So I guessed I dragged this out because in some ways I'm not sure I wanted to finish up here. But alas, it is time. I started this blog back in 2007, and have logged in and written from all over the world. You've been to Greece with me. You've been to Laos with me. You've been to Ann Arbor with me. From Summer of Finger, to business school, to the Summer of Finger Part II, to the office. I appreciate you all keeping up with me. If I didn't get such positive feedback I'm sure I would've shut this thing down long ago.
I'm not 100% on this but I feel like I'm stopping this thing as my readership is the highest it's ever been. I'm sure Ashley York has something to do with that, and I'm okay with that. Writing this thing has been enjoyable, sometimes burdensome, but mostly something I'd look forward to every week or every other week. It served as a study break when I was at school, and a creative outlet when all I was doing during the day was going crunch crunch crunch with spreadsheets. In short, it made me happy. Plain and simple. And when you find something that makes you happy you hold onto it. I'm not giving all this up completely. I actually went out and bought Final Draft and have taken a stab at writing a TV show. I can't say I know exactly what I'm doing, but it's been pretty fun writing dialogue and making a story. As you can imagine, I have plenty of material. Does anyone ever say "when I grow up I want to be a corporate financier" anyway?.
When I thought about this post I had writer's block as to what I'd write about. But one night it hit me. It actually hit me pretty hard. I was playing the top of a 2-3 zone in a league playoff game when chasing down a skip pass I ran directly into a player on the opposing team. I didn't even see him. My forehead right into his face. We collided, and I can still hear the horrible sound it made. Like dropping a rock onto another rock. Two heads smacking each other. As I staggered away I looked at the other guy who was gushing blood from his mouth. I then slowly put my hand to my forehead to assess the damage and when I pulled my hand away it was as if I'd stepped into a scene of True Blood. His teeth had gone through the skin on my forehead and I was leaking. I don't like blood, and I was a little concerned, and by "a little" I mean a lot. Truth be told, it was a small cut, but a lot of blood. Once the bleeding stopped I bandaged it up and went back in. I'm not saying I'm Willis Reed or anything, but despite bleeding my own blood it was just fun to be out there playing. It reminded me of the last episode of The Wire when drug kingpin Marlo, clearly uncomfortable at Levy's white collar real estate function sneaks out and starts walking the streets of Baltimore until he encounters two kids and engages them in a fight only to get cut on his arm by one of them during the skirmish. Marlo looks at his bloody arm and smiles because he knows that being on the streets is what makes him happiest.
I'm not advocating going around looking for knife fights. It is pretty simple though. When you can find what makes you happy, do it. Whether it's writing, being a Baltimore drug kingpin, valuing companies, or making artisanal cheese. Maybe I'm writing this for you, or maybe I'm writing this for me so when I come back to this in a few weeks or months, or years or whenever I can remind myself what I said. Either way, it's out there, on the internets.
This isn't an Emmy speech, but I do want to thank you all for reading Finger:TheBlog. It really has been fun writing. After today if you want to get in touch regarding the blog or any of the posts, or anything else, I created fingertheblog@gmail.com, so holler at me. If you're a newbie, go back and read some of the early stuff. If you've been following since my trip to Woodbury Commons, well, hell, go back and read some of the early stuff too. Thanks again. I'm off to bed.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Ashley York Vol 10: Epilogue
Last week I ended the story of Ashley York. This is a fact. It is a fact, because the story was in fact over. And now you sit here perhaps saying to yourself, "Volume 10? How?". Here is how.
The internets are a strange place. That is how.
Last week I closed every loop I could close. I presented the facts (names, pictures, etc) and I let you, the reader, decide what you what you wanted to believe. I showed you the picture of Ashley York and then I showed you the pictures and named the names of the actual girls in the photos. These were the facts as I found them. If you revert back to Volume 9 you'll see that all pictures and names have been redacted by me. If you're a little late to the game you won't get to see any pictures of Ashley York or Krista Marks and you won't get to know the names of the real people in those pictures. Here is why.
My last post was Tuesday evening before I went to bed. On Wednesday and Thursday I saw the number of hits on my blog jump like crazy. I wasn't quite sure why, but it was nice to end on such a flurry of blog activity. By Thursday night I had begun thinking about what my last post would be like. Perhaps a simple 'thank you' post, or maybe something more akin to an Emmy acceptance speech. It didn't really end up mattering because Friday was one of the strangest days I'd had in a while. I was off from work and on a little mini-vacation. By about 2pm I was on the beach, relaxing and enjoying the water and sun. At about 4pm I get a call from my sister, urging me to call her back immediately. So I called her. My sister tells me that a friend of hers from high school is friend with the actual real girl in the Ashley York pictures, and that this girl saw my blog and is totally freaked and upset and wants me to remove all photos, names, and anything else related to herself and also her sister (Krista Marks). Wait, what?
So to recap, a mere 48 hours after I finish this story and recap it and name names, all of the sudden, out of the woodwork someone claims they are friends with the sisters in the photos and wants me to take everything down. I'm sorry, but after all the shenanigans I've had to deal with on this whole subject I found the timing to be SUPER coincidental. Perhaps too coincidental. Was I actually getting too close to figuring out this mystery? Had I caught them with their hands in the cookie jar, and finally exposed the truth? The email my sister received also had mention of getting lawyer involved, etc etc... To me, it sounded a little desperate. Lawyers getting involved with my poorly formatted blue and green blog? Really? I guess people were upset. But lawyers? Really? You're telling me that after writing this thing for the past two-plus months and with all these assumptions and conjectures that 48 hours after I post this thing, the real person in these pictures stumbles upon little old Finger:TheBlog, some two-bit blog operation in the corner of the internet universe? Come on now. This isn't Gawker for crying out loud.
My sister responded to the email and cc'd me, and as I asked her to, and basically said to her friend that I was willing to help find the person behind this whole mess. And truthfully, I was willing to help. My services were available. I mean, shoot, if anyone wants to solve this thing it's me. But the whole thing had me quite spooked and skeptical. Fast forward to dinner with my sister a few hours later, and I get a call from Private Number. I let it ring, obviously, and there's no voicemail. Next thing I know I get a text from some person named Andee claiming to be a friend of the girl in the picture (I will call her REAL Ashley York) and for me to call her back.
If you read any of my posts on this you know full well I ain't calling back anyone claiming to be anyone's anything. In fact I emailed my sister's friend and said more or less, "Listen, I'm getting some weird calls and texts from weird people. I'm not interested in talking to anyone but you or REAL Ashley York. Otherwise, I'm sorry".
My sister's friend's response was that they'd Skype me later on in the evening. They? Skype? Yes, "they" as in my sister's friend was literally with the REAL Ashley York. Maybe the REAL Ashley York was in Greece after all. So I'm sitting there with my sister still trying to figure out how in 48 hours after posting, and more importantly, 2 years after this craziness all began, how in the world I was about to talk to the REAL Ashley York. Folks, you can't make this up.
And my phone rang...000123456, which is what happens when you get a call from Skype. I picked up. It was my sister's high school friend. After a brief intro the friend said, "John, I'm going to let you and REAL Ashley York talk now" (of course she said the girl's real name and not REAL Ashley York, but I'm honoring my word by not naming names).
Then there was a pause. And then a 'hello'.
And I swear to God, for about five seconds the girl sounded exactly like the Ashley York I'd spoken to for hours on end back in 2008. But after those five seconds it was pretty clear that it wasn't the same person. So we talked. And we talked. Probably close to thirty minutes.
She seemed exasperated, and quite honestly I think we'd all be if we found out that some lunatic had been posing as us for AT LEAST 7 years, and had gone on wreaking havoc on one person's life after the next. She was concerned. Her sister was concerned too since her identity had be appropriated as well. Her parents were concerned. Her friends were concerned. Hell, I was concerned. I told her basically all I knew, but the most detailed account I could possibly give her is written in Volumes 1 through 9. It doesn't get more detailed than that. It sounded like she was going to make this a police matter. I couldn't blame her for escalating it. I don't know though. If the Department of Homeland Security couldn't track her than who knows, but I hope they really give it a go. I wished her the best of luck and offered my help. And as she asked, I took down all names and photos the next day.
If this were a true Hollywood ending we'd team up and catch this person, but this isn't Hollywood. We're not Edmund Exley and Bud White. This isn't L.A. Confidential. This is some real life shit, impacting real life people. I actually think that in our chat we might've found a lead or two in helping her figure out who this person might be. Unfortunately, the 201 number for Ashley York has since been disconnect. I'd say that perhaps this thing is close to being solved but I know better than to make statement like that at this point. I'd like to follow that Kim Daniel lead a little bit more now actually. What I can say with confidence was that the girl I mentioned in Vol 9, the girl I spoke to on the phone last Friday, that girl, she's not Ashley York but she is probably the biggest victim in this whole thing.
So you can look at this a few ways. Yeah, my blog post probably made a few people unhappy. Fine. But now at least two people know what the hell has been going on with their identities for over seven years. In a way I'd like to think I at least helped a little. In fact, I know I did help, more than a little.
How they found Finger:TheBlog...I'm not sure I'll ever know, but I'd love to know. It still seems strange to me. I never like to be the bearer of bad news. In fact, if you know me well, you know that I don't like conflict. I don't like arguing. I don't like drama. Perhaps this is why this whole thing has fired me up so much and still fires me up two years later. Things like this don't happen to me and that's why I wanted answers. One day I might get them. Last Friday Team Krashley got perhaps its most important new member.
Best of luck.
I'll be back with a final post next week.
The internets are a strange place. That is how.
Last week I closed every loop I could close. I presented the facts (names, pictures, etc) and I let you, the reader, decide what you what you wanted to believe. I showed you the picture of Ashley York and then I showed you the pictures and named the names of the actual girls in the photos. These were the facts as I found them. If you revert back to Volume 9 you'll see that all pictures and names have been redacted by me. If you're a little late to the game you won't get to see any pictures of Ashley York or Krista Marks and you won't get to know the names of the real people in those pictures. Here is why.
My last post was Tuesday evening before I went to bed. On Wednesday and Thursday I saw the number of hits on my blog jump like crazy. I wasn't quite sure why, but it was nice to end on such a flurry of blog activity. By Thursday night I had begun thinking about what my last post would be like. Perhaps a simple 'thank you' post, or maybe something more akin to an Emmy acceptance speech. It didn't really end up mattering because Friday was one of the strangest days I'd had in a while. I was off from work and on a little mini-vacation. By about 2pm I was on the beach, relaxing and enjoying the water and sun. At about 4pm I get a call from my sister, urging me to call her back immediately. So I called her. My sister tells me that a friend of hers from high school is friend with the actual real girl in the Ashley York pictures, and that this girl saw my blog and is totally freaked and upset and wants me to remove all photos, names, and anything else related to herself and also her sister (Krista Marks). Wait, what?
So to recap, a mere 48 hours after I finish this story and recap it and name names, all of the sudden, out of the woodwork someone claims they are friends with the sisters in the photos and wants me to take everything down. I'm sorry, but after all the shenanigans I've had to deal with on this whole subject I found the timing to be SUPER coincidental. Perhaps too coincidental. Was I actually getting too close to figuring out this mystery? Had I caught them with their hands in the cookie jar, and finally exposed the truth? The email my sister received also had mention of getting lawyer involved, etc etc... To me, it sounded a little desperate. Lawyers getting involved with my poorly formatted blue and green blog? Really? I guess people were upset. But lawyers? Really? You're telling me that after writing this thing for the past two-plus months and with all these assumptions and conjectures that 48 hours after I post this thing, the real person in these pictures stumbles upon little old Finger:TheBlog, some two-bit blog operation in the corner of the internet universe? Come on now. This isn't Gawker for crying out loud.
My sister responded to the email and cc'd me, and as I asked her to, and basically said to her friend that I was willing to help find the person behind this whole mess. And truthfully, I was willing to help. My services were available. I mean, shoot, if anyone wants to solve this thing it's me. But the whole thing had me quite spooked and skeptical. Fast forward to dinner with my sister a few hours later, and I get a call from Private Number. I let it ring, obviously, and there's no voicemail. Next thing I know I get a text from some person named Andee claiming to be a friend of the girl in the picture (I will call her REAL Ashley York) and for me to call her back.
If you read any of my posts on this you know full well I ain't calling back anyone claiming to be anyone's anything. In fact I emailed my sister's friend and said more or less, "Listen, I'm getting some weird calls and texts from weird people. I'm not interested in talking to anyone but you or REAL Ashley York. Otherwise, I'm sorry".
My sister's friend's response was that they'd Skype me later on in the evening. They? Skype? Yes, "they" as in my sister's friend was literally with the REAL Ashley York. Maybe the REAL Ashley York was in Greece after all. So I'm sitting there with my sister still trying to figure out how in 48 hours after posting, and more importantly, 2 years after this craziness all began, how in the world I was about to talk to the REAL Ashley York. Folks, you can't make this up.
And my phone rang...000123456, which is what happens when you get a call from Skype. I picked up. It was my sister's high school friend. After a brief intro the friend said, "John, I'm going to let you and REAL Ashley York talk now" (of course she said the girl's real name and not REAL Ashley York, but I'm honoring my word by not naming names).
Then there was a pause. And then a 'hello'.
And I swear to God, for about five seconds the girl sounded exactly like the Ashley York I'd spoken to for hours on end back in 2008. But after those five seconds it was pretty clear that it wasn't the same person. So we talked. And we talked. Probably close to thirty minutes.
She seemed exasperated, and quite honestly I think we'd all be if we found out that some lunatic had been posing as us for AT LEAST 7 years, and had gone on wreaking havoc on one person's life after the next. She was concerned. Her sister was concerned too since her identity had be appropriated as well. Her parents were concerned. Her friends were concerned. Hell, I was concerned. I told her basically all I knew, but the most detailed account I could possibly give her is written in Volumes 1 through 9. It doesn't get more detailed than that. It sounded like she was going to make this a police matter. I couldn't blame her for escalating it. I don't know though. If the Department of Homeland Security couldn't track her than who knows, but I hope they really give it a go. I wished her the best of luck and offered my help. And as she asked, I took down all names and photos the next day.
If this were a true Hollywood ending we'd team up and catch this person, but this isn't Hollywood. We're not Edmund Exley and Bud White. This isn't L.A. Confidential. This is some real life shit, impacting real life people. I actually think that in our chat we might've found a lead or two in helping her figure out who this person might be. Unfortunately, the 201 number for Ashley York has since been disconnect. I'd say that perhaps this thing is close to being solved but I know better than to make statement like that at this point. I'd like to follow that Kim Daniel lead a little bit more now actually. What I can say with confidence was that the girl I mentioned in Vol 9, the girl I spoke to on the phone last Friday, that girl, she's not Ashley York but she is probably the biggest victim in this whole thing.
So you can look at this a few ways. Yeah, my blog post probably made a few people unhappy. Fine. But now at least two people know what the hell has been going on with their identities for over seven years. In a way I'd like to think I at least helped a little. In fact, I know I did help, more than a little.
How they found Finger:TheBlog...I'm not sure I'll ever know, but I'd love to know. It still seems strange to me. I never like to be the bearer of bad news. In fact, if you know me well, you know that I don't like conflict. I don't like arguing. I don't like drama. Perhaps this is why this whole thing has fired me up so much and still fires me up two years later. Things like this don't happen to me and that's why I wanted answers. One day I might get them. Last Friday Team Krashley got perhaps its most important new member.
Best of luck.
I'll be back with a final post next week.
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