This is one of my stories that I'm thinking of publishing. It's written particularly for teenagers.
Daniel's Diary
1 January 2025 How to begin? Not with "Dear Diary." Diaries are more of a girl's thing, but I'm a guy. Why am explaining that I am a guy? Well, when I was born, the doctor designated 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 fifty years from now, say when you are seventy-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 can imagine you with your croaky voice ordering your robot car "Take me to the bingo hall. It's about time for me to win something." 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 New Year's 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.
17 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. And an empathetic father would be great. 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. Wonder if he 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 for almost a month, 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’s 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 Antartica has decreased from what it was ten years ago, but some are saying that it has actually increased. 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 as she is adopted. 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 adoptive 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.
8 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 his 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.
9 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. Whenhe 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 sometimes refer to as the joker. He likes to play pranks on people. His locker is near mine. Between our lockers is Gerry’s locker. Gerry is a quite serious guy. 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 Gerry came and unlocked his locker, leaving his unlocked combination lock hanging on his locker door.
continued from Sunday When Gerry wasn’t looking, the joker switched locks with his, an identical-looking lock. Finishing getting books from his locker, Gerry locked it, not realizing it wasn’t his lock. The joker waited until Gerry left, then unlocked Gerry’s locker and pasted pornographic photos all over the inside of the locker door. Then he locked the door with Gerry’s lock and locked his own locker with his own lock. The joker wanted to be there when Gerry opened his locker so went to the lockers after each class finished, but Gerry didn’t go back until the end of the day. (Joke on the joker!) At the end of the day, the joker was at his locker with his phone out ready to take a video. Gerry 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. I won’t go into detail about the subsequent “conversation” but the joker recorded it all. It ended with Gerry 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. Probably giving my name and phone number to investment agents was “Sophia’s” vengeance act.
14 February, Friday evening If Friday the 13th is unlucky, today was close. In class today, Mr. Bergman asked me a question, but I got it wrong! Anyway, Sonja must realize that he asked me because I'm one of the best in the class at pre-calc, better than Aaron. (Aaron has been helping Sonja with pre-calc. I don’t know for sure, but I assume, and here I am imagining the worst, that they have been studying alone together at her place.) After class, as we were passing, Sonja smiled at me, but I couldn't offer to help her with pre-calc after making such a dumb mistake. Angie also smiled at me. She's nice, but not as nice as Sonja. She’s slender like Sonja, quite athletic in fact, blond, blue eyed. She doesn’t have a boyfriend that I know of. So that's the extent of my love life on Valentine's Day. 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 or I could go home and console myself. A lonely man must have coined the saying that a dog is a man’s best friend.
9 March, 10 pm I usually go to bed about 10:30 but I should go to bed earlier this evening as I won’t be getting so much sleep––changing to daylight-saving time tonight. 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. 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. Mom pays the power bill for our apartment so we do that 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.
28 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 but I don't feel like it. I’ll speculate on the situation fifty 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.) Shame on you, goggling girls like that. You're past it. It's only in your mind!
29 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. Dreaming of a possible conversation with Sonja might be foolish also, but I'll persist with my daydreaming. If, in answer to a question such as “How’s life,” she had responded "Fair to middling,” I might have analyzed that, if middling is average, fair is only a little below average. Both are a fair ways 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. Perhaps some "cool" guy, when he gets home, trips over the doorstep. 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."
20 April, Easter Sunday This is another special day when everyone is supposed to be happy. When I'm supposed to be, 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. Angie seems interested but I don't want to be seen with her in case it ruins my chances with Sonja. Sonja and Aaron don't seem so friendly any more. 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.
28 April Aaron overdosed on the weekend and died! People are thinking it was intentional. Rumour has it that Sonja jilted him. Why would she do that? He had his faults but he wasn't a bad guy. Since Sonja wasn't at school today, she may need help catching up with the pre-calc that she's missed. But I couldn't offer to help 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. Thinking again of Aaron, he didn’t seem down. Was it an accidental overdose? If I were to do it, I wouldn't want to make others guess if it was intentional or not. I would want people to know that they failed to understand me. 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. That wouldn’t be nice of me––making others feel bad.
30 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.
11 May Today is Mother's Day and I had to think up a poem again for the card that I gave her. I have to admit that she is a better than average mom. It must be difficult being a single mom, having to work to support us. This is the poem that I thought up: 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 Would it have been better if I had never been born? Sometimes I feel that it would have been. Thinking solely of the economic factor, so far in my life I have been more of a consumer than a producer. Thinking of being born, growing up, marrying, and having children, adding to the world’s over-population is not a good thing. Thinking of possible continued existence after death, that existence might be no better than my present life. What if it’s worse than my present life? Hell-fire preachers say that murderers burn in hell, and I suppose I would be judged a murderer if I killed myself.
12 May I overheard guys talking at school today saying that 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.
18 May Gerry gave me a web address. Checking it out, I heard a preacher quote Scripture, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” But we sinners still die! Death, apparently, is eternal death as contrasted with eternal life. I’m not sure if I believe in existence after death. If there is, I hope it’s better than life is for me at the moment. But actually life isn’t so bad. I didn’t end it all, obviously, as I was thinking of doing a while back. It would be too hard on Mom. I am, in fact, feeling better. Angie and I have been going out together. I didn’t mention it in this diary before this as I was waiting to see how it would turn out. Seems to be turning out okay. Angie is teaching me tennis. She’s encouraging, saying that I’m doing well for a beginner, but I have a long way to go before getting to her level. Before talking to Angie, I even built up enough courage to offer to help Sonja with pre-calc, but she declined––gracefully. Perhaps she didn't want people to think that I was simply a replacement for Aaron. She's not going with anyone that I can tell.
1 June It seems that I end up writing in this diary more on weekends than on weekdays. Why? Because I'm lonelier. I should have asked Angie to go to a movie with me, but I didn't. Why not? She was saying that she had a good book to read over the weekend. 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. Because Mom has been bugging me to prepare for work well in advance of the summer season, I printed out a resume yesterday and dropped off a couple of resumes at restaurants. On my resume, I couldn’t put mom as a reference, although she would probably recommend me, so I put Mr. Bergman as we have a good rapport. For "Experience" I didn't put "Helping my mom wash dishes."
7 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. It may not mean actual marriage, but at least ready to commit to 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.
27 June, late Friday 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? Guess. 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. I have no idea what Sonja is doing. I strolled past her house the other day, but didn't happen to see her.
1 July, 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. It probably would be good to go jogging but early morning is not the time for me.
6 July, late Sunday evening Yesterday afternoon, 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. She's a good swimmer. But the water was cold! Seems like she's not seeing someone else. She's bored, she says. Get a job, I say. 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.
7 July, late again Angie and I went to a movie this evening as this is my day off 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. Her mom would never buy anything in a second-hand store. 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. That’s 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."
13 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. That's okay as he himself eats the same way. For example, we eat day-old bread which is plenty good enough when toasted. Believe it or not, I'm missing Angie while working weekend evenings. Somehow weekend evenings 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 spends a lot of her time in her room. She has a TV in her room. 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.
24 August I got laid off! Once school started, I was going to stop working weekdays anyway, but I didn't expect to get laid off. The manager did say that I was a good worker and I could use him as a reference. The reason for laying me off is because business is slack. Not many people are eating out these days because of the economic downturn. People are comparing it to the depression of 1929 when the 1920s’ economic bubble 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. Younger 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.
28 August Well, one good thing about not working evenings 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. We are limiting our consumption of the three "s"s––sugar, starch, and salt.
31 August It's officially a depression. Many people have lost their jobs. 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 fifty 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?
2 September, evening This was our first day back in school. Sonja wasn't there––she and her mom and dad moved out of town, so I learned. Mr. Bergman is now the principal. He's an okay guy. Paying school fees for the semester is now quite complicated. I’ll describe how it went: Mum had given me cash with which to pay the $150 fee. I had first said that I could pay it myself as I have a couple of thousand in savings in the bank. But she countered that I was saving that for a new computer, which is true. Then, because she had given me eight twenties, I asked her if she didn’t have a ten so I could give them the exact amount. She said she was interested in finding out what would happen if I tried to pay in cash but needed change. So I tried to pay the fee with Mom’s $160. They had to unlock a drawer to bring out a cash box, but the cash box had only coins in it! They could have given me $10 in coins, but they didn’t want to. Meanwhile, the kids in line behind me were getting impatient, so I paid with my phone.
3 September Angie and I are taking all the same courses 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. A book is either good, mediocre, or not worth reading, although I admit that we don't all have the same taste. I don't like the romance stories that Angie likes. But analyzing a book at length bores me to tears. To a question such as "How does the author develop the plot?" I might respond, "There is no pot in this story" (confusing the words "plot" and "pot"). Angie and I will be going to school for breakfast. Her dad, frugal as he is, probably advised her to take advantage of whatever is free. We'll find out if we can eat as much breakfast as we want. We might just stuff ourselves so that we don't need to eat lunch. Mom is okay with me going for breakfast. In our case, we do have to watch what we spend. We might not be able to pay rent when it's due at the end of this month. Mom says she'll offer to pay half of it and the rest when she can. I don't think landlords can kick out tenants during these difficult times.
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 is 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 most of his money in bonds rather than stocks. Perhaps he sensed this crash was coming. He does seem sensible when it comes to finances. 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.
13 September We did it! I told Mom that I had just heard through the grapevine that Dr. Meler, the well-known economist, was going to be at an informal dinner at the restaurant where I used to work. No reservations necessary these days. At first, Mom was reluctant to go, but I persuaded her to take the opportunity to ask questions from a professional. When Mom 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 Dr. Meler’s party. It was just the two of them there. They were given menus and told that an anonymous benefactor had promised to pay for all the meals, up to $50 each. (Actually it was two anonymous benefactors––Angie and me.) Then Angie, who was with me in Mom’s apartment, phoned to apologize for Dr. Meler, 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.
25 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.
25 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 numerous books, mostly on economics but also on a variety of subjects. Interestingly, there are a few books on immunology. Wonder if he’s also an anti-vaxer like Mom. Mom doesn’t like being called an anti-vaxer. She is against the overabundance of inoculations, particularly for children. Twenty minutes later: Angie's mom called us for a bedtime snack. Although I wasn’t so hungry, as we had eaten an extravagant supper, I joined Angie for the snack. The supper and the snack were tasty but perhaps not the healthiest. Mom likes organic fruit and vegetables but recently hasn't been buying them because they are more expensive. Here at Angie's place, expense isn’t a concern as her dad pays the bills. Back at my old place, he's probably adding plenty to the kitty for Mom to buy organics. And he may be paying half or all of the rent. He’s not stingy when it comes to family. But Angie and I still eat breakfast at school.
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.
2 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.
4 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.
5 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.
10 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, and another prophetic book, Revelation. Dad thinks some of the prophecies are being fulfilled today. He 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. It seems to us––that’s Mom, Dad, Angie, and me––that the present economic woes are a result of overspending. Mom and Dad’s generation were living beyond their means. Not to exonerate our generation either. Kids are complaining that they are hard done by. Of course the media likes to feed us bad news. Never-the-less, it does seem that there are more floods and typhoons than usual. People are blaming climate change but I'm not so sure about that. Statistics are being fudged, so some say. The sea level may have risen a millimetre or two. Religious extremists are saying that the increase in natural disasters is God's judgment.
12 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.
22 October We got hit! We 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.
23 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 which Dad tops up anonymously. 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 any more, 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.
24 October Today, after school, we checked out the other pawn shop in town and noticed a video camera for sale that looked like our’s. 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.
25 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.
26 October He came! We were in the corner when 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 the driver's seat of a grey van. As I came up behind 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.
27 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. I've offered to go to the computer lab where the parts now are to see if I can identify parts from my laptop. 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.
28 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 got one of the batteries and some other components that could well have been from my old laptop, and got one of the hard-drives rotating. Then I connected the contraption to my new laptop and entered my passcode. It didn’t work. I tried the other hard-drive. It did work! I transferred the essay and other info to my new laptop. The technician there in the lab was quite impressed with my work. I asked her if I could try to unlock the other hard-drive and she said that I could. It took me over an hour to unlock it but finally I did! As she wasn’t there right then, I skimmed through the files. What I saw jives with what Dad has been saying. I’ll write more about it tomorrow. When the technician came around, I explained how I had managed to unlocked it. She was impressed and told me that she would recommend me for the up-coming anti-fraud course.
29 October The person to whom that hard-drive belonged was interested in stocks and bonds. He or she (I refuse to write “they” when the subject is most probably singular) seemed to have inside information on a probable spike in stock prices of a company making embeddable microchips such as those being embedded 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. That suggests he is thinking of the possibility of nuclear explosions, and not simply a mishap at a nuclear reactor.
30 October I got on the course and it starts next week! When I told Mr. Bergman that I would be missing some school, he phoned the computer lab. I must have got a good recommendation as Mr. Bergman congratulated me on being accepted onto the anti-fraud course and told me that, since I was a bright student, I could catch up on missed schoolwork later. Angie can fill me in on what I've missed. Mr. Bergman knows that we are going together. 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. The media is calling it a variation of the bird flu but Dad says it is essentially influenza. He and my 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.
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 surveillance 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 monitoring surveillance cameras who wanted to control the populace. I got a close-up shot of his masked face.
3 November This was the first day of the course. It was also the end of daylight savings time, meaning I could sleep for an extra hour this morning. The course is great! I'll write more about it, but first I'll continue with the Halloween story. The bank and shop owners were upset, naturally, over getting their video 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. To tell more about the course, 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 teacher, and he’s a really knowledgeable guy, has a supercomputer which he lets us use when needed.
7 November It’s been an intensive week. I’ve learned a lot, but I won’t write about what I’ve learned. 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 discussions on family dynamics. One of the “discussions” between Angie’s mom and dad had been whether Angie should receive childhood vaccinations. Angie’s mom thought that she should while Dad thought childhood vaccinations often did more harm than good. Dad got his way. Now, as a teenager, Angie could get almost any vaccination she wants but has decided not to.
14 November Well, it's been a while since I last wrote. I've been really busy. Today was the last day of the anti-fraud course. The teacher 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. There is a lot of crime and violence as well as fraud, more in the democratic countries, it seems, than in the totalitarian countries. I guess, in the totalitarian countries, the police and army are more feared. 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. We are made to feel that we in the first world countries are endangering the world with our militancy.
18 November This is how our day typically begins: Angie and I walk to school together and have breakfast. I chat with the guys, telling them that I’ve now got a job using my computer skills. Since I'm also still a student, I'm entitled to these free breakfasts. After breakfast, I catch the bus to work. Work is great! One of my first projects involved connecting with a credit card company to obtain a certain credit card number. There could be multiple names connected with that card, but in a transaction the person expecting to receive funds would see only the name of the person giving him the card number. Then I gave the number 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. Instead of the transaction being completed, the program I devised would gather as much info as possible about the scammer.
19 November This is how our day typically ends: I get home later than Angie. She has already bought groceries, so we cook supper together. Today, before we cooked 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 seen, overweight as she is. Apparently, when she was younger, she was quite attractive, like Angie. 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. Although Dad is paying the bills, it's still better not to use the drier when possible. Power costs are sky high. Then I helped Angie with her/our school homework. I said “our” as I’m still a student taking the same courses as Angie. Mr. Bergman has encouraged me to continue studying along with Angie. I’ve even written a few assignments and emailed them in. Only after finishing our homework could we relax.
28 November I shouldn't write much about work so I won't. I've helped catch quite a few crooks. It's good to stop them 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. Angie and I are fortunate, getting free breakfasts and Dad paying for any other food we need. "Do to others as you would like them to do to you,” Dad quotes. I guess the negative is true too, "Don't do to others as you wouldn't like them to do to you." That would include not stealing. But 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.
2 December, late afternoon 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. Work and school were cancelled. Never-the-less, once there was enough daylight, Angie and I did study a bit for the upcoming exams. But mostly we treated it as a holiday. We went outside only to talk to neighbours who were also strolling around outside. Couldn’t go shopping as stores were closed. From 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!
3 December 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 except he hasn't been travelling. 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.
6 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.
8 December, writing this the morning of Another blackout! It began at precisely 6: 14 this morning. This time the electric company is saying that power will be restored shortly to our area. Because of problems, they intentionally blacked out certain areas to avoid a brownout. The previous blackout they are now attributing to a malicious cyber attack. Now they are asking people to use only LED Christmas lights, and to use clothes dryers and to recharge electric cars only during non-peak hours. So Angie and I have another holiday. As we didn’t go to school for breakfast, we ate some granola, with milk of course, here at home. Then, while Angie was doing housework, I worked on a 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. Continuing now in the afternoon: The power came back on late morning, too late, in our opinion, to go to school or work. I phoned work and learned that only a couple of faithfuls were going in.
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 and when this identity theft might have happened. He thought his personal details were compromised when he clicked on what he thought was an official website. 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. 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, together with the information from the owner of the variant website, enabled us to track down the forgers. The police in the country where the forgers were operating said they were busy attending to a more important concern, but with diplomatic pressure they raided the forgery shop.
11 December Mr. Bergman is allowing me to write exams even though I’ve missed over a month of school. I wrote one this morning––think I did quite well on it––and will write another tomorrow. Angie, of course, is writing the same exams. Some students are hoping for another blackout but if there is one it would probably be only in the morning. Then the exam would merely be postponed to the afternoon. 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. The con is that it costs taxpayers a lot of money. Also there is more waste. For example, farmers might feed subsidized bread to their cows because it's 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.
12 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 term 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.
13 December Because of mounting problems when buying or selling using cash, cards, or phones, the media is advocating an embedded 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. The chip could also be used instead of security log-ins for computers. Those who like to use cash are complaining about digital currency. Authorities can 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. Even Jesus, however, indicated that we should pay due taxes.
14 December To continue the discussion about currencies, the American dollar is losing its prominence internationally. That is causing insecurities also in related currencies. Thus all these calls to buy precious metals and all these scams that we are dealing with.. We don’t have to deal with the growing number of burglaries of homes storing these precious metals, but we advise people how to keep their purchases as secret as possible. But I won’t write about work as this is a more personal diary. I’m thankful that I have a good job whereas many are out of work. I’m thankful that I can continue my education. Believe it or not, I’m actually relishing the challenge when writing the exams. Last year at this time, I was dreading the exams. I’m thankful that I have a nice home––two homes in fact. Angie and I haven’t been over to Mom and Dad’s place much recently because we’ve been so busy, but we’ll be going over there a lot during the Christmas holidays. And I’m thankful that I’m living in this part of the world rather than in a more totalitarian country. The media may suggest that life is better in other countries, but I’m not sure about that.
16 December We’re getting a wood stove installed in the rec room. Dad is paying for it. 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. Just before Christmas 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 though blackouts these days are for only a few hours and are in only certain sections of the city. They are planned and we are forewarned.
20 December It’s been a while since I last wrote. My excuse is that I’ve been so busy that when evening comes, I just want to go to bed. Angie and I finished writing exams. We did okay. We finally got Christmas decorations up, 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 these days as so many have been culled due to bird flu. Dad says birds are being exterminated 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.
27 December 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. After Christmas was Boxing Day, 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 some time next year. We’ll get the implants on the back of the left hand. Mom and Dad are refusing to get them, saying that it could be the mark of the beast. Dad explained that the apostle John, in the book of Revelation, wrote about people receiving a mark on the right hand or the forehead. Without the mark, they wouldn't be allowed to buy or sell. I very much doubt that people without an embedded 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. He's as generous as ever, as with paying for the installation of the stove in our rec room. If there ever is a problem with him funnelling money to Angie can keep funnelling money to Angie, I should be able to fix it. 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 fifty years from now. And it's been weeks since I last thought about Sonja.