Random Obsessions?

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Do you have something that you are obsessed with that you know is probably strange or out of character? I have two:

I have recently started buying replica fashion clothing from China. Think stuff that is either only available for a short time, or prohibitively expensive to begin with. I don’t do it to show off, or to impress people by implying that it’s real, but because I really like some of the items and can’t get them through normal channels either because of the financial hit it would take to do so, or because of the limited availability. I have no shame in telling people my shit is fake.

Though I am not a lawyer (far, far from it), I have a strange fascination with following legal proceedings and critiquing the work of the attorneys involved. Most recently, this would be the case of Paul Guadalupe Gonzales, also known as the “Dine and Dash Dater” (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/07/us/california-dine-and-dash-additional-charges/index.html). Dude was finding dates on various dating apps, suggesting expensive restaurants, and then ducking out, leaving the women to pick up the check. He’s been charged with 11 counts of extortion and two counts of attempted extortion, and a maximum of 16 years in prison. Now, this is taking place in California, but I find it hard to justify the charge of extortion for the situation. Extortion in California is defined as:

“Threat to cause an unlawful injury to the victim, the victim’s property, or another person
Threat to accuse the victim or the victim’s family member of a crime
Threat to reveal disgraceful information about the victim or impute a crime to the victim
Threat to disclose any secret involving the victim”

Now, while Mr. Gonzales is most certainly a piece of shit, extortion seems like an interesting statute to claim. Defrauding seems like a more appropriate statute, but he’s technically not taking money from the restaurant, because he’s leaving the women there to, presumably, pay. The only way I can see extortion happening is if the courts consider leaving his dates the only choice of either also leaving, thus defrauding the restaurant, or being forced to pay for an expense they did not reasonably expect to be extortion. Interesting stuff.

Anyway, what are your random obsessions?