I don't think I could deal with being someone's sole link to the outside world for very long.

Man, that would drive me crazy! I wonder how people like that even find mates in the first place. I mean, they must be somewhat social to be able to attract someone?

Man, that would drive me crazy! I wonder how people like that even find mates in the first place. I mean, they must be somewhat social to be able to attract someone?

Well, Tom is like this to some extent. He met his mate (me) through a common social thing, the Buffistas. But it wasn't *his* thing, it was *our* thing before there even was an "us."

He has social anxiety, it is true, but he would like more friends in the geographic area. He has some in the UK and some in California (they used to live in Scotland) but he moved over here when he was in his late 20s and didn't know anyone- which is hard. He did try, with the Buffistas at first, and he's been social with the neighbors (there's a Brit-American couple next door that he is comfortable with). He's been reaching out to former co-workers now that most of them are out of the company. Joining the homebrew club helped too, though that was with me too.

But everyone else he know, he knows through me, which makes him think they aren't "his" friends, even though everyone adores him.

A few weeks ago was like the first time he was out and about being social with a friend, without me. I stayed at home and waited for his drunk ass to call me for a pickup from the train station- it's always the other way around.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that I'd be safer planning to send New Year's cards rather than Christmas cards. I can only hope we're not talking about 2010.

I was pondering using this Benjamin Franklin quote:

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.

Does "a better man" ping anyone? Should I be politically correct and historically incorrect as say "a better person"? Should I leave off giving people advice from long-dead people?

Other possibilities:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
- T.S. Eliot

Personally, I've never had a problem with the use of "man" or "men" in older material. Including hymns (in large part because the "updates" tend to suck -- poetry is hard enough ONCE, you know?).

Fly-by posting to say:

yay, to Sparky on the sparklette!! yaya!!!!!

{{{vw}}} I am glad you recognize your own achievements. You work hard for them.

all kinds of ~ma for ita today. I really hope this treatment works.

Yeesh. Prop knife on stage switched with real knife. Actor slits throat on stage.

Personally, I've never had a problem with the use of "man" or "men" in older material.

I never have either, which is why I thought I'd better ask.

Ginger, I love the quote. Would you be crediting Franklin in the card, because if so I would think most reasonable people would get it, and if not, well -- if the wish works, maybe they'll get it the next year.

It's Ben Franklin, so it's understandable. But I love the Elliot quote.

It took me reading to the end of that article to understand that "slits his throat" was literal - in that he hadn't died from it. How creepy.

And Ginger, I like your quote, esp. if it's credited because that helps place the language in history.