Hey everyone,
Hope you are all doing well. As always, I’ve maintained my inability to stand still for any appreciable period of time.
I went back to New Zealand a couple of months ago to sell my beloved BMW (Australian customs would have charged me $20000 to import it to Sydney). I got a 4 day contract at Wellington Hospital, so they paid for the flight. There were 2 interested buyers, one of which offered $1000 more than I was asking for, and didn’t need to see the car. It was a Chinese lady who wanted to import it to China for her sons birthday. She asked me if I had a PayPal account, so she could arrange an immediate transfer of the money. I got an email from PayPal later that day, saying that a deposit had been made, but I checked my account, and no money was there.
An email came from them saying that the money was being held in an intermediary account, and as a security measure for both buyer and seller, I needed to deposit $3000 into their Western Union account before the funds could be released.
I emailed them back saying “if you’re PayPal, why are you using Western Union for your money transfers? You should have those facilities yourself.” They replied saying that the Chinese division of PayPal was having technical problems, and that I should transfer the money as soon as possible.
I read the account details and noted the account to be in the name of a Nigerian guy. I called Paypals help line, and quoted the reference number. They had never heard of it. I held my head in my hands.
The ‘buyer’ emailed me back asking why I hadn’t paid the money yet. I replied:
“You can’t fool me. I’m Nigerian, too. You give our people a bad name. Stop emailing me, and I promise not to go to the police.”
They did email me back, but not in english, rather in one of the Nigerian dialects. I don’t speak any of them, but I imagine they were saying something in the nature of “Your mum f@#ks goats”, or something like that. While I didn’t go to the police, PayPals fraud division are onto them, and I hope they burn in Hell.
Needless to say, I ended up going with the guy who offered me $2000 less than the asking price, and insisted on a full inspection and documentation, as there was some repair work that needed to be done.
I haven’t actually bought another car since then, as most of what I do is fairly close to where I live, so it just wouldn’t be worth it.
My capoeira team put together a theatre production called Brazilian Myst, illustrating the history of capoeira from Africa, through slavery in Brazil, upto present day. I got to play the lead, made even better by my getting to use my parents African accent. Performing it was great fun: it ran for a week. However, the lead-up was 6 weeks of pain and logistical obstacles. I was on nights during performance week, and still had other stuff to do during the day, so the word ‘tired’ simply couldn’t describe the way I was feeling towards the end, but it was worth it- everyone who saw it said they really liked it, and learned a great deal. Even the Brazilians.
We filmed the DVD a couple of weeks ago. We tried to film it during the day before the final theatre performance. In 3 hours (it’s a one hour play), we filmed one and a half scenes. There are 13 scenes. We arranged to continue another day. I wanted to start at 7am, but most other people wanted to start at 10. 11hours later, with tempers fraying, and people demanding to go home, we got it finished. When the editing’s done, you’re welcome to see it.
On the women front, some of you have already read this story, but I think it does have universal appeal:
"Lara" is a girl I've been seeing. Between our going on a couple of dates, and our actually getting together, we lost contact for a couple of months. In between, I was out in Manly, and approached a girl, and we got on pretty well, and so asked for her number after 25minutes. Her name was "Anna". I suggested a meetup, and she said that I should call her, and we'd talk about it.
I SMSd her the next day. No response. I messaged the following day. No response. Tried again 4 days later. No response. Tried again 4 days after that. No response. After a few weeks, I gave up on her, and Lara and I started communicating again. We were having a text exchange while she was out to lunch with a friend. Halfway through, Annas name appears on my phone. I stared at my phone quizzically and thought "why the f@#k's SHE messaging me?". I opened the message and it read:
[Hi Victor, this is Lara. I'm messaging you from my friends phone because I've run out of credit on mine. It would be great to see you next week]
Just think of the odds. I replied:
[no problem. By the way, say "Hi" to Anna for me]
She replied in hysterics.
Between that time and Lara and I getting together, I messaged Anna:
[Question: why did you ask me to call you?]
Anna: [ I really don't think I need to explain myself. I think it's best that we don't talk]
Me: [ trust me- I'm not going to call you. I'm just questioning the philosophy behind giving your number to someone you don't want to talk to.]
No reply.
The first night I stayed over at Laras, she told me she was moving to Melbourne soon. I saw her at a bar the next week, and she said that she was looking for a housemate to move into her room, and that Anna would be the person most likely to do so.
The second night I stayed over, she confirmed that Anna was definitely moving into the room. I asked her if she was going to be leaving her furniture behind, and she said yes.
With this in mind, I couldn't stand in the light of discovery and not act. I waited a week after Anna moved into Laras old room, and then did something on the behalf of all good men who have been flaked upon by women everywhere (which is basically all good men). At about midnight on a weekday, I messaged Anna:
[That bed's really comfortable, isn't it? ;)]
No reply.
Keep flying the flag.
Victor.
