introducing my (FAKE) daughter

for one product at work, we're starting a new campaign using this picture:


everyone loves the picture because the little girl is VERY cute. one person, who doesn't work out of our office, sent an email asking if the little girl was someone's daughter. to that, another person sent the following reply (with my permission of course!):

Do you remember when you asked about that girl? Well - I really didn't want to give any information away at the time but...the little girl is actually Reena's daughter. She doesn't like people to know about her because she had her when she was only 16. She gave the girl up for adoption but has managed to maintain a nice relationship with her.

When it was time to do the ad, they actually were spending the weekend together and this is actually a photo she took of her! Reena is actually very talented, we do not use her to her potential.

So there you go - a little tidbit of information for you. If you look at the photo again, don't you see a little bit of a resemblance - now that I have said something?

the email amuses me :) i realise this could TOTALLY backfire on me even though i had little to do with it.. which became more of a worry when the person who sent the email didn't get a reply back after a few days (but he had been replying to her other emails). she recently left a message on his voicemail letting him know it was a joke.. *phew* (i hope).

anyway, a little bit about my (FAKE) daughter:

• her name is maya
• she's 8-9 years (according to the email)
• she lives in ricmond hill
• her favourite earrings are the ladybug earrings i gave her (the ones she's wearing in the picture
• she's such a girly girl

the many faces of teacherBoy (part three)

teacherBoy just called me!

teacherBoy: i think i should come clean with you, so here it is. *deep breath* i have a girlfriend.
me: i figured as much..
teacherBoy: we wrote that first email to you together.
me: ah.. you could have written that with a little more tact.
teacherBoy: then i wrote the second one on my own.
me: i would have appreciated it if you were honest from the start.
teacherBoy: that's why i thought i should call you. my dad pressured me into calling you the first time.
me: yeah, that tends to happen.
teacherBoy: well, i wish you the best of luck.
me: to you as well. hopefully you'll be able to come clean to your parents sooner than later.

yeah, this ended as i expected. i'm glad i at least got a story out of it, that must count for something :)

the many faces of teacherBoy (part deux)

quick recap: teacherBoy called me unexpectedly thursday night because a friend of my family had given him my phone number without me knowing he had done so. we agreed to meet with arrangements to be made over email. well.. i received a crazy email that bluntly said not to contact him ever again. then later the next day i received a second email saying the place to meet was good, time wasn't. so who was it that wrote the first email?

since no one i talked to knew teacherBoy, sonal, a girl i've known since she was a fetus, took his email address from me and added him to msn in hopes he had a picture of himself as a display picture.

friday teacherBoy emails sonal asking who she is. she didn't reply, obviously. then when they both were on msn, teacherBoy messages sonal asking who she is. i wasn't online, so she freaked a little. she told him she was a friend of mine, which weirded him out slightly then he figured it made some sense.

teacherBoy: can i call her?
sonal: uhhh.. i'm not in charge of her

teacherBoy then told sonal he spoke to me on the phone, which was interesting, then i emailed him, he replied and hadn't heard from me since.

i was planning to contact him again because my curiosity certainly was getting the best of me. i just wasn't sure how i was going to go about doing so. i could have emailed him, but then the person who sent that first email would see it. i could have sent him a text message confirming the date and time, using the excuse "now you have my cellphone number", but i'm not sure if i'd want him to have that many ways to contact me - he does have my home phone number after all.

at this point, sonal decided she HAD to tell him about the email. oh he freaked. he told her he had a crazy ex. he asked her to ask me to call him or email him (hahaha, as if i'm going to email with a crazy ex lurking about..).

apparently teacherBoy then called his ex and talked to her. got back online and told sonal "my exxx is wacccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk". teacherBoy then told her he needed to talk to me because now it's even more awkward. at this point i was online, so i added teacherBoy.

he asked if i could send him the email because he was slightly freaking over the fact it happened. after reading it he apologized and apologized again, said he had some things to straighten out (no kidding..), and told me he'd be in touch.

by the way, sonal kindly reminded me that my msn name was "reena - je ne sais pas" with the personal message being "BOYS SUCK" while i was chatting with teacherBoy. OOPS! hahaha :)

just now i got a message on msn saying "teacherBoy has removed you from their contact list". was that teacherBoy or crazy-ex? oh the suspense..

the many faces of teacherBoy

the husband hunt continues with this goody.. (names have been changed except for one for obvious reasons.)

there have been people who have been telling my parents about a teacher in toronto. why do people suggest him?

parents: we've been told about a boy in toronto. he's a teacher and he's tall.
okay.. i'm not expecting the guy's life story or anything, but it would be nice if i had one or two descriptors to go by.
parents: he has an older sister who used to live in ottawa for a bit..
ah, now here we go.. something i can work with.
parents: her name's reena. remember her?

okay, that's weird. would i date a guy named heren? eww.. the thought. my parents and other adults think i'm crazy for thinking such a thing. my cousins agree wholeheartedly with me. shea calls me neurotic. so i held it off because i decided on the teacher's behalf that even the thought of a relationship outside of friendship would be odd.

this past saturday my parents went to montreal to deliver more wedding invitations. a friend of my parents told them about teacherBoy again. my parents then relayed the message.. "give the guy a chance, who knows." hrmm..

last night i get a phone call:

me: hello?
guy: hello?
me: hi..?
guy: hello..?
me: hi..?
guy: sorry it sounded like no one was talking. hi, can i speak to reena?
me: speaking.
guy: hi my name's teacherBoy. i was told you're expecting my call.
me: uh.. excuse me?
guy: oh.. your dad talked to my dad and now i have this post-it note with your phone number. it says you're from ottawa and that you have a ba in accounting.
me: whoa now.. i have a bcomm in marketing. not accounting.. ugh, accounting.
guy: oops, sorry you're right. it does say marketing. umm.. now this is awkward since you don't know who i am. how about i give you my phone number and you can call me back after you straighten things out with your parents.

well there was no point in that. he was already on the phone, so might as well continue with the conversation. we chatted for a bit. things went as decently as a phone call could go. there was laughing on both ends. i'm not a fan of phone calls, which i told him, that's why i insist on email only! so he suggested we meet up. i took his email address to make arrangements.

a few hours later i emailed him:

hi teacherBoy,

as soon as i hung up, i figured out how you got my phone number.. (since my parents know i'm adamant about email) - through mr. montreal. i guess he decided to take some initiative!

anyway, are you free next tuesday? i was thinking of a trip wandering chapters with a starbucks treat.

let me know if that works for you.

talk to you later!
reena.

chapters seemed like a good idea. it's an activity that requires conversation, there are many stimulants incase of awkward silences. and it's casual enough that if i want to bail after a certain amount of time, i'm not necessarily committed to anything further.

at 3am i received the following reply:

Hey Reena, I figure now is a good as time as any to just say things how they are. I should have been more honest earlier and told you that this is not something that I am looking for. I am currently with someone, and she deserves my full attention. I would appreciate it if you did not email/call back. I am sorry for any miscommunication or inconvience.

all the best,

teacherBoy


Teacher Boy
District School Board
Health & Physical Education
Some School
On Some Road
Toronto, Ontario Postal Code
(T) 123-456-7890
teacher.boy@dsb.com
(C) 987-654-3210
(H) 456-789-0123
(FL) 321-654-0987

okay, what?! can someone please tell me what just happened here? of course i wasn't expecting much, but i wasn't expecting rudeness either. why even make the phone call in the first place? why ask to meet up?! also, if you don't want me to contact you, then why not delete your signature that tells me each and every way to get in touch with you?

shea's theories:

• maybe he was looking for something on the side, but then his conscience got the better of him.
• maybe he called you in earshot of his dad, so that they will think he's looking for a girl, and it will help hide the fact that he's dating a non-gujarati. or "NG" as i like to call them.

jen's opinion:
who wants to date a Physical ed guy anyway. he'd probably be disgusted with ben and jerry's for supper hehe.

oh well. can't say i didn't give it a shot, no?

..until 5pm comes around and i get the following email:

hiya, I did not expect such a quick email ! I saw it last night, but wanted to check things out before i confirm anything. the idea sounds good, the timing not so much. how about monday or thursday ? I am pretty flexible for the most part.

let me know ok !

TB

HOLD IT! can someone NOW explain what just happened here?! it's like a complete 360. multiple personality anyone..?

common consensus

• he currently has a girlfriend with access to his email
• he has a jealous ex-girlfriend with access to his email
• he has a stalker with access to his email.

so what now? considering the circumstances, it's not necessarily something i'd like to get in the middle of, let alone within 100 metres of. however, now that there are TWO emails, the first email went from horribly rude to ridiculously entertaining. being the nosey nancy that i am, i'm totally intrigued. I WANT TO KNOW.

blockbuster snickers

at blockbuster a couple were looking at movie selections with their three year old daughter.

father: sarah picked out a movie.
mother: yeah?
father: it's bilingual.
mother: is it in english?
father: well it's bilingual dear.. it gives the option to watch in french. all movies have that option.
mother: then why is that movie labelled bilingual? if it's not in english then there's no point in renting it.

i tried very, very hard not to snicker.

stickin' it to the veggie

when i get lunch at tim hortons, i usually get the garden salad sandwich because i'm picky about egg salad. today, when i went there after my whirlwind morning, there was no garden salad sandwich!! NONE! when did this happen?! july 1st? cause i went at the end of june and it was still available. unfortunately i couldn't ask the ladies at the counter because they were super busy.

i'm upset about this because for a decent meal at tim hortons, i'm now limited to the egg salad sandwich/wrap. there's no guarantee that a veggie friendly soup is available (SO many times i've gone to timmy's craving soup and walk out disappointed because they're all meat soups..).

first of all, is it so difficult to make it a policy that 1 of their 3-4 soups for that day be vegetarian? secondly, were sales SO bad for the garden vegetable sandwich that it's no longer profitable to stock the sandwich station with cucumbers (the only ingredient not common to other sandwiches on the menu)?

why do i care so much? i actually ENJOYED the garden salad sandwich. i REALLY like all the veggie-friendly soups. so why can't i have my choices back? :(

it's like hunting for easter eggs

tonight wing night went summerlicious! after seeing the choices on the set menu for the restaurant jen chose, i decided it was a wing night i shouldn't miss! especially since i haven't been in.. over four months perhaps?

we headed to fifth element, where we got the back room since we were a large group (the other theory was that they knew rob was attending and they've been warned how loud he can get..). anyway, the food i had was decent, not necessarily out of this world like other people were commenting. i suppose that's what i get for ordering the gnocchi (but then again, i've never like the combination of spinach & paneer).

on my way home i lost my cellphone in the dumbest of ways. i had it on my lap as i was driving, except i had it out of its cover. the cellphone on its own is a slippery little sucker. at one point i breaked slightly harder than normal and the phone went flying. where? i have NO clue. at every red light i went feeling around as much of my car as i could, but couldn't find anything. i even got down on my hands and knees at a gas station to molest my car some more, which isn't the prettiest of sights when you're wearing a skirt.. i hope i didn't flash anyone :S i got home, took the cordless, and went back to the car. took a minute to track the sound of the vibration, but i managed to find my phone. somehow it ended up behind the seatbelt buckle - one place i obviously wasn't checking *sigh* i think i should take my car through the car wash as a plea to accept my apology for violating it.

happy first anniversary!

today's my one year anniversary at work! my boss had to remind me because i completely forgot. hr had to remind my boss because he completely forgot :) time certainly does fly when you're having fun.