[drafted May 2007]
Some possible theories to explain why some people I know might mysteriously and suddenly act cold toward me, though I really have no idea what's going on and can't find out, since they've been ignoring and avoiding me:
1. E-mail/ Instant message hacker
This theory came to mind instantly. All it takes is a net-savvy geek with ill intentions to impersonate me online. But this then leads me to another question: why would the ill-intentioned hacker want to ruin my relationships with other people? It seems to me that any such hacker would have to be someone I know in real life, and who has a bone to pick with me. Unable to recall anyone whom I've kicked*, punched, or robbed in my life EVER, I can't come up with a single suspect for the "E-mail/Instant message hacker" list.
*aside from when I'm sparring in Taekwondo.
2. Resurfacing, Misbehaving Doppelgänger
The existence of a doppelgänger is not as farfetched as it may sound. A lot of people have trouble distinguishing one Asian woman from another. Even though there may not be someone out there who looks exactly like me, some clueless Caucasian guy might think so. For all intents and purposes, any Asian woman might serve as a "doppelgänger."
I may have a bona fide doppelgänger. Many years ago when I was in high school, people kept confusing me with some other mystery woman. I'd walk into the tailor's and then the seamstress would say "Nice to see you again... did you wear the dress yet?"
"Huh?" I'd respond.
"Didn't you come in last week and get a dress fitted?"
"No..." I'd reply.
"I swear I saw you come in last week and get a dress fitted!" she'd insist, as though it were a life and death matter.
This scenario repeated several times during a two month period. In another incident, my sister came home from school with a "I'll stick a knife in you if you don't stop messing around with Cody" threat she was supposed to communicate to me on behalf of someone in her class. I had no idea who Cody or the threatener was. My protests of innocence were only met with "don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about," again communicated via my sister.
It was starting to freak me out. I never found out who the other woman was, but I stopped hearing about her after a while. Except possibly for the person who didn't want me to mess around with Cody (whose ethnicity I do not know), all of the people who confused me with the putative doppelgänger were Asian. I assumed that they didn't have general difficulty distinguishing Asian people from each other.
If this doppelgänger from my past has resurfaced in Boston, I'm totally screwed. Some evidence for a Boston-based doppelgänger exists. One time a creepy stranger on the street accosted me and said that I looked "just like [his] girlfriend." I thought it was a cheesy pick-up line. Maybe I was wrong. What if he was telling the truth?
3. Dream confused with reality
Another possibility is that the now estranged friend/acquaintance had a dream and confused it with reality. Maybe in the dream, I did something really nasty like kick him repeatedly in the head and not stop. If he thought that this incessant kicking had happened in real life, I would totally understand why he wouldn't want to talk to me anymore.
4. Multiple Personality Disorder
Suppose I suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder, and the different personalities are unaware of each other. I don't know if this is actually true of MPD. But supposing it were, then it is possible that one or more of my personalities is a total jackass, and I go about most of my life completely unaware of all the mean things the jackass personality/ies do and say to other people. Maybe for whatever reason, the jackass personality/ies have become more dominant lately, and the now-estranged friend/acquaintance can't take it anymore.
5. Sudden Revelation
The now-estranged friend/acquaintance suddenly realized that I'm a woman/Asian/biologist and he is a misogynist/racist/anti-biologist.
6. Spiderman confusion
The guy with a funny face who is supposed to be Spiderman's friend, but really wants to kill or otherwise hurt Spiderman for most of the movie, has somehow confused me with Spiderman. In his misdirected plot to "go after Spiderman's heart," he is going after my heart by severing personal ties in my life. I really should stop parading around in red and blue tights.
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