too_many_messages epitome of incomprehensibility I don't know if it's the quality or the quantity, but at a certain point I start shying away them. Right now I've answered: -Invitation for volunteer dinner in September. Except there's a Star Wars theme and we're expected to dress up. Why should adult humans have to undergo such a thing? (I decided to officially half-ass it and wear Princess Leia hairbuns with my regular clothes.) -Invitation to be one of the featured readers at a poetry series. The reading is in September and I should have 8-10 minutes of material. This is exciting, but nerve-wracking! -Invitation to friend's party. Not stressful (I think). -Message on LinkedIn: a former employee I'd gotten in touch with this summer was complaining about another former employee looking at her funny when they met on the street. She asked that I cease contact with the looking-at-funny person (!). I replied, "I'm not in contact with her (the looking-at-funny person), but if she did do what you said, it's rude for sure," but then I added something like "I don't know the situation, but, at least on my part, sometimes I think people are mad at me when they're not." ...She's never going to speak to me again, is she? Haven't answered: -Person from Artisans Club who might be mad at me because I forgot to answer her invitation and then she had to cancel an event. But it wasn't just me - a lot of people didn't reply, which was why she canceled it. And again, see the last message I did answer - it's TRUE I think people are mad at me when they aren't. Maybe she's a little annoyed, but I should at least read her message and reply. -Literary awards/fundraiser guy, friend of a friend, whom I contacted about having some sort of support system for writers with ADHD and other organization-affecting conditions. He basically said, "Tell me what you need and I'll try to arrange it." Who does that??? This is uncommonly fucking NICE. It's so nice that I have to swear about it. But niceness makes me intimidated, apparently. ...I just wrote yesterday, after a week of not answering, "I'm sorry for not getting back to you. I'll think about this and write you back in more detail" or something. -Person who sent me a photo he took. KIRSTEN, THIS IS NOT STRESSFUL. SAY "THANK YOU" LIKE A NON-CHICKEN PERSON. 190816 ... e_o_i -And also my ex messaged me on LinkedIn, I think just to say, "How's it going?" but I didn't even open the whole message. Probably I'd just have to say, "Good, thanks, how about you?" But I am a chicken and what's with initiating contact via LinkedIn? Isn't Business Facebook supposed to be where you don't talk to people unless you're trying to get a job or sell something? I demand soulless capitalism from my Business Facebook, not this touchy-feely "how are you" crap! (Kind of joking. Kind of.) 190816 ... e_o_i I talked about the Star Wars thing at the friend's party and people suggested that a jacket with a hood would be sufficiently Jedi-like and I could probably find one without spending money. Indeed, I have a dark red bathrobe with a hood. I feel the colour is more Hobbity than Star-Wars-y (the Jedis I remember wore grey or white...but maybe red could be for a bad guy?) 190818 ... e_o_i The ex? It was exactly a "how's it going" message. I replied, "Good, thanks. How about you?" like the brilliant conversationalist I am. I could have said, "Oh, I saw you're doing a PhD - how's it going?" but I didn't want to actually start a conversation. I don't hate him or even dislike him, but the whole problem was that we didn't communicate well. 190818 ... e_o_i And this was probably my fault, as you see. But still. 190818 what's it to you? who go blather from