Peaceful Resistance

I really, really, really dislike telemarketers. But you know, who doesn't. Still, I have fun with them on occasion. I let them talk, I answer their questions. I use answers that have nothing to do with the questions they asked. And then I feel better about them having interrupted the game I was playing.

But recently I've found there's nothing I can do. Recently I've been getting a ton of pre-recorded messages, all of which have an incredibly annoyingly perky voice on the other end that makes me want to yell at her to shut up because she can't be that happy about her job and having her voice be the one that makes millions and millions of people cry out in agony and then be silenced.

I was going to try to actually get ahold of a person on the last such call I got. But I failed. I stepped away from the phone for a few seconds to let the recorded message talk, and by the time I came back, there was no more noise. I tried pressing buttons, assuming they simply were waiting for input, but that only gave me a dial tone. So I guess that next time I have to actually listen to the whole thing.

But I find that I have to wonder how many sales they get from such annoying calls. Especially with these calls being about lowering my mortgage rate. That'd be really impressive if they could actually do it. But rates seem to be going up, not down. Which would matter more if I had a mortgage.

Still, I will have to try again. Hopefully next time when I'm not in the middle of a mob that're busy throwing molotov cocktails my way. That's a really bad time for your phone to ring.

"Hold on guys, this'll just be a minute. Mind pulling out a deck of cards for some solitare?"

Mr. Apathy to Save the Day!

I was lazy this year. I didn't end up having a Halloween costume. I was given several ideas, but just didn't feel like bothering, as they were all so much work. All but "software engineer", but it doesn't really count. Still, I spent some time thinking about costumes walking in to work, and have decided that I'm going to have to get a group together next year. So many costumes, we'd be "10 ways to wear a sheet". I wanted it to be 101 ways, but I'm not sure I have that many friends. It might be hard enough to get 10 of them together.

Still, there are tons of ideas on costumes involving only a sheet.

• Ghost
  
• Roman (Toga)
  
• Shepherd
  
• Angel
  

Then, if you can /modify/ the sheet, although only the sheet can be seen, you have lots of other choices.

• Mummy
  
• Marshmellow
  
• Snowball
  
• Cotton ball
  
• Sock
  
• Failed Math Exam
  

But through it all, there's my favorite. It's like the ghost, easy in simply throwing a sheet over your head. But having a laser pointer might make it more understandable when you claim to be E.T.

Yeah, next year I'm going to have to have a better costume. Perhaps I can use the sheet as a cape and be the superhero "Mr. Apathy". While not bothering to actually wear the sheet. Or attend the party.