People I Thought I'd Never Hear From Again (or, Your Bald Head Looked Like I Rock To Me)

Twice, this weekend, I was contacted by people I never thought I'd hear from again. First, one of my friends used to have a friend that turned out to be a PSYCHO. This person was never my friend, just an acquaintance that I saw on a semi-regular basis. When checking my email, Saturday, it turns out this person found me on Myspace. I got one of those "How have you been...everything is great here...I hope you don't mind me checking in on you...just hoping everything is good with you." There was a lot of extra fluff in the message. None of which I needed or wanted or-and this may sound cold-really even cared about knowing. I feel the need to qualify this a little. I get along with almost everyone. I don't hold grudges very well, unless you are one of a select few that meant a whole lot to me. And, I am not one of those people that has to not like you when one of my friends doesn't like you. I don't see the point of holding someone else's baggage against you. However, in this instance, the person I am referring to, is someone that upon meeting them, I had always thought was a little off. I was wrong, this person truly is psychotic. Not boil your bunny on the stove because you ended a relationship psycho, mind you. But, they definitely don't get that when their friend broke off contact by saying "I never want to hear from you again. Stop trying to contact me," it was not an open invite to contact that person's friends when the ex-friend doesn't return their phone calls/messages/threats/pleas for attention. It's sad that they can't let it go. Maybe, it's sad that I am blogging about it.

The second occurrence was actually someone I didn't mind hearing from. It was my ex-mother-in-law. I know that may sound kinda weird, but I loved my ex-in-laws. They always treated me great. As soon as I started dating their daughter, they started to treat me like part of the family. They did a whole lot for me when I was married to their daughter. And, although my ex is one of those few people I mentioned above, about holding grudges, I told my ex-in-laws that if they ever needed anything that they could call me. Well, imagine my surprise when I received a text message yesterday evening that said, "Hi Larry, this is (x) my number is (y) please call me". Figuring, something may have happened to someone, or that they needed some help with something, I called. I haven't talked to her in almost exactly four years. It turns out, they are both retired and are moving halfway across the country. They found something that my Grandfather had given me and that I had left in the car that eventually ended up as theirs. They were wondering if I wanted it back. We talked for about 20 minutes about a lot of things (we're both long winded, it could have lasted a lot longer, but my phone died). However, at the beginning of the conversation, we both made sure that the other knew that there weren't ever any hard feelings but with the situation being what it was it was easier to not have contact. I found out about my nieces, and heard some other stuff. She found out about my job changes and returning to school. At one point she said something to which my response was, "I don't think I was ever happy, but, getting married so young, I didn't have anything to compare my lack of happiness against. Now I know. I am much happier." To which her reply was, "Oh, honey, believe me, you are much better off. MUCH BETTER OFF." I chuckled to myself. That, my friends, is what you call VALIDATION.

Now, on to more interesting stuff. The Steph and I were having a conversation last night. It was morbid to begin with but it was also interesting. We ended up looking up this list of unusual deaths on Wikipedia, so take these with a grain of salt, but here are a few of my favorites:

-458 BC: Aeschylus, Greek playwright, was killed when an eagle dropped a live tortoise on him, mistaking his bald head for a stone. The tortoise survived. (I think I need to reevaluate the possibility of shaving off all of my hair. We have a whole lot of eagles that nest near a turtle infested river, only a few miles from our house during the fall and winter months.)

-207 BC: Chrysippus, a Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of laughter after watching his drunk donkey attempt to eat figs. (Ladies and Gentlemen, this proves the saying "Everything in moderation". He tried to go too funny, too fast.)

- 336 AD: Arius, the heretical priest who precipitated the Council of Nicea, passed wind and evacuated his internal organs. (There have been a few times when I was afraid this would happen to me.)

-1410 AD: Martin I of Aragon died from a lethal combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughing. (I got nothin)

-1673: Molière, the French actor and playwright, died after being seized by a violent coughing fit, whilst playing the title role in his play Le Malade imaginaire (The Hypochondriac or The Imaginary Invalid). [Over actor]

-1912: Franz Reichelt, tailor, fell to his death off the first deck of the Eiffel Tower while testing his invention, the coat parachute. It was his first ever attempt with the parachute and he had told the authorities in advance he would test it first with a dummy. (In my estimation, he did use a dummy. I probably shouldn't judge)

-1979: Robert Williams, a worker at a Ford Motor Co. plant, was the first known man to be killed by a robot. (It's just a matter of time folks. I watched IRobot, I know.)

Here is the link to the very extensive list of unusual deaths. I thought the few I picked were pretty fun. At least as fun as death can be.