i was just on yahoo messenger. the thing about yahoo is that people can just randomly start talking to you. they don't have to be on your list (like they do on msn) to be able to chat with you. this person started talking to me. she goes "salam cousin." i thought that was some kind of iranian slang greeting (lol). so i said "salam, shoma?" (who are you?)
then she is like "what? what do you mean 'shoma'? it's denna!"
"denna who?"
"denna. denna. denna. denna ----(she said her last name here)"
i still had no clue. i was like "i seriously don't know who you are, i'm really sorry." i was getting kind of worried at this point that maybe i knew her but had just forgotten.
then she got mad at me!! she started chastizing me for not remembering her!
i was like "i swear i'm not your cousin."
so then she goes "oh sorry. so, where are you from?"
"ottawa," i said. i thought she had believed me and just wanted to chat now.
but no. she started AGAIN, "no seriously. this isn't funny. i know you are bita my cousin."
finally FINALLY, after telling her practically my life story, i was able to convince her i wasn't.

it reminded me of something that happened to one of my mom's distant relatives once. they were sitting in their house one day when the door-bell rang.
"who is it?" they asked.
"it is a thief."
"no seriously, who is it?"
"i'm telling you. it's a thief."
thinking that it was one of their own relatives trying to play a joke on them, they opened the door.
the man came up, tied them to chairs, and proceeded to steal all their merchandise. as he was leaving he said, "next time, try not to open the door on a thief."

isn't it ironic how honesty can now be used as a form of trickery?