that we were advised to read before the upcoming exam. As well as studying for exams, I should be catching up on assignments that I haven't handed in. Funny how we don't talk about what we should be doing. Another thing that I should be doing is handing out resumes in preparation for working this summer. Mom has been bugging me to prepare for work well in advance. I printed out some resumes yesterday and plan to drop off a couple at restaurants. On my resume, for "Experience," I didn't put "Helping my mom wash dishes."
 
12 June
Angie and I got together every day this past week. What were we doing? Studying and working on assignments. I got all my late assignments handed in. Angie even came to my place one evening. Mom arranged for us to study on the dining room table which, I admit, was more conducive to schoolwork than the desk in my room. Mom wouldn't have allowed us to be alone together in my room with the door closed. Not that we would have made out in privacy. Angie and I have kissed, but she says she has promised her dad not to do more than that until she is ready to marry the guy. When I remarked that many young people today are living together without being married, she said that she would consider a common law relationship. I think Mom likes Angie. She brought us nuts to nibble on while we were studying. With Mom, snacks are always something nutritious. Angie and I didn't arrange to go out this evening or tomorrow as that would have been too much togetherness, but we will be getting together again next week.
 
26 June, Friday again, late evening
I haven't been writing because I've been so busy. School's over and Angie and I both did okay. Actually I did better than okay. Now I'm working and this was my first day at work. What am I doing? Washing dishes! It's not a bad job once I get a rhythm going, stacking dishes in trays, feeding the trays into the dishwasher, then setting them out to dry. Pots I wash by hand. During busy times, I need to concentrate on what I'm doing, but during slack times I can daydream. I work five hours a day, six on weekends, with Mondays off. Since I work evenings, Angie and I haven't been seeing much of each other. Working evenings means that I go to bed late which means that I get up late. Thus mornings are shot. Angie and I went out one afternoon but she made a lame excuse for not going out with me tomorrow afternoon. I hope she's not seeing someone else, another guy that is. Perhaps she’s chumming around with her friend Sonja. I have no idea what Sonja is doing. I strolled past her house the other day, but didn't happen to see her.
 
29 June, Monday, late morning
Angie invited me to go jogging with her early mornings. I suggested late mornings as I like to sleep in. She said late mornings were too hot and she's not going to change times to suit my habits. She evaded my question about her jogging alone or with someone. When I tried to guess who it might be if she's with someone, she said, "Hold on a moment." (We were talking by phone.) Then I heard a guy's voice in the background saying, "Can't go with you tomorrow." When she returned to talking to me, she said, "No one will be jogging with me tomorrow." When I questioned her about the voice I had heard, she finally admitted that it was her dad’s voice. He happened to be nearby so she had asked him to say out loud, "Can't go with you tomorrow" just so I would hear a guy's voice in the background. Actually he doesn't go jogging with her at all. When I pressed her again to tell me if someone jogs with her, she hinted, "Sonja might." She knows I like Sonja. "Would you join us?" I knew she was teasing so politely declined.
 
5 July, late Sunday evening
Yesterday, Angie and I went to the lake. She does look nice in a bathing suit. Some of our classmates were there, but not Sonja. We hung around mostly on the beach, but Angie went swimming so of course I had to join her. The water was cold! Angie says she's bored. I suggested she get a job. I'm beginning to sound like my mother. On our bus trip back from the beach, we had a good talk. Then we continued talking as Angie walked with me to work. Then she caught another bus home. This afternoon, I was at Angie's place to pick up my towel and bathing suit. Yesterday Angie took my wet towel and bathing suit to dry along with hers, as I didn't want to take them into the kitchen at work. Angie has a really nice home as they're fairly well off. I met Angie's mom who fussed over me, offering me yet more ice-cream if I wanted it. Angie and I were eating ice-cream. I did accept her offer but I probably shouldn't have as I know that too much sugar isn't good. Diabetes runs in Mom's family.
 
6 July, late again
Angie and I went to a movie this evening as this is the day that I don’t work. And guess what? We didn't have popcorn. I offered to buy popcorn as that's what people eat while watching movies, but she said to save my money for a rainy day. Why pay outrageous prices? It's her dad who talks like that and Angie has somewhat the same attitude as her dad. Her mom, on the other hand, is a bit of a spendthrift, liking the best of everything. My mom is like Angie's dad except our frugal living is because we have to. Angie’s dad, although he is well off, doesn’t like wasting money unnecessarily. Being cautious about spending, or investing, is probably the right attitude for an investment advisor to have. He and Mom are alike also in advising us to take education seriously. Washing dishes isn't a bad job but I wouldn't want to wash dishes for the rest of my life. Studying is harder work than washing dishes but maybe it's worth it. What they say may be good advice: "Finish high school. Get a trade or a degree."
 
11 July, late again
One of the perks dishwashing is getting a free meal. We, that is the cook and the waitresses and I, get a dinner break late in the evening when the rush is over. Lately, however, because of the rising cost of food, the manager has been encouraging us to eat leftovers only and food approaching its “best before” date. For example, we eat day-old bread which is good enough when toasted. Believe it or not, I'm missing Angie while working weekend evenings. Somehow weekends seem to be the time for going on dates rather than Monday evening. I go over to her place for a couple of hours most afternoons but we just hang around and don't do much. Some days her mom fusses over us and other days, particularly when her favourite soap opera is on TV, her mom is in her room. She has a TV there. Angie’s dad is seldom around. He spends a lot of time in his office, often seeing clients evenings and weekends. He says he needs to accommodate his clients, but Angie thinks he prefers being at work than being at home.
 
13 July
Angie’s dad happened to be home when I was at their place today. We talked about economics. Usually the cause of inflation, for example, is when the government finances spending by printing money. A lot of the dollar’s value is because of the demand for dollars in foreign countries. But major foreign countries are now trading in other currencies besides the dollar and investors are shifting funds into emerging market currencies. It could be that disillusion with the dollar will result in a sudden drop in its value. Angie’s dad also commented about spending habits. Spenders are accustomed to buying things, so when, because of inflation, they have to spend more to buy what they want, they just charge it. He thinks that people, instead of trying to earn more to cover expenses, should concentrate on spending less. That might not be what the average economist would say. Prosperity is when people spend, spend, spend. Interest rates need to be kept low to encourage people to borrow and discourage people from saving.
 
20 July
Angie and I happened to meet Padre the Preacher on his way home from church yesterday. He quoted Scripture about the wages of sin being death while God’s gift is eternal life. When I commented that I don’t see Christians living much longer than the average sinner, he said that the apostle Paul was talking about spiritual life and death. Eternal life would be in heaven, or in a resurrected body here on earth––I couldn’t determine which. Death would be cessation of existence, or eternal dying in hell–– I couldn’t determine which. And Jesus Christ is the only “advocate” that God listens to, like a lawyer pleading before a judge on a criminal’s behalf. I asked about Mohammed. We hear of Moslems praying in public places. Are their prayers effective? Padre explained that God has chosen Jesus to replace Satan as ruler of this world. A committee of Bahaullah, Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, and Buddha wouldn’t work. Padre would have liked to preach longer but Angie and I had to be moving on.
 
27 July
Mom gets quite het up when her pet peeve is labelled “conspiracy theory.” Angie didn’t actually use the expression “conspiracy theory” when we were talking with Mom this evening, but Mom caught the suggestion. Actually, Angie was just sounding Mom out. She says her dad believes much the same as Mom. We were discussing pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical companies. They spend billions of dollars promoting their products, with pharmacies, medical societies, doctors, and directly to the public. Mom thinks pharmaceutical companies are no longer primarily interested in public health, but are more interested in profit. The more vaccines and pills they can sell, the better. Mom says there are vaccinologists who challenge the assertion that vaccines have done us a world of good. And rather than cure a person so that there is no need for further treatment, the preference is to keep that person on lifelong medication. Also, because of the sale of hormones, pharmaceutical companies, as well as surgeons, benefit financially from “gender-affirming” treatment.
 
30 July
We got kicked off the internet! Our server said it was because of hate speech, meaning that someone didn’t agree with Mom’s criticism of the popular narrative. For example, she called “gender-affirming care” “medical mutilation.” Usually there are warnings ahead of terminations as on social media sites, but this came unexpectedly. Mom is mad, saying that authorities are not just ignorant but are suppressing the truth because deception is in their best interests. Myself, I can get onto our neighbour’s wi-fi, but I don’t want to give Mom their code as she might post unpopular messages on social media. Our neighbours wouldn’t appreciate having their service deleted. It is concerning, however, that providers are now deciding who they service and who they won’t. Who is making the decisions? Not the fact checkers. It’s those who tell the fact checkers what to check for. Mom says it’s politicians and financers and heads of influential companies and even international organizations that tell the media and internet providers what to allow the public to hear and what not to.
 
3 August
I didn’t mention this before but, because of developments, it’s becoming more relevant. Angie has her mother’s surname, not her father’s. It’s another bond between us as I too have my mother’s surname. The story is, in Angie’s case, that she was born out of wedlock and her mother gave Angie her own surname. Only later did Angie’s mother and father get married. Her father was paying for their support anyway so he thought he might as well get married. And three people living together is cheaper than two in one place and one in another place. Another thing that is somewhat relevant is that Angie is not a Jewess. Although her father is a Jew, her mother isn’t so that means, officially, that Angie isn’t either. Some religious Jews say that the heritage should be through the father, not the mother, but Angie didn’t inherit her father’s dark hair and brown eyes. She is, as I said before, blond and blue-eyed. The heritage that some religious Jews mean, however, is inheriting Jewishness through the father. Angie says she feels closer to her father than to her mother.
 
10 August
One of the “developments” that I mentioned last week is that Angie’s dad’s bank account got frozen. Apparently he contributed to an organization that has recently been designated a terrorist organization. A Palestinian organization? No, an anti-Palestinian organization! As Angie’s dad is a shrewd financier, he still has funds that he can use that authorities don’t know about. But simple transactions like paying household utilities became a problem. The solution was to put Angie in charge of paying household bills. This upset Angie’s mom as she wanted to take charge. However it’s probably better that Angie is in charge as her mom tends to be a spendthrift. So this is the arrangement: Angie’s dad invested, on her behalf, in a reliable company that holds precious metals. Angie can withdraw needed amounts to pay bills, including grocery bills. She couldn’t withdraw a large amount or taxes would be exorbitant. So Angie is now a millionairess. Imagine me now dating a beautiful young millionairess!
 
17 August
Things are going well. Angie is enjoying taking over responsibility for her household. She’s even studying tax accounting, planning on filing her own taxes. I could get her to help when it comes to me filing taxes next year. I will be getting money back since more money has been deducted from my pay check than I should have to pay for taxes. Will I get paid interest on that extra money the government has “borrowed” from me? Little chance! The government should hire Angie as financial adviser. “Don’t buy popcorn at exorbitant prices!” It does seem that the government pays a lot for minimal results. I heard of a study costing many thousands of dollars that determined most young people are content with the sex with which they were born. Mentioning the word “sex” reminds me of the problem of porn. I can access all kinds of porn on my computer but I realize watching porn is not good. I did watch some a while ago and wanted to watch more. It can be an addiction. I don’t want to be an addict.
 
22 August
I got laid off! Once school started, I was going to stop working weekdays anyway, but I had hoped to continue weekends. The reason for laying me off is because business is slack; other restaurant staff can wash the dishes. Not many people are eating out these days because of the economic downturn. More and more people are unemployed and many are going into debt. Once going into debt, it’s difficult to get out. People are comparing it to the depression last century when the economic bubble of the 1920’s burst. But it’s different now. People have been accustomed to the good life for much longer and tend to feel hard-done-by when they can’t continue. They go into debt rather than lower their living standard. And with the national debt, young people are saying that it's unfair that they should have to pay the debt that their parents accumulated. There seems to be no hope of actually paying off the debt; just making interest payments is quite a financial strain. Many countries are in debt. To Who? The world bank? What if a country declared bankruptcy? It would probably greatly devalue that country’s currency.
 
26 August
Well, one good thing about not working is that Angie and I are seeing a lot more of each other. We go jogging together every second morning if it's not raining. I would say "running" rather than "jogging." The other day, we were running side by side and she was talking while I could hardly catch my breath. She said getting up early was good practice for me for when school starts in a couple of weeks. "What's the difference between "jogging" and "logging"? she asked. "Don't know," I panted. "The words start with different letters. You're not so good at spelling, are you!" That’s true, actually. I’m planning on scanning this diary, converting to a computer font, and checking the spelling. Back to today, Angie and I went to the lake for the last time this year. Angie got me swimming again. Swimming is good all-round exercise, she says. Why am I averse to doing things that are good for me? But my eating habits are better than hers, though she is improving. When at her place, we now seldom eat sweet desserts.
 
31 August
It's officially a depression. More people yet have lost their jobs, including Mom. Who will pay our bills now? Angie offered to buy food. Inflation continues apace––the result of printing paper money with little to back it up. There are fewer gas guzzlers on the road because people can't afford to buy gas. There will soon be fewer electric cars also because of projected sky-high power costs. What other power sources are there? Hydrogen. There are some hydrogen-powered busses. What else? Wind power. They could install turbines atop buses. If there was no wind, however, the buses wouldn’t go. Once the buses start moving, there would be wind, the faster the bus moved the more wind. To get a stalled bus moving, they could install peddles by the bus seats and passengers could peddle the bus forward, sort of like galley slaves rowing a boat. Wonder what transportation will be like seventy years from now. If I want to go further than my buggy will take me, I might go by teleporter. But what if I get my destination port mixed up and end up on Mars?
 
1 September
This was our first day back in school. Sonja wasn't there––she and her mom and dad moved out of town. I have her photo on my phone, however. Angie gave it to me. Angie and I are taking all the same courses this year so we'll probably be studying together a lot. I'm okay at English but she's really good. Maybe she can write my book reports for me. I like reading but dislike writing about what I’ve read. And I’ll probably be helping Angie with pre-calc. She’s not so interested in learning calculus, saying she needs math only for book-keeping. She offered to pay my school fees for me but I couldn’t accept her offer; I still have some funds left. School fees could be paid in many different ways, using cards, phones, or computers. But because of charges when using cards and because of the hacking of phones and computers and because the government is trying to faze out cash, I decided to try paying my school fees with cash. If I had had the exact right amount, I could have, but they didn’t have cash to give me change. A couple of students behind me were getting impatient so I gave up trying to pay with cash and paid with my phone.
 
4 September
Angie and I are going to school for breakfast. Churches are sponsoring the breakfast, saying that children (and I don’t like being called a child) need proper nourishment. The breakfasts aren’t bad––cold cereal and fruit. I drink orange juice and don’t have pimples any more. Angie’s dad, frugal as he is, advised Angie to take advantage of whatever is free. Mom is okay with me going for breakfast. In our case, unlike Angie’s case, we do have to watch what we spend. We won’t be able to pay rent when it's due at the end of this month. I don't think landlords can kick out tenants during these difficult times. Same with property owners who are paying mortgages. If banks foreclose on a property, they'll probably let people stay in the house until it sells. What if the house sells and the former owner refuses to move out? Will the police force evacuation? I doubt it. There are more and more people living in their cars or on the street, and there is more and more crime as people steal in order to eat (or buy drugs). The police are busy dealing with them.
 
12 September
Angie's dad left them! Angie is taking it hard but she says he and her mom haven't been getting along for quite some time. She doesn't blame him. Her mom is difficult to live with. He hasn't left her for another woman, as far as Angie knows. He's sleeping overnight in his office, it seems, as there’s a couch there. He took sheets and blankets from home. Investment advisors have been in people's bad books recently since the stock market crash. But he seems to have invested money in something other than stocks. Economists warned that a crash would come some time, but people kept hoping it would be some time in the more distant future. Angie has suggested that we try to get her dad and my mom together.  That seems a good idea to me too. The first thing to do would be to arrange a meeting where they could be alone together if possible. Perhaps, on some pretext, we could get them to go to the restaurant where I used to work. They are both interested in economics. Perhaps we could get them to go to a supposed dinner with a well-known economist.
 
14 September
We did it! I told Mom that I had just heard that a well-known economist from Switzerland, was going to be at an informal dinner at the restaurant where I used to work. No reservations necessary. At first, Mom was reluctant to go, but I persuaded her to take the opportunity to ask questions from a professional. When she agreed to go, I phoned Angie who told her dad the same thing. He didn’t need any persuasion. They both arrived at the restaurant about the same time and were directed to the enclave for the economist’s party. They were given menus and told that an anonymous benefactor had promised to pay for all the meals, up to $50 each. (The anonymous benefactor was Angie.) Then Angie, who was with me in Mom’s apartment, phoned to apologize for the economist, saying that he couldn’t make it to the dinner. When Mom got home, she told me that they both had good meals––as close as they could get to $50 each––and a good talk. After introducing themselves to each other and realizing that no one else was coming to the dinner, they had figured out that it was a set-up.
 
16 September
Mom and Angie's dad have been texting back and forth. (I admit to monitoring Mom’s cellphone so I can read her text messages.). Angie's dad is saying that regulations for the office building that he is in don’t permit people living there. Mom asked me what I thought about inviting him to sleep on our couch until he finds a better place. I said "sure" but better yet would be sleeping in my room. I've been invited, sort of, to stay at Angie's place. Mom was at first reluctant to let me go but I explained that there was a spare room at Angie's place so I might as well make use of it. Mom wanted Angie's mom's phone number so I gave her Angie's number, saying that texting was better than phoning. They started corresponding. Angie has already hinted to her mom that Mom has a boyfriend, but she didn’t, of course, give any hint of who that boyfriend might be. I’m looking forward to moving into Angie’s dad’s bedroom. He and Angie's mom had been sleeping separately for the last few years.
 
18 September
Angie's mom has invited me to stay––actually her. I can move in any time. I think I'll move in tomorrow. Angie's mom agrees that with Mom's boyfriend moving in, it's best that I move out. She might not be of the same opinion if she knew that Mom's boyfriend is actually her husband. I spent a couple of hours at Angie's place today and her mom was really nice to us. I haven't yet seen what Angie calls her bad side. Well, she’s not so nice from either a side view or a front view, or a back view––she’s overweight. But what Angie calls her bad side is her tendency to be critical of people who act in a self-righteous manner. Angie's dad is sort of righteous, but I wouldn't say self-righteous. He promotes what he thinks is right and opposes what he thinks is wrong. Angie says he sometimes quotes one or another of the Ten Commandments. He wouldn’t have trouble obeying the tenth commandment as he has everything he wants, except for a happy marriage. The tenth commandment is about coveting.
 
19 September
Well, I've moved into my new room. It's nice––bigger than my old room. I have a large desk on which I have already put my computer and school books. A bookshelf contains books on diverse subjects such as economics, immunology, and Zionism. Just glancing through a recently published Jewish history book, I skimmed through accounts of pogroms in one country or another, usually Russia or eastern Europe, and the Holocaust of course, and the War of Independence, the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Gaza War.
Twenty minutes later:
Angie's mom called us for a bedtime snack so I joined Angie in the dining room. The snack was tasty but not so nutritious. Mom likes organic fruit but hasn't been buying it recently because it’s more expensive. Angie’s dad is probably now adding plenty to the kitty for Mom to buy organics. And he’s probably paying the rent. He’s not stingy when it comes to family.
 
28 September
Angie and I walked hand in hand to school today. I was a bit embarrassed being seen walking hand in hand, but it's okay. Life is good, for us and for Mom and Angie's dad too as far as we can make out. It’s not so good for Angie’s mom though. She is depressed but puts on a friendly face when I’m around. She is keeping to herself more. Also she is eating more and exercising less. She must have put on even more extra pounds. When it comes to most of the rest of the world, things are not so good. Food prices have soared, particularly imported food. For example, bananas tripling in price supposedly makes things more equitable for third-world countries. (Wonder what the second-world countries are?) I've heard of people going into supermarkets and eating things without paying for them. One supermarket has already eliminated its bulk section and has a sign where the bananas used to be, "Out of Stock." And paying for things is becoming more problematic. Phone apps and cards are dicey. Cash is a problem for both the payer and the payee. People carrying cash could get robbed, and more and more stores are getting robbed.
 
1 October
After school yesterday, Angie and I visited Mom. Dad wasn't there. I've started calling him "Dad" as that's what Angie calls him. Mom told us a story. She and Dad were together one evening playing crib when there was a knock on the door. Mom answered. There stood a big, angry-looking man. He saw, back in the room, Dad just standing up from where he was sitting. "So this is where you’ve been hiding!" the man said. Dad invited the man in and apologized for something. Mom isn't clear on what it was, but Dad later explained that investors are quite upset with investment advisors. Dad and the man seemed to come to an equitable agreement. Mom told me the man's name which I won't mention here. Today Angie and I returned to the apartment when Mom and Dad weren't there. I still have a key. Angie stood guard while I searched through papers in my old bedroom. I found a list of names of Dad's clients with their personal info. I memorized the info beside one particular name. When I got home––I now call Angie's place home––I looked up that name and think it is the same person that Mom spoke about.
 
3 October
Today Angie and I were at Mom and Dad's place again, and Dad was there this time. Angie brought up the subject of the angry man coming to the door and made a little joke about it. "You might have told him, 'I just got "bull" and "bear" mixed up.'" We joked around a bit but I kept the conversation revolving around the man. At an appropriate moment, I asked Dad about the spelling of his name––"the usual . . ." and I spelled it. "No," he said "it's a different spelling. Why do you ask?" "Just curious," I responded. An explanation of why I asked: As I said on the 2nd October page, I looked up the name that I had found among Dad’s records. Yesterday, I managed to get more of his personal info through devious on-line tactics.  But that was all of no use as it was the wrong guy. But it was a learning experience for me––learning certain tricks on line. People might call it hacking but I call it getting informed. I hacked into our school’s system again just to check on things. No thought of trying to adjust my marks as I’m doing well this year.
 
4 October
Dad asked me yesterday, ”Do you know where your name, Daniel, comes from?" "From my grandfather," I replied. "And how did he get his name?" When I said that I didn't know, Dad explained that originally it was the name of a Hebrew lad taken captive to Babylon. He did what he believed to be right, refusing to compromise. (He also ate healthfully.) I could read about him in the bible in the book of Daniel. The conversation about prophecy ended with him advising Angie to find the bible he had given her, blow the dust off it, and the two of us read the book of Daniel together. Well, Angie found the bible and commented that it didn't have, nor need, a dust jacket. In the bible we read half the book of Daniel. There's the story of Daniel in the lions' den. But the lions didn't touch him. The king, after rescuing Daniel, ordered that the men who had goaded him into throwing Daniel to the lions be themselves thrown in, together with their wives and children. The lions had quite a feast. I speculated that they may have begun with the tender young children, or they might have saved the best till last. Angie didn't appreciate my speculations.
 
9 October
We were over at Mom and Dad's place again this evening. We were talking about the book of Daniel, which Angie and I finished reading. Because footnotes in the book of Daniel referred to the book of Revelation, we read that too. So we talked about the violence prophesied by Daniel. Toward the end of the book, Daniel predicted that there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations came into existence. If correlating this with Revelation, it seems that there will be natural disasters as well as man-made problems. Religious extremists are saying that the present increase in natural disasters is God's judgment. We also talked about people getting a mark on the hand or forehead in order to be able to buy and sell. Somehow, the number 666 fits in. To Angie and me, this all seems rather mystical. Dad talked about the danger of digital currency where all monetary transactions can be monitored. It seems that the pressure to move away from cash is because some people are using cash in their transactions in order to avoid taxes. There is a law that no transaction should be made involving over $10,000 cash.
 
11 October
If there is a nuclear war, the situation would deteriorate a lot faster than now. Survivors might have enough food to eat but a lot of the food would be contaminated. We would probably be eating mostly vegetables as animals would have an accumulation of radioactive substance in their meat. And because of mutations, we would probably limit procreation. Imagine a baby being born with three arms. On the other hand, it might be handy to have an extra hand. I shouldn’t joke. There is, supposedly, great international effort to prevent nuclear war. More power to the U.N. to keep nations in line would ensure peace, they say. The problem, though, is possible nuclear terrorism. Terrorists could threaten to blow up a city if a government doesn't do what they ask. Then there’s talk of a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere which would knock out unprotected electronics. EMP, they call it––electromagnetic pulse. Cash registers in stores wouldn’t work so the teller wouldn’t be able to add up purchases. And, if added up, customers wouldn’t be able to use a card or phone in order to pay for what they’re buying. Phones would be fried.
 
15 October
We got hit! Angie and I got home from school to find a police car parked in front of our house. I thought I'd been caught, having done something on line that I shouldn’t have done, but when we got inside the house, Angie’s mom explained that we had been burgled. When she had returned from her weekly bridge club get-together, she noticed that her old video camera was no longer on the counter where we had left it. Angie and I had left it there, planning on using it on Halloween. Since Angie’s mom was sure it had been on the counter before she left to play bridge (she was thinking it should be put away in its proper place) she searched the house, finding other valuables gone including all her jewelry. Examining the back door, she found that it had been jimmied. She phoned the police who had taken three hours to get there, their excuse being, so Angie’s Mom said, that they were very busy investigating other crimes. The police asked me about my laptop which had also been stolen, so I gave them particulars. Neighbours said they saw a man with a duffle bag getting into an old van parked near our house.
 
16 October
After school today, we checked a local pawn shop, then hit the grocery store. Joke! "Hit" in this case means "went to." We didn't rob the store. We bought groceries. We selected slightly damaged fruit and vegetables and managed to get a discount on them when we showed the store manager what we had selected. Next time we’ll try getting a discount on yogurt or cottage cheese that is nearing its best before date. We didn’t want to try this time as it might have been asking too much all at once. Angie paid for the things we bought today using her phone and her bank account. We are not hard up, but pretending to be may be advantageous. The reason we were buying groceries is that Angie's mom says she doesn’t feel like grocery shopping. She doesn’t go out much anymore, not even with her bridge buddies. She’s sort of depressed, staying in the house with doors locked and windows bolted down. She doesn't do much inside the house either. Angie and I cooked supper today. If we have a bedtime snack, we'll be getting it ourselves.
 
17 October
Today we checked out the other pawn shop in town and noticed a video camera for sale that looked like ours. Dad had recorded the serial number of our camera––Angie’s mom’s camera, that is––and we had with us a slip of paper with that number written down. We checked the serial number. The camera was ours. Confronting the owner of the shop, we promised not to report to the police that he was buying and selling stolen goods if he told us who sold him that camera. At first he was in denial, but when he saw that we were serious, he said he would point the suspect out to us if we were in the shop when he came in again. Meanwhile, we told him, he wasn’t to sell the camera. If it wasn’t there when we returned the next day, we would report him to the police. Even before we got home, Angie phoned Dad to tell him what we had found. When we got home, we didn’t tell Angie’s mom about it. She was in her room and when she emerged later in the evening, complaining about the way the world was falling apart, we didn’t feel like explaining anything.
 
18 October
Angie and I spent the day in the pawn shop in a corner where we were told we could wait. I promised that I wouldn't create a scene if the suspect came in. We would follow him to see where he went after leaving the shop. What were we doing while waiting? Studying, believe it or not. Angie's good about doing schoolwork so we have agreed to work at it instead of wasting time. We studied all day, looking up whenever someone came into the shop, but the owner gave no indication the suspect had come in. Studying involved, as well as books, using the new laptop Dad bought me, a really nice one. He’s generous with family. I’m still annoyed over losing my old laptop though, as I lost, among other things, an essay that I was writing for our literature course. Wish I hadn’t left the laptop home that day, or at least transferred the essay to my desktop computer. My new laptop is linked to my phone so I know its location even when it is turned off. Same with Angie’s laptop and her phone. She located her phone once using her laptop. She had left her phone in her locker at school.
 
19 October
We skipped school to spend the day in the pawn shop. In the afternoon, a man came in with some things to pawn off. The shop owner gave us a nod and Angie phoned right away, "Can you pick me up, please, Dad?" That was the pre-arranged sign. Then we ambled out of the shop, getting a good look at the suspect as we went. We hung around until he came out. While Angie stayed behind waiting for Dad, I followed him until he got into a grey van. I memorized the licence plate number. Just as he took off, Dad pulled up with Angie, and I got in. We followed the van, always lagging a bit behind, till we saw it pull into a driveway. Dad drove to the police station, telling them the story and giving them the address of the suspect. I gave them the licence plate number of the van. Angie added a description of the man. They commended us for our investigative tactics. The conversation shifted to online scammers and I said how I would really like to catch them. They told me there was a counter-fraud course coming up and, if I were interested, they could get me on the course. I said I was interested. I was, in fact, very interested.
 
20 October
They got him! The cops, with a search warrant, went to his house, arresting him after finding a number of stolen items in the house. Included in the items they found were parts of laptops––parts that would be of some value if sold. Tomorrow I’m going to the computer lab where the parts now are to see if I can identify parts from my laptop. I’ll take some tools with me and my new computer that Dad bought for me. It’s similar to my old one, but faster and more powerful. Hope I can at least get the info off my hard-drive so I won't have to rewrite that essay. We got some of our things back that were stolen, including the video camera. The police confiscated it from the pawn shop, giving the owner a severe warning. Angie and I kept our promise not to tell the cops, but Dad told them. The thief that got arrested had his mugshot taken and fingerprints taken and then was released! No room for him in jail. Too many homeless people are managing to bribe their way into getting incarcerated so that they have nice warm accommodation and three meals a day.
 
21 October
After school today I went over to the computer lab, taking my new laptop with me. Among the parts, I found two hard-drives of the type in my old laptop. I opened up my laptop and carefully removed the hard-drive, replacing it with one of the two possible hard-drives similar to mine. I put the laptop back together and entered my passcode. It didn’t work. So I tried the other hard-drive. It did work! The technician there in the lab was quite impressed with my work. I asked her if I could take the other hard-drive home with me to try to unlock it. If I could get info off it, that info might help them locate the owner. She agreed, making me promise to bring the hard-drive back within a few days whether or not I managed to access it. So at home this evening, I opened up my laptop again, put that hard-drive in, and began trying to unlock it. A couple of hours later, I finally did it! I’ll write more about it tomorrow, but now I want to finish writing in this diary while it’s still the 21st of October. I’m looking forward to going to bed.
 
22 October
I took the hard-drive back to the computer lab, with a stick containing all relevant info. The technician was quite impressed, saying she would recommend me for the up-coming anti-fraud course. Afterwards, Angie and I went over to Mom and Dad’s place. We discussed something that I had read on that hard-drive, about a probable spike in stock prices of a company making implantable microchips such as those being implanted just under the skin in some animals. The chips can be scanned to tell the animal's name if it has one, birthdate, parentage, medical history up to the time of the implant, and so forth. There is room for much more information on the chip. I asked Dad if he would consider buying this company's stocks and he said he definitely wouldn’t. The reason seems to be more of a moral aversion rather than it being a risky financial investment. He said if he were going to invest in stocks, he would invest in a company manufacturing Geiger counters. He’s thinking of the possibility of nuclear explosions as in war, not simply a mishap at a reactor. Geiger counters would be used to detect radioactive contamination.
 
29 October
I got on the course and it starts next week! When I told the school that I would be missing a couple of weeks of classes, they phoned the computer lab. I must have got a good recommendation as they readily gave me permission, saying I could catch up on missed schoolwork later. Angie can fill me in on what I've missed. I'll probably still go to school with Angie for breakfast and then bus over to where the fraud course is being held. I won’t be the only one missing school. A number of students are sick with the flu. Supposedly, it’s a variation of the bird flu but Dad says it’s essentially influenza. He and Mom, and also Angie and I, didn’t get the shot that would supposedly protect us from this flu. Dad speculates that most if those now sick got that shot. But health authorities say that the shot mitigates the sickness if a person does get sick. I didn’t write about this before, being negligent this past week, but there was even talk of closing schools as in COVID years. Most students are wearing masks. Some teachers also, even when teaching!
 
1 November
Angie and I went out yesterday evening dressed for Halloween. Angie was in a smart outfit like a reporter and I was the cameraman with Angie's mom's video camera. We had heard that guys from another school were going to dress up like terrorists and shoot out surveillance cameras around town using air guns. After a bit of searching, we found them––a group of six. Two of them had airguns and one had a mock-up submachine gun. The two with the airguns were shooting at a surveillance camera outside a bank. I got some shots (with our camera) of them shooting at the camera. Angie asked one of the others what they were doing, although that was obvious. “Ask them,” he said through his mask. Angie got him talking a bit more about “freedom” but by this time the two had finished shooting and we wanted to interview them. One of them didn’t want to be filmed talking to Angie but the other agreed to a short interview. He said that he was a freedom fighter hitting back at those surveillance cameras monitoring the populace. I got a close-up shot of his masked face.
 
2 November, Monday
Yesterday was the end of daylight savings time, meaning I could sleep for an extra hour this morning. Today was the first day of the course. It’s great! There are five of us in the class––three men and two women. I’m the youngest. We sit in front of computers loaded with special hacking apps. The instructor, and he’s a really knowledgeable guy, has a supercomputer which he lets us use when needed. I'll write more about the course later, but now I'll continue with the Halloween story. City Hall that owned most of the video cameras, and also the bank and shop owners were upset, naturally, over getting their cameras shot up. I handed over to the police the audio/visual recordings that Angie and I made. They said the audio recordings would help with voice recognition. The videos of the shooters would prove vandalism and the sizes and postures of the two would help identify them. The close-up shot of the one guy’s masked face might help, but for iris code recognition I should have been closer yet.
 
6 November
It’s been an intensive week. I’ve learned a lot, but I won’t write about it. This evening, Angie and I and Angie's mom watched videos that Angie's mom and dad took of family life from when Angie was a year old all the way up to last summer. Dad had bought the camera for Angie's mom, the best video camera at that time. Anyway, I really enjoyed watching the videos and seeing Angie grow up to what she is now. One video was on her eighth birthday. She was about to blow out the candles on the cake when her mom asked, "Aren't you going to make a wish first?" She wished for a nice boyfriend. "Did you get your wish?" I asked. The videos prompted a discussion on family dynamics. Better too much or too little? Angie’s mom tended toward ”too much” as with household ornaments. Angie’s dad tended toward “too little” as with childhood vaccinations. Ingesting sucrose was another point of discussion. What about money? Better too much or too little? “The more you have, the more you have to worry about,” Angie said. “What about fueling airplanes,” I asked.
 
13 November
Today was the last day of the anti-fraud course. The instructor was really good but I was even able to give him a couple of pointers. He commented that it looked like I'd had a bit of practice. Only two of us, out of a class of five, have been invited to join the fraud squad. We can begin work right away. And I want to. Come Monday, I’ll contact the school, giving them a letter from our instructor saying that I would be a valuable asset to the fraud squad. As well as fraud, there is a lot of crime and violence, more in the democratic countries, it seems, than in the totalitarian countries. I guess, in the totalitarian countries, the police and army are respected more. The fact that the media portrays a better order, comparatively, in the totalitarian countries suggests a globalist influence. U-tube videos and translations into English also portray comparative peacefulness in those other countries. The devaluation of fiat currencies has not affected them as much as us. We are made to feel that, as well as being in economic turmoil, we are in moral decay.
 
17 November
First day at work! It’s a great job but I won’t write much about it. It's good to stop scammers from harming society, except most of them haven't been stopped. Jails and prisons are full so they are free while awaiting trial. Those who do go to prison, however, don't have to worry about enough food to eat. They are well-fed. For many others, buying food is a problem. Besides high prices, there are long line-ups outside of stores where people are buying scarce commodities. Eggs, for example, are hard to come by, probably the result of so many hens being culled. Angie and I are fortunate, getting free breakfasts. And we, as well as Mom and Dad, don’t have to worry about a shortage of money with which to buy necessities. What about those who don’t have enough money? What about people who steal from grocery stores? If they are honestly broke, that might be okay, but if they're broke because they've spent their money on cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs, that's not okay. But a more equitable distribution of the necessities of life might be good.
 
18 November
This is how my day typically begins: Angie and I walk to school together and have breakfast. I'm entitled to these free breakfasts since I’m still a student. The school is allowing me to hand in assignments and write exams without having to attend classes. After breakfast, I catch the bus to work. One of my first projects involved connecting with a credit card company to obtain a certain credit card. The card number, expiry date, and CVV number would seem authentic. The name that someone spells out or types in is irrelevant. When the scammer tries to process the payment, he actually downloads spyware gathering as much info as possible about him. If it’s a phone conversation, the problem of the transaction not going through properly can be dealt with by one of us pretending to be a credit card rep. Not me, however, as my voice isn’t authoritative enough. Then I gave these nameless cards to Angie, Angie’s mom, my mom, Dad, and the guys at work. They would give that credit card number to any scammer who happened to contact them by phone or computer.
 
19 November
This is how my day typically ends: I get home later than Angie. She has already bought groceries, so we cook supper together. Today, before supper, we put a wash on. We do most of the housework. Angie's mom has become even more of a recluse, keeping in her room most of the time. Angie thinks she’s embarrassed about being overweight. To continue with what Angie and I did today, after supper we hung the clothes on the clothes line as the forecast is for sunshine tomorrow. We seldom use the drier because of high power costs. Then I helped Angie with her/our school homework. I said “our” as I’m still a student taking the same courses as Angie. We finished our social study assignments and emailed them in. I wrote about the problem of people becoming accustomed to benefits. A couple of sentences in my essay read, “Free or subsidized food for young people may not be a good thing. It makes them think that they have a right to eat, so if they are not provided with food, they steal instead.”
 
27 November
At work, I’ve had to deal with a number of precious metals scams. As well as scams, burglaries are a growing problem. We don’t deal with burglaries but we do advise people how to keep their purchases as safe as possible––through a reliable company dealing with precious metals, in a bank safe, or at home. Actually, even in a safe at home, it’s not so safe. A burglar could force a person to open the safe. But I don’t want to go on and on about problems. I’m thankful that I have a good job whereas many are out of work. I’m thankful that I can continue my education. I’m thankful that I have a generous girlfriend with plenty of money. I’m thankful that I have a nice home––two homes in fact. I’m thankful for a caring Mom and Dad. (Through connections at work, I think I can get Dad’s bank account unfrozen.) I’m thankful that I’m living in this part of the world rather than in a more totalitarian country. And I’m thankful that being thankful has put me in a good mood where I’m really enjoying life.
 
30 November
Dad's been travelling! He has supposedly been to a number of different countries. At work I have access to international records on millions of people around the world. For kicks, I looked up the info on Dad. Most of the info on him seems accurate, though they don’t know about his clandestine investments. But he hasn't been travelling. It’s identity theft. I phoned Dad right away and was assured that he still had his passport in safekeeping. Passport forgeries are getting more and more sophisticated. The guy with the forged passport entered a certain country last week. (I notified the department that deals with forged passports.) He's probably still in that country. They may not get him when he exits, but should get him when he enters the next country. They are guessing from his travel pattern what that country might be. I'm now getting involved with the forgeries department as well as my other work. Because passport forgeries are now so sophisticated, they're thinking of including iris code recognition in passports.
 
1 December
Because of mounting problems when buying or selling using cash, cards, or phones, the media is advocating an implanted microchip in the back of the hand. Each person would have a unique number––not one for the birth certificate, another for social insurance, another for the health certificate, another for the driver's licence, another for the debit card, another for the passport, and so on. When buying something, sticking your hand under a scanner would be even simpler than tapping a card. There has been a substantial outcry against this proposal, particularly on certain social media sites. (They claim censors are deleting comments on other sites.) More pushback even than when implementing digital currency. Back then, they were complaining that with digital currency, authorities could track all of their transactions even when the digital currency isn’t one backed up by the banks. But what financial transactions would people be trying to hide? Principally transitions avoiding the eyes of tax collectors.
 
5 December
Today was the Santa Shuffle. All runners needed to pay a registration fee with the money collected going to charity. Angie, who likes running, and other runners agree that giving to charity is good, but it should be voluntary. Runners shouldn't have to pay a registration fee. So, in protest, she and a number of other runners joined in the race anyway to interfere with those who had registered. I joined them. The idea was to purposefully get in the way of other runners. The girls would block guys and the guys would block girls, figuring that there would be fewer fights that way. I got in the way of a couple of nice-looking girls. One was really fast––I had to give it all I've got to get in front of her. Then I slowed down, getting in her way. In the ensuing exchange, I explained that, with the depression, only the comparatively rich could pay to run. (I didn't tell her that I was among the comparatively rich.) She responded, "Why do you have to run here? Why don't you run on the road in front of the cars?" Angie got in the way of a couple of guys and got felt up. We'll see if the organizers change their registration policy next year.
 
6 December 5:15 pm
Power still off! Shortly after 5 pm yesterday, everything went dark. Angie and I hadn’t begun cooking supper but if we had we couldn’t have continued as we have an electric stove. We considered getting out Dad’s camping equipment in order to cook supper but instead just ate from the fridge. It was somewhat romantic even, eating by candlelight. We went to bed early as there wasn’t much else to do. By morning, the house was cool as our furnace needs power in order to run. Once there was enough daylight, Angie and I studied a bit for the upcoming exams. Couldn’t go shopping as stores were closed. When going outside, we talked to neighbours who were also strolling around outside. One neighbour thought the power cut was due to a malicious cyber attack. From other neighbours and from a battery-powered radio with the camping gear, we learned that the electric company was working hard to get the power back on. It seems that something unexpected happened when there was an increased load due to colder weather and numerous Christmas lights.
9:14 pm. Power back on!
 
8 December
We’re getting a wood stove installed in the rec room––Dad’s recommendation. The installers were busy today and say they’ll finish tomorrow. The reason it takes some time is because of the necessary fireproofing and the connection to the chimney. December might seem to be an odd time to do it but during these hard times the company really appreciates the business. The reason we’re getting a stove instead of making it a fireplace is because a stove is more efficient. We should be able to heat the whole house this way, if need be. And if need be, we could cook on the stovetop. Dad is going to send a friend with tools and material to extend the roof on our garden shed so that we can pile firewood underneath. Angie and I will be helping him. Back at Mom and Dad’s place, they have only electric heating. That is a problem during blackouts and more blackouts are projected, though for only a few hours at a time and only in certain sections of the city. Because of an inability to keep up, blackouts are planned in order to prevent brownouts. We will be forewarned.
 
10 December
We got the guy with the forged passport and the passport forgers also with all their forging equipment. Dad had given me a tip on how this identity theft might have happened. He had clicked on what he thought was an official website and filled out the form. However the address of the website was slightly different from the official version. We were able to locate the owner of this variant website and, through plea bargaining, got him to tell us to whom he sold people's personal information. Shortly afterwards, the guy with the forged passport tried to enter another country. The photo on the passport was his own but everything else was identical to Dad's own passport. Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for him, he was entering a country where the regime is not averse to using persuasive means (in other words, torture) to get information out of a person. The information we got out of him enabled us to track down the forgers. The police in the country where the forgers were operating said they were busy attending to more important concerns, but with diplomatic pressure they raided the forgery shop.
 
14 December
I got the morning off at work in order to write an exam at school today, and I’ll write another tomorrow. Think I did okay in today’s exam. Angie, of course, is writing the same exams. Today, as we did also yesterday, Angie and I drilled each other while we were cooking supper. On the subject of food, the government is considering subsidizing basic foods such as bread and dairy products. The pro, naturally, is that it makes basics more affordable. But there are several cons. One, as I mentioned in my social studies essay, is that people then expect certain foods to be cheap. There were riots in Egypt when the government tried to stop subsidizing bread. Another con is that it costs taxpayers a lot of money. Also there is more waste. For example, I heard of farmers feeding subsidized bread to their cows because it was cheaper than grain. But if seeds are subsidized, and even if they're not subsidized, Angie and I are planning to get vegetable seeds to plant in our back yard next spring.
 
15 December
Another power outage, but this time planned, beginning precisely at 6 a.m. Because of supply problems, the electric company intentionally blacked out a certain section to avoid a brownout. So Angie and I didn’t go to school for breakfast this morning, eating some fruit and granola here at home. As we felt we had studied enough for the exam, Angie did some housework and I worked on building a cage to protect our computers and phones from a possible electromagnetic pulse. We would put our laptops and phones in the cage overnight. We kept in touch with the school to find out if exams were still on, and were told that the power would be back on well before exam time. And it was. Some students were hoping that it wouldn’t be. The power came back on at 9, we went to school, began writing the exam at 10, finished before 12, ate lunch at Mom and Dad’s place, and I started my afternoon’s work at 1. I missed only 3 hours of work since my workplace is in the same power supply area as the school and our home.
 
16 December
No blackout this morning. Angie and I wrote the exam––we both think we did okay––and then I headed straight for work. Angie went home to finish a paper that was due. A convenient development: Dad answered an unknown caller who said he was representing a multi-millionaire who was divesting himself of his silver coin collection. Because he thought that the value of silver would take a downturn, he was selling the coins slightly below their value. The representative, however, hinted that although the price of silver may in fact go down slightly, in the long run it would go up. Most of the coins, the representative said, were already sold. Anyone wanting to get in on the deal, needed to respond right away. So Dad bought a number of coins using the special credit card number. Because the transaction didn’t seem to be going through, supposedly because of a credit limit, the scammer got connected with our head scammer catcher at work. We think we can track him down.
 
18 December
Angie and I finished writing exams. We think we did okay and will find out for sure when our marks are posted on our private accounts. (Not as private as people think as, with my hacking ability, I can see everyone’s marks.) We finally got Christmas decorations up––LED lights of course. A little late but better late than never. I haven’t yet bought Christmas presents for Angie, Angie’s mom, my mom, and Dad. Not sure what to get as they have all they need. For Angie’s mom, I’ll probably get something that she doesn’t need, but likes––chocolate. As well as preparing for Christmas, Angie and I, with a little help from Dad’s friend, extended the roof of our garden shed. Then we ordered firewood and piled it underneath. I’m going to buy an ax, unless I get an axe as a Christmas present, with which to chop kindling. I’ve already hinted that an axe would be a nice Christmas present. Maybe I’ll get Angie vacuum-cleaner bags. On the other hand, she might not appreciate the joke.
 
24 December in the afternoon
I’m writing this now because this evening will be busy. Angie allowed me to unwrap my Christmas present early. It was obvious what it was––an axe. I’ve just finished chopping some kindling. We got some old newspapers from Mom and Dad and I’m soon going to light a fire in our new stove. We plan to cook supper on it. Tomorrow, we won’t try to cook the goose on the stove but will use our oven. There is no power outage predicted for Christmas Day. I would prefer turkey or even chicken to goose but turkey and chicken are hard to come by as so many have been culled due to bird flu. Dad says birds are being culled even when they don’t show any symptoms of the flu; they are just testing positive. Somehow, geese and ducks don’t seem so susceptible, or else they are imported from a country where the flu isn’t prevalent. And they are selling at an exorbitant price! Angie bought the goose saying it was her Christmas present for the family. We’ll cook it for our mid-day meal tomorrow and take what’s left to Mom and Dad’s place for Christmas dinner.
 
26 December, Boxing Day
Well, Christmas is over for another year. Angie and I had an okay time here with Angie’s mom, and a good time with Mom and Dad when we went over for Christmas dinner. I'll relate an incident when Angie was about to take the goose out of the oven. I butted in front of her and checked the thermometer inserted into the goose. The internal temperature indicated that the goose was ready to be taken out. I told Angie, "Your goose is cooked." She gave me a wry smile. Today, Boxing Day, is the day when people box up their unwanted Christmas presents and store them to pass on next Christmas. A person needs to remember, however, not to give the present back to a family member or friend of the person who gave the present in the first place. There are also other stories of how the day after Christmas got its name. One that I like is that it became a sports day and boxing was one of the sports. In those days, boxing was often done bare-fisted. Some stores on Boxing Day had super sales before closing for good. Poor Christmas-season sales meant that they were giving up.
 
29 December
We made the decision! Angie and I signed up for chip implants but, because there's so much demand, we won't be getting them till sometime next year. Mom, who’s now as religious as Dad, has remined us of what the apostle John predicted in the book of Revelation. The mark of the beast would be on the right hand or the forehead. We’ll get the implants on the back of the left hand, so there’s little or no chance of it being the mark of the beast. According to the apostle John, people without the mark won’t be able to buy and sell. Mom and Dad aren’t getting the implanted chip. I doubt that people without the chip will ever be barred from financial transactions, but if it does happen, Angie and I can take care of Mom and Dad. With the economic downturn and the devaluation of the dollar, Dad's investments must have suffered, but he doesn't seem concerned about it. If he does have problems accessing funds, I may be able to help him, like I did getting his bank account unfrozen. I have multiple connections through my work.
 
31 December
Well, this is the end of the diary and I won't start another. When I started this, I couldn't have imagined how I would be ending it. Last New Year’s Eve, I stayed up watching TV while my mom went to bed. This New Year’s Eve, I am taking the opportunity to write in this diary while Angie is attending to her mom. Her mom likes an evening snack. Usually she gets it herself but lately Angie has been getting it for her. Soon, probably, Angie will be back in the living room––a more spacious and luxurious living room than the one in Mom’s apartment where I spent last New Year’s Eve. We plan to watch TV––fireworks in distant capitals where it has already turned 2026. Because of the worldwide economic downturn, only certain cities are shooting off fireworks. Angie and I may stay up till midnight but we probably won’t. Life is a game and we're winning. Mom and Dad––to think I'd be calling someone "Dad" by the end of the year––say that if life is a game, believers will win in the end. Haven't thought recently about what it might be like seventy years from now. And it's been weeks since I last thought about Sonja.​