My BFF's husband is like that. Between him and the kids, she barely has time to pee by herself. I often offer her my place to come be alone. I tell her that I will leave, or she can just go into the bedroom and watch TV or whatever and I won't say a word :)

Back in the day, my ex-husband used to hand me the car keys and directions to the hotel he'd booked a weekend alone for me. He'd say, "Git."

When I arrived, there would be flowers in the room, sometimes chocolate, or a trashy novel.

The greatest gift though, was his respect for my need to be alone. Who knows, he might have been having affairs while I was away. Regardless, I got what I desperately needed.

I'm an introvert but an entertainer -- as long as I can make a little stage space for myself with jokes or stories I'm good for a while in a crowd.

Mosh pits are interesting. The giant shoving crowd aren't much focused on each other. It is somehow very soothing.

One thing that was so hard about my little sojourn in Florida was never having more than an hour a week to myself in the house. I BEGGED my cousin to have her grandmother over to dinner without me but gave up trying when she simply could not grasp WHY I would need to have no one else in the house with me for an afternoon.

(Though, frankly, since it wasn't much of a favor to ask I'm still not sure why the brat couldn't once, in four fucking months, just DO IT even if she didn't "get it".)

I am so very, very grateful I never had kids. I imagine having lived my life with Hubby's health issues while trying to wrangle adolescents, and I honestly fear I'd have done something felonious. Thank God Hubby's always been in good enough shape that he can sometimes say, "Go, I'll be OK for a day or two." I have such admiration for the people who do the job of heavy-duty personal care.

Mosh pits are interesting. The giant shoving crowd aren't much focused on each other. It is somehow very soothing.

Yes, this! The anonymous energy, the simple existing without having to be responsible for anything other than your own presence.

Sox, I'm sorry you mixed it up with my Auntie. I, of course, have more to say b/c we're family, but I'm on the iTouch and it is bathtime.

I'm currently emptying thousands of emails from my Yahoo mailbox 200 at a time. In the process I noticed what I thought was a buffista RL name asking to be added to my contacts list but when I went to my trash I couldn't find it and then I came here to post but in the meantime I comepletley spaced what the name was. So if you sent me an email like this waaaay back in June I apologize for missing it. Please feel free to contact me as Lagarat at gmail.

I love that Nate & Abby are so ridiculously independent these days. Even when I had them in D.C. with me for conference a couple of years ago, I was able to have them have dinner with me, Maria, & Vortex, then I sent them up to the room and was able to hang in the bar with Maria & Vortex for a few more hours without worrying.

Now, I'm getting ready to go to NYC with Nate, and the one evening I have a commitment, I'm going to be able to leave him in the hotel in midtown while I go down to my gig in the Village.

Which, btw, NYC-istas, I'm reading at the Lady Jane's Salon hosted at Madame X on Monday night, 7PM.

But Aims, I could totally tell when we met that you'd known Jamaican women before. Totally.

Ha! And I am sure I went OUT OF MY MWAY to tell you all about yourself and your nationality. Everyone likes goat and Ting, right? RIGHT???

I totally vote for Introvert Seating at the next F2F. Erin beat me to it.