what desire -- or what I called desire -- once drove me to do.
Well what the fuck else would you call it?
----
This whole episode is eerily familiar to me from some weird incidents when Ben w-lfs-n used to live in Chicago -- turning up at my door at all hours, etc. Thankfully he ended up moving away, but I wonder if he has fully dealt with all his issues.
Wow. Who hasn't felt this way at one time or another? It was extremely stalkerrific and creepy, but at some level you have to appreciate the total and unflinching honesty.
Honest, but still creepy.
Let's be honest: the real problem with this one is that she can't tell a story to save her life. If some guy became involved with her after knowing for longer than ten minutes, then--short of permanent harm resulting--I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for him.
1 - I print out all of Unfogged for posterity. And all of the linked pages. And all of the pages linked to that.
but at some level you have to appreciate the total and unflinching honesty
Appreciate it like a case of fucking crabs. She must have got paid like $700 for this, max? And she rakes over all the old coals, dragging the victim back into it and no doubt pissing off her husband just lovely. Some people are unbelievable idiots when it comes to seeing their fucking name in the newspaper.
I don't have a lot of real-life stalker in me (I do track down everyone on the Internet, however), but this kind of behavior seems to be very common. I've known people of all ages and genders who've done this stuff, and those are just the ones I've heard about. Plus, dude answers the door holding a baseball bat and then sleeps with her? Uh....
I actually prefer it when the woman stalks me. Some of my best relationships started out as stalking.
She can't do anything properly. You're supposed to leave a pet rabbit boiling on the stove. God, but Americans have grown soft.
fake. something "called desire"? fake. awful, forced allusion.
Some people are unbelievable idiots when it comes to seeing their fucking name in the newspaper.
Your near-Brit reservonormativism will find no takers here. Confessional culture, baby. Her husband is stroking her hair, telling her how brave she is.
Plus, dude answers the door holding a baseball bat and then sleeps with her?
That's the part that creeped me out the most. One second he's dialing 911, the next he's letting her in? What the fuck?
That said, it's interesting how this stuff balloons. There was a guy I was interested in in college who hung out at a certain coffee shop all the time. Part of my incentive in going there was hope of seeing him (of course, I would do actual work when I was there, and was going there for that purpose, too; I would stay even if he wasn't there). Slightly stalkerish. Like ogged said, all kinds of people do this stuff, including going by someone's house. It's hard to know when the aggregate of behaviors makes you a creepy-ass motherfucker.
Plus, dude answers the door holding a baseball bat and then sleeps with her?
Not only that, she claims he went from holding a baseball bat to "making love". Gag.
Yes, let's savor this moment:
"Let me in, please." I leaned on the door and pushed. He pushed back. I pushed harder. He stepped back, still gripping the baseball bat in one hand, the telephone now in the other. "I'm calling 911," he said. "I'm dialing now." He pressed the first button.
"You're calling the cops on me?"
He finished dialing but hung up before the call connected. He let me in.
Before long, he let me touch him. I was still thinking of our future, the way his hand had angled hopefully into the air at the restaurant. At first he seemed to respond as if filled with that same optimism, that vision of something that could be healthy and right, something that could free him from his confusion and me from my obsession.
But after we made love, I watched his face take on a stricken, distant expression, and I knew that what we had wasn't ever going to be healthy and right.
yeah, about ten people--running from her husband through the editor, sub-editor, Jimmy Olson, and the angel on her right shoulder--all should have told her that this was a stupid, stupid thing to put in to print. I feel sorry for her. More for her husband.
Also this line--"the air of being too intelligent to rest securely within the confines of one gender".
If there's a place where people who hate the NYT gather their favorite quotes to illustrate the evils of east-coast latte liberal snobbery, this is going to be prominently displayed.
(Me, I'm just to dumb to keep a persona on straight--ask Clownae).
He holds the baseball bat, yet lets her in, because that's the reversal of a plot element in streetcar. There's really nothing else going on here.
I sense a consensus brewing: if you knowingly fuck a psycho, you deserve--up to some point, to be sure--what you get.
12: That was weird. Flip the sexes, and I'd assume that it was out of physical fear, but regardless of how strong she is and how weak he is, the combination of his having a baseball bat and having dialed 911 seems to indicate that he was able to protect himself. Maybe it was fear and I'm just not evaluating the situation correctly.
Text, are you saying you think this whole thing is made up?
The lesson of the bat story is that blue balls conquers all.
She's written another book that seems to have been well-received.
If it's not completely made up, the streetcar reference was glued onto it, and facts massaged so as to correspond to the plot elements. The bat scene is Stella!
We don't believe the bat scene; it doesn't make sense. I'm not sure I believe the rest of it. Some of the things might have happened.
I think that a lot of college romance is vaguely stalkerish, and I don't think that's creepy. One knows what classes the person is in and makes a point of walking by the classroom at the right time.
I knew plenty of people who made sure to go to breakfast, because they thought that they might run in to particular people.
I think that this thign goes beyond just creepy. Baeball bat TO sex is DISTURBING.
(1 and 5: I don't really like reading things in printer-friendly format. I actually went to the main page look for the column. Along the way I saw an article about Obama saying that he might run for prez. in '08. At some point can we please have a thread on the '08 candidates? I don't take seriously the idea that Obama will run or that he could win. I do however want to hear people's thoughts on teh merits of the various cndidates. B seems okay with Clinton, but I'm definitely ABC.)
22: Interesting, having a radio personality write about radio personalities. Also, her husband's work is great.
Baeball bat TO sex is DISTURBING
I dunno, TO is pretty hot, but given his mental case leanings and bulging biceps, I'd really want him to put the baseball bat well out of reach first.
I'm not worried about her husband so much as her daughter. Somebody's going to find this article when the girl is like 15 and it's gonna be pretty ugly.
I think this piece is creepy but also rather truthful - stalking behaviour seems so easy to fall into, and at times hard to identify or reject in someone else, precisely because it is simply an extension of understandable feelings.
As for the baseball bat scene - I assumed that she sweet-talked her way into the appartment. Again, this strikes me as believable - when he could see her he was more easily convinced that she was a creepy stalker, but once he started talking to her and listening to her he could buy into her point of view ("I'm so in love") just enough to let her in.
Datapoint: I vastly prefer printer-friendly format, since it's far less apparent to anybody walking past my cube that it isn't work-related. IYKWIM. And I KNOW you all do.
26: He really is fucking ridiculous, in both positive and negative ways, isn't he?
but once he started talking to her and listening to her he could buy into her point of view ("I'm so in love") just enough to let her in.
"talking to her and listening to her" s/b "staring at her tits"
TO is pretty hot
Labs is built just like that. You're really going to enjoy the DC meetup, apo.
(TO has gone a bit overboard with the traps, has he not?)
You're really going to enjoy the DC meetup, apo.
I'm sure, but there will be no baseball bat sex.
Just a datapoint, but I prefer links to topless football players, because that makes it totally apparent to anyone walking by that I'm hard at work at being gay.
because that makes it totally apparent to anyone walking by that I'm hard at work at being gay.
Oh man, I had no idea what I was unleashing. I just wanted to do a double-lined arrow, but I didn't know how to type it.
36: Guess I'd better start stretching now.
12, 24:
As I imagine many have, I've done something similar to 12. But one good thing the article does is set a boundary of stalking that exludes me - namely, "violating the boundaries he had set". That's a lots stronger than intentionally frequenting the same coffee shop, and a lot closer to what we really mean by stalking.
14: I think it's pretty clear that this relationship didn't go anywhere because she's terrible in the sack. I'm sure we've all seen that "stricken, distant expression" when we haven't been at our peak performance -- and this woman didn't even have drunkenness as an excuse.
She left out that after their fling, the condom broke (they had to use one, because for some reason he wasn't on the pill), but she didn't tell him and instead fled in a panic.
By the way: A Streetcar Named Straight-Bashing
Thesis: If you meet someone in a graduate seminar on tragedy, don't.
If you meet someone in a graduate seminar on tragedy, don't.
So right. In fact, wouldn't you guess that something like 80-90% of people in humanities grad programs are dinked in the head?
Who ever said it was impossible to troll one's own blog?
45: Exactly. That's why my ideal standard for someone to date includes "isn't so much as thinking about doing a PhD in the humanities." Of course, in desperate times, one cannot always be so choosy.
That's not trolling, ma'am, that's just the facts. Most humanities graduate students are dinked in the head, but usually they can get through life just fine. It's when you put two of them in a relationship that you get the sum of their neuroses.
I really liked this article. It shows how a feeling that almost all of us have can look bizarre to everyone but us...and then look bizarre even to us.
It's very odd that it wasn't printed anonymously, though.
47. hey, that's me! but I don't date theologians.
I think it's pretty clear that this relationship didn't go anywhere because she's terrible in the sack.
Yeah, I was thinking that only the prospect of teh hott psycho sexx could make him drop that bat. Not all it's cracked up to be, apparently.
I think it's pretty clear that this relationship didn't go anywhere because she's terrible in the sack.
I don't know if using the phrase "made love" necessarily PROVES that someone's terrible in the sack, but it's not a good sign.
48--
"the sum of their neuroses"
god, you can always tell the humanists.
If you were a scientist--or even just an economist--you'd never use an operation as simple as addition here. You'd make it the "product" of their neuroses, at least. Or possibly superset.
It wouldn't mean anything, but the reflex is uncontrollable.
RE 49
It would make for a good correction:
The December 3, 2006 Modern Love column was mistakenly indicated as being written by LISA A. PHILLIPS; the true author is an anonymous writer living in Woodstock, N.Y.
Answer to Ms. Phillips, re her headline question:
Yes. Also, duh.
49: It wasn't printed anonymously because it wasn't a true story. At least, not enough of one.
54:
Fixed that up for you:
The December 3, 2006 Modern Love column was mistakenly indicated as being written by Lisa P, no, too obvious, let's say L. Phillips; the true author is an anonymous writer living in Woodstock, N.Y.
Before long, he let me touch him. I was still thinking of our future, the way his hand had angled hopefully into the air at the restaurant. At first he seemed to respond as if filled with that same optimism, that vision of something that could be healthy and right, something that could free him from his confusion and me from my obsession.
But after we made love, I watched his face take on a stricken, distant expression, and I knew that what we had wasn't ever going to be healthy and right.
Funny thing: I just read a novel manuscript that featured this exact scene, although the man was purportedly a Christian, ejaculated prematurely, then, embarrassed, ran off to sulk about it. The writer explained it by claiming he had "contributed to the woman's corruption."
Anyone else raise their eyebrows when she merrily switches all that focus onto her future husband? Magically, I fell in love with a man who lived far away!
"We now have a daughter who tells us every day, with a 2-year-old's unabashed enthusiasm, how happy she is to see us." That's how you know it's meant to be.
But after we made love, I watched his face take on a stricken, distant expression, and I knew that what we had wasn't ever going to be healthy and right.
It's just struck me that she is describing what is basically my normal facial expression 90% of the time.
60--
uh-huh. And is it ever going to be healthy and right?
I thought not.
If the baseball-bat-to-bed scenario is true, then it is only further proof that men should be sequestered in seraglios for their own protection, as they clearly cannot resist the corrupting charms of women, even bat-shit, fuck-wit crazy women who work out in order to intimidate skinny androgynes to whom they are attracted as a way of sublimating their true same-sex preferences.
I think Unfogged should round-robin a Modern Love story and see if we can get it past the editors. If they bought The Short, Tragic Story of the Insane Butch Goddess and Wavering Wee Willie, they'll buy anything.
I now have a son who tries every day, with a 2-year-old's unabashed enthusiasm, to smash me in the nuts with a plastic light saber.
"Mama, I'm so happy to see you that I'm calling 911 right now!"
63--
there's an evolutionary theory to explain this--you know, sibling competition for parental resources. If he can neuter you now, that's fewer sibs to divide the inheritance with.
(He's already trying to divide up the family jewels).
63: "Some kids would just grow jealous and upset when their parents announce that they're getting a little brother or sister. I'm dealing with the problem at source."
63: Love it. Oedipus meets Star Wars, in toddler form.
63: Honestly, the existence of your kid gives me hope for America. Especially the pudding pic.
I now have a son who tries every day, with a 2-year-old's unabashed enthusiasm, to smash me in the nuts with a plastic light saber.
He's training for in case burglars come.
I think Unfogged should round-robin a Modern Love story
This has been proposed a few times before, actually, though I can't find any of the proposals at the moment. Here's my premise for one.
well, if he keeps it up he's not going to have to worry about his father coming.
Oh, and in case anybody thinks I'm joking about 63, think again.
Seriously, have none of you people ever actually *had* a relationship? The baseball-bat-to-bed scenario, literary license aside, isn't that hard to believe: it's 6:30 in the fucking morning, this woman has been bugging him and being increasingly needy, what the fuck is she doing in his secured building? But then he thinks okay, don't be a drama queen, I know her, we're friends, she's a *girl* for god's sake, she's not going to beat me up, and I'm feeling like an ass standing here arguing with her through the door first thing in the morning. So he lets her in and she's needy and cries and apologizes for being such a freak, which reinforces the idea that she's not *really* a threat, and he feels sorry for her, and she babbles about feeling like a complete ass, and they laugh a little about it maybe, and she tearfully asks him for a hug, and they *do* have the hots for each other, and they end up in bed.
Not, mind you, that anything like that has ever happened to me.
I think people are misinterpreting the baseball bat/"making love" transition. See, "make love" is a euphemism. What the author means is that when she showed up, he had his bat in one hand and some balls in the other, and, after getting a few gloves (gotta be able to catch safely, after all), they went to hit a few out of the park.
You look pretty terrified in that pic, apo, in a "deer in the headlights" kind of way. And like you're beseeching someone off camera to come to your aid.
Dude, you have to run a caption contest on that pic.
74 - I can talk jacked-up relationships with the best of 'em, but when someone's that needy and clingy, it's the biggest sexual turnoff in the world.
(But I can imagine others find my poise and witty banter a turnoff. It's a mad, mad world.)
Shorter B: I may have been high-maintenance in the past, and that's OK.
And, of course, it is. The past is past.
74--
yeah, there's something to what you say.
I remember a few episodes from long ago, esp. one involving a break-up that should have happened much earlier than it did.
Still, I'm glad no one suggested I publish an account of the whole sordid affair in the NYT.
You know, looking at that picture more carefully, apo, I think your little one may just be a mean drunk.
Stop putting wine in his sippy cup, and once he detoxes, he may stop being so angry.
80: Hey bitzer, why don't you publish an account of the whole sordid affair in the NYT?
Apo, you look a LOT like Matt Weiner. Not the Unfogged Matt Weiner, but the other Matt Weiner who was at Pitt for a while. He had the same hair, head shape, build, and generally had the "can you believe what this idiot is trying to do?" facial expression so common among libertarians and people who are being hit in the crotch with toy light sabers.
82--
Max: "Don't tell me that P."
99: "P."
Max: "I asked you not to tell me that."
When are they going to release Get Smart on video? Or better, just a 30 minute compilation of the good bits?
I agree with B that things like this happen, generally. But the baseball bat is a detail that gives away the fraud. She's off key. He would not be holding a baseball bat.
82 -- Now you've done it...
the other Matt Weiner who was at Pitt for a while????!
Not talking about the borderline-sociopathic libertarian Pynchon fan are we?
Apo, anyone who would give a 2 year old a light saber should definitely be sterilized as soon as possible.
Are you asserting superiority just because you held out 'til 4 with PK? (the light sabers belong to his brother, btw)
87: Yes, that's the one. Um...he's not commenting here under some name or other, is he?
88 -- despite being named after a lethal weapon, the "light saber" 'Po's child is holding is a toy, and not hazardous to life and limb (though clearly yes, there is some danger to his father's precious bits.)
furthermore, that photo linked to in 73 does *not* show a light-saber, or even a Toys-R-Us kiddie version of a light saber. The hand-guard's all wrong. And I believe that the only red-bladed one is the double-ended Darth Maul light-saber, which this clearly is not.
(and yes, my son owns several, and tells me obsessively about details such as this. I'm too high-minded for it, myself).
not hazardous to . . . limb
there is some danger to his father's precious bits
But Clownae, just the other night you were describing apo's johnson as like unto a third leg!
92/90: Not asserting superiority. I'm saying that my kid has one and he's six (not four), and I deeply regret ever buying the goddamn thing.
"Here, immature, uninhibited person! You're at a developmental stage in which defying what your parents tell you is necessary for your growing sense of self! Have a long stick--almost as tall as you are yourself, perhaps even taller!--with which to bash things!"
Does the handle in that sword he's holding conceal a speaker that emits "Clang!" noises when you swing it? 'Cause those are way cool.
Not to mention that such a sword would give the illusion that apo's balls were metal as it smashed into them.
93: apo just didn't want to admit that his son sometimes thwacks him with his wife's gigantic glass dildo.
96 -- "cool" s/b "hella annoying"
I'm saying that my kid has one and he's six (not four)
Chronologically, anyway.
96 - my phone ringer is me, saying the word "brrring, brrrring! Brrring, brrring!" With much gusto.
93: Nonsense. I saw several red-bladed Official Licensed Light Sabers for sale at the Disneyland Star Trader gift shop.
Well, er, that wouldn't make sense. Also you should delete the word "way". (This advice holds for a great majority of instances in which the word "way" is used as an adverb -- "hella" is clearly the better choice.)
101 -- Now that I could live with. How does one make one's phone accept a recorded sound as a ring tone?
It depends on the kind of phone you have.
My next ringtone, I think, is going to be a recording of me, or someone else, clearing my/his/her throat in a meaningful fashion, a la Jeeves.
Yes, that picture was not taken at my house, but at my sister-in-law's house, where Noah had to make do with a plastic sword in place of a light saber. Still, it doesn't matter what you buy him; anything longer than it is wide becomes a weapon.
100: True. His immaturity is most apparent when he makes fun of other kids who are one quarter his age.
102--
you've been in the market more recently than I, so I have to defer.
But a) I didn't know Disney was a licensed retailer of Star Wars gear; and b) I don't know what "Star Trader" is, but could that be a different, i.e. non-Lucas/Spielberg, franchise?
(major premise: the word "light saber", in the context of a children's toy, must refer to toys derived from the "Star Wars" movie franchise. Maybe I'm wrong about that to begin with. But I can tell you my son would have protested if I had tried to get him some off-brand thing.)
Well, if he makes fun of my kid, he'll get smashed in the nuts.
Guys, it looked like the Unfogged effect worked. All those vibes for my interviews paid off; I got the fellowship. Whew (also: tears of joy).
106 to 102--
partial vindication.
110--
congratulations!
(I suspect desert has more to do with it than vibes).
I am the Illinois' Department of Corrections' worst motherfucking nightmare.
And of course there are red light sabers. Darth Vader had one.
104 - can you record voice memos? If so, you can select a voice memo as a ring tone.
110: Seriously fantastic, for all concerned. Can't think of anyone better suited (little though I know) to fucking up The Program.
117--
okay, okay, so there are red-bladed, single-bladed light sabers. Still, the hand guard was wrong.
(I think I should just delegate this part of this thread to my son, who would do it much more expertly).
120 -- Thanks. I will try it out later on, after I leave the office. (I think I can record voice memos though I am not certain of that.)
108: Lucas has cut some deal with Disneyland. They've got "Official Jedi Training Camp" over in Tomorrowland now (which is totally cheesy and mortifying, and PK loved it), and they sell Star Wars crap in the Star Trader gift shop. There's even some Star Wars ride that we didn't go on b/c it looked like it was one of those stupid ass things where you sit in a big tub that jiggles a bit while you look at a movie screen, and because there was a 45-minute wait for it. I therefore failed to point it out to PK.
I assume that this whole "record your ring tone" thing is about cell phones. But if it were about land lines, that would be so awesome.
126 -- I'm not sure land mines actually have ring tones.
101: Cool! Hella cool!!
110: Congratulations! I didn't send any vibes because I didn't know about it (I've been remiss in reading comment threads lately), but obviously you didn't need any of my good vibes (which are massive, by the way).
128 -- good, you're making progress...
125--
yup, good thing I deferred to your greater knowledge.
also, my condolences on your greater knowledge.
Eh, there's worse little kid shit he could be into. At least it's not that Yugioh crap.
125: Yes, Star Tours in Disneyland is basically a motion simulator, but it's a motion simulator with very good production values. The line (once you get inside the building) is almost as much fun as the ride itself - lots of stuff to watch (droids scurrying around doing stuff, screens periodically making your basic starport announcements of incoming flights, etc.). The story line of the ride involves a novice robot pilot who manages to blunder your tourist transport into the middle of an active space battle by taking a few wrong turns. Of course, the ride lets you off into the Star Trader gift shop so you can pick up souveniers on the way out.
The tough thing as a parent is judging your kid's likely reaction to such things in advance. Some kids will lap it up; others will just get scared. We misjudged with our son by taking him on the Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster at Disneyland when he was around 4 and very into trains - he was enthusiastic right up until it started going very fast and he realized there was no way to get off until it was over. That scared him off of all roller coasters for years, until he became a teenager and peer pressure kicked in. I suspect if PK likes the battle and asteroid field scenes in Star Wars IV and V, he would probably enjoy Star Tours, but your mileage may vary.
Ok, next time we'll try it.
Likely reactions are weird. At 3, he wasn't at all fazed by PotC or the Haunted Mansion. At 6, both of them scared him and he yelled at me for making him go on them. Goddamn maturing imagination.
Heh. Keegan's reaction to Pirates of the Caribbean was, "That's all? You just ride around and look at things? That's stupid."
He'd have spent all day on Space Mountain, given the chance.
133 -- we haven't really gone to many amusement parks yet but I have a good maturing imagination story. The first time I read Phantom Tollbooth to Sylvia she was nearly 5, and loved the book. Second time, she was about 5 1/2, and loved the book right up until the point Milo and party left Digitopolis for the Mountains of Ignorance, at which point she did not want to hear any more. Now we are rereading it again and just last night got to the critical chapter -- Sylvia asks "Is this where we stopped reading last time?" -- yes, I say. We talked for a little while about stories that have scary parts and ultimately happy resolutions (with reference to My Neighbor Totoro, which we had watched a few nights previously) and then she said she would like to keep going.
I'm absolutely dying for PK to get old enough to tolerate children's stories that have sad parts in them.
Mostly because I'm a selfish and horrible mother, and like stories in which the animals die.
74: I've been in relationships, but surprisingly none of them have had stories that closely mirror novels. Except for the time I was in Atlanta, and then there was this bonfire, and the guy carried me up the staircase to his apartment where we made love like crazed weasels.
135--
that story is giving me weird deja vu. Did you recount it somewhere else on the web some time?
Guys, it looked like the Unfogged effect worked. All those vibes for my interviews paid off; I got the fellowship.
1) Congratulations!
2) Chopper effect, please.
136: Show PK The Fox and The Hound now, before it's too late.
I actually haven't seen that one. Are you trying to traumatize my child?
Congrats, M LeB. We'll toast you in LA.
Re: Disneyland: An ex-boyfriend took the Offspring on Space Mountain when he was about 5. Post-ride, the Offspring glared at him and declared: 'That is not a good ride for little kids. You are a very bad man!' [Prescient, tho' for other reasons.]
Back to relationships: 'Never have sex with anyone crazier than yourself' is really a good rule. Or at least 'If you absolutely have to have sex with someone crazier than yourself, at least lie about your name and phone number'.
139 -- The second time we were reading it, the one where she chickened out midway through, I mentioned it on an Obsidian Wings thread and got in a dialog with Slartibartfast and (IIRC?) Rilkefan about the beauty of Phantom Tollbooth. Now I am thinking it was not Rilkefan. But I am too lazy to go figure out who. Definately Slarti.
Oh, how I love Phantom Tollbooth. I may have to read it again tonight.
Hm. Perhaps I lied. Looks like the only time I posted at ObWi about PT, was during the first time I read it to S. Maybe at Making Light?
rfts -- if you can find a young child who is into listening to it, it takes about 2 weeks and I find it very nice indeed. (I am forgetting right now what your living situation is -- am I correct in thinking you do not have child/ren?)
110 -- congratulations.
One of my closest friends does not appreciate The Phantom Tollbooth. I have no idea how to respond to that.
You are indeed correct. I will keep it in mind for future readings aloud, however.
Cannot find Phantom Tollbooth, woe! This did spur us finally to unpack the last box of kidlit (from our move a year and a half ago) into the bookshelf space freed up by my new campus office, which is an excellent thing, but poor compensation for being thwarted in this way. Damme.
Not only is the answer to her question "yes", but I hope that she has gotten or will get a shitload of therapy so that she doesn't end up doing the same thing to one of her daughter's boyfriends, ten years or so down the pike.
Notwithstanding the above, and having seen her picture, and imagining her all buffed out from the gym, and forcing her way into my apartment... excuse me, gotta go wash my hands, be back in fifteen. No, twenty. Twenty-five.
144: I'd totally have joined in if I'd seen it. Love, love, love that book.
Also, to the article in the OP: I've done some stalkeresque things in the throes of heartbreak before, but that's so far over the line I literally can't imagine myself ever doing anything close. Yowza.
