The Information I Know

It's weird.

Not often does information drop into my lap, particularly secret information. And when it does, it just feels weird. Like suddenly I'm a target for people that want information and I'll need to fortify my stamina against possible torture or even a targeted hit. I get jumpy.

There was a time many years ago that Square Enix sent out a package to one of AE's writers (and a high school friend of mine) that shouldn't have been sent. I received a mildly frantic phone call from a Square Enix rep asking that the package not be opened and that it be immediately returned via FedEx to the Square Enix offices. At the moment I felt like I had been plunged into some kind of global conspiracy. What was in the package? It was obviously important because they didn't even want our writer to see what was in it. Sensitive information, obviously. Evidence of a CIA hit squad taking out targets overseas? Information on extra terrestrials and that most of them are very concerned with giant chickens and belt buckles?

I spent a couple of hours frantically calling our man in Denver. I left messages with the words "In no uncertain terms are you to open that package! Immediately return it to Square Enix." (Clearly, it takes very little for me to be riled up -- maybe it speaks to a larger paranoia.) I was not only worried about the package being returned, but was truly terrified of what would happen if the package was opened, its secret contents spilling out.

In the end, the package was set back. Unopened, its secrets forever sealed.

But the reason for this particular entry is that I'm in possession of information now that isn't widely known at the moment. I'm hiding under my desk, holding my breath and a loaded Beretta pistol.