As for your comment, brenda, since you also seem to take offense at my desire to avoid a long conversation on a topic that I didn't want to read about, in future I shall keep my opinions to myself on the subject.

It seems to be the prefered response.

IME, this is the case. I'm not happy about it, but there it is.

Burrell, and anyone else, if what I said came across this way, I'm sorry. I didn't take offense at anything - but I'll admit to feeling that "keep it to yourself" was the jist of your original post, and that it took me aback. And it seemed to me (though of course you may have read it differently) that I was asking for your opinion, not suggesting you shut it down.

Sorry for opening this back up, but I left the office right after that exchange and just caught up. So I'm done.

For Hec, lexine, and other baseball peeps, it's the Generic Spring Training report article! [link]

Some quotes:

"My hands hurt," the second baseman joked. "But I understand what the skip is saying. There were a lot of games that could have gone either way, and the difference ended up being one play that went for us or the other guys. We have to make those plays."

A bad player, who has suffered from nagging injuries, weight and attitude problems, including his vocal demand to be traded to a city where dancers are allowed to touch patrons, has reported early, and seemingly has left his problems at home.

"It's a new season," the bad player said. "Every season's a fresh start. We had some problems, but that's behind us. I'm going to have a great year."

I have mixed feelings about venting. (As a general topic--I've never seen vw post anything I thought was inappropriate.) It's the downside of having so much of my support network be online. I've gotten in the habit of sharing almost anything, figuring I'm safely anonymous and insignificant enough that no one would ever care enough to put together all the pieces and give me any RL trouble over my internet confessionals.

That was, of course, before I committed myself to a career path that, if I'm successful, will make me a semi-public person. Now I'm wishing there was some way to undo a good chunk of what I've said online over the course of my life. As is, I'm afraid I'll have to invent a completely new internet persona for myself once I get The Call and cross over from mere writer to Actual Author. And that's going to be a pain, and may be impossible to do seamlessly.

I'm even starting to wonder about the mini book reviews I do over on my LJ. While I don't review books I don't finish, which helps me avoid the urge to bash books in public, I'm wondering if even the kind of minor fault-finding I engaged in earlier today is too much and could get me in trouble as an aspiring author. (I said that while I enjoyed a book, I thought it would've been better in novella length, and that some of the language struck me as anachronistic.)

first pet plus street you grew up on

Chena...I grew up on so many streets, it's hard to remember them all. Appropriately enough for this conversation, the one that first sprang to mind was "Beaver".

Kristin, I can't wait to see the stuff -- send whenever you're ready. I'm finishing up a couple of big projects, but we can talk about what's the what whenever. (I make no sense to me.)

I must be a massive exhibitionist at heart, because while I do conceal the occasional detail, it would never occur to me to worry about this.

I've just found myself becoming more standoffish lately. Erratically--I'll still get all confessional at times. See under "yesterday." But I'm wishing I'd only bared my soul to the point of wearing a little soul-bikini rather than going the full monty.

The first pet I named was "Lady" and I too moved a lot -- so do we want Church, Jackson or Hilltop?

(Lady, btw, is short for Lady of the Drum Anthony Flower Sarah Puddingtane)

I think it has to be Lady Hilltop, don't you, Trudy?

I don't know, I think Puddingtane Jackson has kind of a ring to it.

I had a little pop-up toy of a white kitten in a little red cylinder-- it might have been a garbage can-- I called her "Lady of the Drum". (I was a pretty poetic three year old). When I got a real kitten I named her for my toy. I forget how "Anthony" was became part of her name. At some point we moved to a new apartment without a yard and I missed my flowers -- so flower was added as well.

My Uncle told me "You can't name a tiny little kitten Lady of the Drum Anthony Flower"

I replied (rather indignantly) "Her name is not "Lady of the Drum Anthony Flower." It's "Lady of the Drum Anthony Flower Sarah Puddingtane !"

My parents had no idea where the last part came from -- but apparently I loved the name "Sarah" because about a year later it was my successful lobby for the name of my baby sister.