Part 2: The Hacker Strikes Back

Normally, when one receives an email from a person of questionable identity, one simply ignores said email and sends it the way of the cyber garbage disposal. Or, in the case of Ms. So Freaked Out Here, one has a good laugh before completing the above-mentioned steps.

However, my friend John (who informed me yesterday that he also happened to receive Ms. So Freaked Out Here's email) decided to take things one step further: he replied.

After about 10 hours from the time the initial email had been sent (7 hours, mind you, after her flight had left poor Teri behind, as she was still being held hostage at the hotel), John responded:

Teri, if you still need help, please write me back. I will be happy to help you pay your hotel bill...

Ms. So Freaked Out Here only too readily answered:

Glad you replied back,well all i need is $2,500 is just i promise to pay you back as soon as I get back home,my flight leaves in less than 3hrs from now.you can have it wired to my name via Western Union i'll have to show my passport as ID to pick it up here. Here's my info below
Teri Shipps
33 Gloucester Place, London, W1U 8HY,England
As soon as it has been done, kindly get back to me with the confirmation number and the full sender's name on the receipt. Let me know if you are heading to the WU outlet now and how long it will take you to get back from the western union outlet???

Pretty convincing, huh?

I'm thinking that Ms. So Freaked Out Here should meet up with with my good friend Tom, whom I actually had the privilege of meeting in person one night while practicing at the HFAC. Tom knocked on the door to the room in which I was practicing and proceeded to tell me the heartwarming story of how he was recruited off of the streets of NYC for admission to Juilliard after the head of the audition committee happened to pass by him whilst he was playing his guitar on the street corner. (FYI, Dr. Holden [my piano professor who earned one of his degrees from Juilliard] informed me that being "recruited" to Juilliard is about as likely to happen as a forest of coconut trees naturally sprouting in Antarctica).

While we were on the subject of his life, Tom also related to me the agonizing account of the long hours he'd spent composing the music for August Rush (a new release at the time), only to be thoroughly betrayed by the movie producer who did not pay him for his work nor even put his name in the movie credits.

Tom wondered if I'd ever learned how to play Fur Elise, a piece of music that he assured me was one of the great masterpieces of our time, and a big hit at Juilliard. He also made me a confidant in his plan to be married on 08/08/08, though upon my congratulatory remarks and questions about his fiancee, he admitted he had yet to find a willing companion.

Yes, indeed, Tom and Ms. So Freaked Out Here could be such good friends...common interests, common talents, common IQs...too bad 08/08/08 was two years ago. Tom is probably settled down into a nice professorship at Yale by now, married with a couple of kids.

Poor, poor Ms. So Freaked Out Here. What a beautiful match it could have been.