Urambo Tauro
Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2004
- Messages
- 266
FBI Tracks Down TTF Member
Yesterday was an interesting day at work. I was in the back when I was informed there was someone to see me. I came up front, where the special agent introduced himself and we went to a nearby office. He showed me his FBI credentials and explained the situation. A suspicious notepad had been found, containing strange writings that proved unreadable. I recognized the notepad because it was the one I lost a few days earlier.
Time for some backstory....
About three years ago, when TLOTR hype was at its peak, I was also at the peak of my.... nerdiness. You see, I even took time to figure out how to write with Tengwar. I learned about different modes, and how they applied to writing with different languages. It was difficult, but to help in learning how to write with Tengwar, I used it in everyday writing. This is where the notepad comes in.
I tend to be somewhat forgetful, and often write short notes to myself. Whenever I wrote myself a reminder, I would use Tengwar. It was fine because I was the only one reading the pad. Of course, I would sometimes use the English alphabet for things I had to read quickly. But I continue to use the Tengwar sometimes, no particular reason.
So the agent hands over a photocopy of every page from the notepad I had lost. It turns out, the original was being held in Washington, DC, where it was being studied! Fifteen experts could not interpret the "strange writings", due to the fact that it wasn't Arabic, nor was it Albanian, nor Russian....
The curious notepad also contained a sketch of a house (a doodle on my part), as well as a phone number to a car dealership and a VIN number (I recently bought a car), and to top it all off, a page with numerical law-codes pertaining to knives/blades (important info, because I collect swords)! Next to each law-code number was a short note, like "airport" or "school" (sections specific to special areas). These details, grouped with the "unreadable script", created a very alarming situation, the reason I was being questioned.
I told the agent I would be happy to translate or explain anything of question. I told him about where this "strange writing" came from. I went over the sheets, briefly explaining every one, and gave him a chart to take back to the translators to interpret the entire document. He was relieved at the false alarm, telling me that this is what happens 99% of the time. Shopping lists written in Arabic are found all the time! But apparently this is the first using Tengwar. He informed me that although I may or may not get my notepad back, I will at least get a copy of it.
Guess what they are adding to their list of known alphabets?
So what was in the note-pad?
A doodle
Dealership directions & car information (how they tracked me down)
Law-codes to study
Christmas gift list/wish list (Tengwar)
Bible study notes (Tengwar)
Things I wanted to look up on the internet (Tengwar)
Interesting movie quotes (Tengwar)
Yesterday was an interesting day at work. I was in the back when I was informed there was someone to see me. I came up front, where the special agent introduced himself and we went to a nearby office. He showed me his FBI credentials and explained the situation. A suspicious notepad had been found, containing strange writings that proved unreadable. I recognized the notepad because it was the one I lost a few days earlier.
Time for some backstory....
About three years ago, when TLOTR hype was at its peak, I was also at the peak of my.... nerdiness.
You see, I even took time to figure out how to write with Tengwar. I learned about different modes, and how they applied to writing with different languages. It was difficult, but to help in learning how to write with Tengwar, I used it in everyday writing. This is where the notepad comes in.I tend to be somewhat forgetful, and often write short notes to myself. Whenever I wrote myself a reminder, I would use Tengwar. It was fine because I was the only one reading the pad. Of course, I would sometimes use the English alphabet for things I had to read quickly. But I continue to use the Tengwar sometimes, no particular reason.
So the agent hands over a photocopy of every page from the notepad I had lost. It turns out, the original was being held in Washington, DC, where it was being studied! Fifteen experts could not interpret the "strange writings", due to the fact that it wasn't Arabic, nor was it Albanian, nor Russian....
The curious notepad also contained a sketch of a house (a doodle on my part), as well as a phone number to a car dealership and a VIN number (I recently bought a car), and to top it all off, a page with numerical law-codes pertaining to knives/blades (important info, because I collect swords)! Next to each law-code number was a short note, like "airport" or "school" (sections specific to special areas). These details, grouped with the "unreadable script", created a very alarming situation, the reason I was being questioned.
I told the agent I would be happy to translate or explain anything of question. I told him about where this "strange writing" came from. I went over the sheets, briefly explaining every one, and gave him a chart to take back to the translators to interpret the entire document. He was relieved at the false alarm, telling me that this is what happens 99% of the time. Shopping lists written in Arabic are found all the time! But apparently this is the first using Tengwar. He informed me that although I may or may not get my notepad back, I will at least get a copy of it.
Guess what they are adding to their list of known alphabets?
So what was in the note-pad?
A doodle
Dealership directions & car information (how they tracked me down)
Law-codes to study
Christmas gift list/wish list (Tengwar)
Bible study notes (Tengwar)
Things I wanted to look up on the internet (Tengwar)
Interesting movie quotes (Tengwar)
Last edited:
