Yikes!

Recently I watched Psycho on Turner Classic Movies.  Remember what a stunner it was when first released? Good olde Alfred Hitchcock. Guess I have become numb to the horrors of the possibility of getting stabbed in the shower. I found it to be a captivating and relatively calm movie by today’s standards or lack thereof. I also found it rather amazing that the only two things I remembered about that movie were the shower scene and the one in which the rocking chair spins around and Norman Bates' mother is revealed in all her skeletal glory.  As for the rest -- it was like I was watching it for the first time.  Now I am wondering if Wait Until Dark is still as terrifying. One blind woman against three sadistic men who terrorize her and anyone watching the movie.  As for Deliverance ... the terror lives on a bit.  I still have a problem with banjo music.

To think that I spent years peering through the shower curtain while I showered and disliking to drive through the forests of southern states.  The transformation is astounding when I think about it. Nowadays it is people in hockey masks that scare me in a startling way... or .. anything that even smacks of the opening music of Jaws.  Actually my first encounter with Jaws was the book, and as I sat reading it in my back yard, I picked my feet up off the ground and looked around for fins.  Later on that summer when at Rye beach in New Hampshire, I didn't go into the ocean more than knee deep and even that was scary.  

Obviously, it's been a long time since I have been to a scary movie. Further --  I am totally out of my Stephen King phase - books or movies. It's more than the fact that he is now just way too woke for me. Guess I am at that point where I am no longer in the mood to be terrified.  The real world is sometimes scary enough.  Just watching the news can put me on edge. That's why I frequently go on "news blackouts".  I figure at my stage of the game, I am an easy target in way too many situations. The mere thought of walking through a parking lot to get to my car sometimes makes me sweat.  This nana no longer runs. 

The thing is -- I have not given up hope that things will be better after January 20th... Inauguration Day ... in case you have forgotten.  Things are already better.  I feel like the world is already a safer place than it has been for the past four years. One can feel the sigh of relief. I think of it as the great exhale. Then comes the fresh air. I think that I may even watch the news again -- at some point -- maybe.  

SPAM RISK... 'tis the season....

 

On occasion I realize that some small thing is annoying me.  This week it is spam calls that somehow slither through the spam blockers on my phones – both landline and cell. Yes -- I still have a landline.  The reason I do is that calls to 911 can be tracked if you call from a landline.  (You know -- even if you are unable to talk.) Our emergency system cannot track cell phones in such circumstances - at least not in my county...at least not yet.  I know this because I called them to check. They are working on it. I should probably check again to see how things are going.

Back to spam calls. The vast majority of them come to me on Mondays and Tuesdays, but they come in on other days as well. They do not discriminate as to day.  This week a Pam Cornish called and someone from Humboldt, IA. (Humboldt, by the way, is a lovely city in Humboldt Co., Iowa that had 4,792 citizens as of the 2020 census – up 340 people since the census of 2000.)  I am also wondering now about Jacksboro, TX. I will have to do some research. There were also a bunch of calls that came up on Caller ID as SPAM RISK.  Duh… The best though is that I received yet another call from myself. It is startling to see your own name come up on Caller ID.  Those "to self calls" are the ones I like the best, and I am actually tempted to answer to see with whom I am speaking. I know for sure I would not be talking to myself. I don't need a phone for that. Whoever is on the other end of the line, I bet they are concerned about my car warrantee, think I need a reverse mortgage, or are calling because there is something wrong with my computer and they need access to fix it. Oh, and just last night the Fraud Department of Amazon called from the 716 area code and left a message.  They were fearful that a recent charge for an expensive computer had been made to my account.  Surprising really.  I think they usually just email from Uzbekistan or somewhere.  I forget. 

This day in age one would think that technology could help with this.  They would be wrong – obviously. Spectrum's NOMOROBO doesn't even work that well. Or -- perhaps technology could help, but doesn't -- on purpose. Technology has taken on a life of its own. It's a bit unnerving.

If my grandson is here, he sometimes answers such calls in Spanish or... in a made-up language or... pretends he is someone who reminds me of that banjo playing savant kid from the porch in Deliverance .  In this modus operandi he tells them that I am out feeding the pigs. (I may have suggested that.) Actually, he has a variety of approaches. A couple of days ago when he was here, he answered in his normal voice and then just listened with no response until the spammer hung up on him. I personally rarely answer any of these calls. Instead, I just slide my finger to block caller. What's frustrating though is that there seems to be no end to the numbers they call from, and I wonder what would happen if I block the number they are using and it is the number of someone I know and would never ever want to block.  Then there is the case when a friend’s name appears on caller ID, I answer, and it is some spammer. So annoying.

One time (a very long time ago – even before cell phones) when I was telling an FBI friend about creepy "breather" phone calls I was receiving, he told me about trapping a line.  The phone company can do that or at least they could at that time. Once the line is trapped – the caller could be identified and be unable to make calls - at least I think that's how it worked.  It was a long time ago.  Ah – the good olde days. I never did get a trap on the line.  I just told the creepy "breather" caller that I had one and the calls stopped.  I think, by the way, that the creepy caller was the same person(s) who was/were breaking into my house and creepy crawling through in the dark while dropping lit matches along the way.  Double creepy. Never caught him or/and his buddy either. I always knew who they were though. Still do.  But I digress....

Alas... this is the age of the spam caller.  The times that are the worst are the days preceding a primary, midterm or Presidential election. Bet you already noticed that this week.  Here we go.... 'Tis the season…  The 2022 Pennsylvania primary is the 17th.  Oh -- by the way  -- if you live in Pennsylvania, get out and vote. Maybe the people you elect now to run in November can eventually do something about phone spammers.  Fingers crossed, but not holding my breath on that one. Guess they figure they have more important things to accomplish.