I... tend to naive enthusiasms and a delight in escapism.

Heh. You'll fit right in, my girl.

Then, with the second name, she went all over the boards and chatrooms talking about her first name as if it were another person. According to the second persona, the first persona needed an eye-transplant, had many children, was a single mother, had some dread disease, died on the operating table, etc. etc. I believe she got people to send her money, but, whether money or not, she got a lot of sympathy from crying about her poor dear friend who died and whose children she now had in custody.

That's called Munchausen by Internet (whether formally or informally), and it's getting common.

Yeah, someone on the big XF boards killed herself off and then had her "husband" and "sister" post grieving messages for a week or so. When too many people expressed suspicion (the Australian woman's body was being shipped to Delhi for a Hindu/Muslim/Anglican burial? Suuuureee...), the original woman popped back up, claiming her laptop had been stolen and her 'enemy' had posted all these messages.

She had no answer to those who pointed out that all the messages, including those from her enemy, used the same idiosyncratic punctuation and syntax that she had for the previous few years.

At any rate, Deena, welcome. It'll all work out.

Have you ever noticed that when one complains of boorish behavior, it's always the non-boors who worry that they've behaved badly? Sigh.

Deena, please don't be embarrassed. As the one who started this whole mess, I'm the one who should be--and is--embarrassed to have made you feel unwelcome. I've got my antenna up too high. Please forgive me.

Hey David, how about them Mets? or.. um.. the Indians (since I'm in Cleveland)?

Seriously, I'm fine, I hope you're fine, all is well and don't worry about the antennae. Better up too far than your head in your.. the sand. If I thought you actually needed forgiveness, I'd forgive, but, I think you were just being careful and protective, and that's admirable.

I am refraining, madly, from putting a smiley here.

edited to say: I have to go take my afternoon nap now. My husband is starting to worry about my attention to this board and has threatened mayhem if I don't rest.

I'm not a one-eyed, diseased single mother!

Can I tag this?

Hey David, how about them Mets? or.. um.. the Indians (since I'm in Cleveland)?

Indians? INDIANS?

We may have a problem here.

(Says the loyal Twins fan.)

OK, I give up -- how do I do a fake closed HTML tag?

John, you may tag it with my blessing! And now, really, naptime...

edited to say: Where, exactly are the Twins? The only pro-sports teams I actually root for are the Seattle Seahawks because they're the closest to Oregon, where I was born and did a very cute music video 100 years ago; the Red Wings because a friend of mine threatened my life if I did not; and the KC Royals, because they won the world series the year my eldest was born. I memorized that on the off-chance that, if I were ever taken captive and had to prove I'm an american, I'd be able to say SOMETHING about sports.

A fake closed HTML tag is just the same as an open one. Do the slash yourself!