I used to be a reporter, long ago and in a galaxy far, far away so occasionally I start jonesing for a little writing. This diary has turned out to be a good place to go play with words.

    Wire service reporters very seldom get feedback from what they write because it's fed to newspapers across the country, often without a by-line. So I've been used to the idea that you write something, press "send", it goes through an editor to the wire and then you never hear another word about it.

    A few weeks into the diary I got a guestbook because all the cool kids had one and I'm nothing if not a social lemming. At first I got pity signage from Monstre, who knows me, and CF188 who knows Monstre.

    Now the occasional stranger also stumbles in (obviously lost and disoriented, the victim of a hyperlink gone terribly wrong.)

    I have come to realize that thanks to that guestbook I have become a feedback slut. In it I will shamelessly talk to strangers, something I have been warned about since early childhood.

    This is SUCH a slippery slope. First I start talking to strangers, next thing you know I'll be taking candy from them, getting in strange cars ...

    Fortunately, I chose a caring guestbook. Some would describe it as a flakey guestbook that is prone to quirky breakdowns. They would be so wrong.

    In my heart I know it's looking out for me. Just when I'm almost at the point where my addiction is irrevocable, the guestbook cacks out and forces me into feedback withdrawal. Whew!

    It died completely yesterday and today it won't let me post my replies to notes. So for anyone who posts a message--don't think I don't want to talk to you, because I do.

    My guestbook is just looking out for me. It's a nurturing kind of guestbook, not one of those I Never Fail I Don't Give A Crap About My Owner's Addictions guestbooks that are all too common, don't you find?

    So as soon as my guestbook judges that I've got the feedback slut thingie under control, I'll be right back gabbing away to strangers.

    Just so's you know, eh.