I only ask of you one thing.....

Dear folks:

First and foremost, Happy New Year!

I come to you today for a much-needed conference. Yeah, you could call me a bit squeamish regarding my loss of anonymity since entering the blogsphere. I haven't decided whether I'm comfortable enough to continue this so-called-blog. Granted I don't even write often enough as is. Not only am I accessible via this blog, that little invention called the business card also sends out my information when I hand it over to another party. I'm a pretty private, to myself person. I take in small groups of people at a time; however I couldn't count the number of people whom I know and who know my name. It's what happens when your byline is printed every week.

But I digress.... This conference is in response to the nature of emails from people who think they know me. As said before, I'm reticent about this whole all-access thing. So if someone should see my name or business card, or read this blog and think, "hey, I know her!"--that is okay with me. However, if that someone would like to contact me and find out if I am who he/she thinks I am, I only ask ONE THING:

Please do not email me with cryptic questions. Do not ask me who I am or where I've been or ask me to disclose anything about myself without first introducing yourself. It's a rule in the game I play 9-5: when calling to ask a person a whole bunch of questions, I must first identify myself and my business affiliation. Otherwise it makes people (like myself) feel invaded, defensive, and I'll even admit, paranoid.

Granted, as a good blogbuddy of mine knows, I have ventured into the whole idea of "reconnecting" with an old friend. It takes guts, and a lot of energy, to do. But as I said before, I always say who I am and why I'm calling before I go any further. Because, a person is going to be a little thrown off by a random message or phone call as is; no need to be all spooky and leave cryptic and suspicous information. Being honest upfront totally increases receptiveness, and lessens the chance that the person will think of you as a psycho.

That being said, I would on many levels like to continue this blog in 2005. Hey maybe even post more than twice a month, you know? This world we live in is strange enough on its own, with identity theft and the countless other wacky things people are capable of. Thus, should I continue getting messages from people who do not identify who they are but want to know a whole lot of stuff about me, the shop will close.

Until then, toodles!