Written May 8th, 2003 after roughly an 8 months absence.

Why haven't I written of late?

Seems I ran into a bit of a problem in trying to generalize my thoughts. I rarely mention names, and when I do I make certain the people don't mind. Otherwise I try and be very general; I refer to "my friend" or "them", in an attempt to be as completely neutral as possible.

But it seems that some people recognized themselves anyway and asked me not to write about them. It was their life, they told me; they didn't want it on display for everyone to see.

The most amusing part is that, to a person, they were wrong. The columns they were questioning were ones I had written about someone else, they just saw parallels to their life and automatically assumed I was writing about them. Once again I am handed a real-life example of how we are all pretty much the same, under the skin.

I feel that parts of me have been asleep for a very long time. I like writing, it's an outlet for me. But I had given up on it (mostly) because I didn't want people I know to believe I was invading their lives. In so doing I allowed them to invade mine; in their zeal to protect what they thought was their privacy I allowed myself to fall into a pattern that I thought I was well guarded against. I  let people's wrong opinion change an aspect of my life that I enjoyed, in the vain hopes that they wouldn't be offended.

It ends.

This page is about my life, about what I think & feel towards the things that affect me. Sometimes my friends will be involved in that, since I value their advice and opinions. If they are, then I will write about it. I will still leave out the names, and will make it as generic as possible, but I will no longer be shackled by the fear that I may offend someone.

I am the man that I am, and one of my aspects is my writing. Those that are around me, those that care about me, should understand this. Most of them have told me at one time or another that I need to accept them for who they are & I have tried my best to do so.

Now it's their turn.