it certainly is late, isn't it?

http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/002098.html

it's called 'win a date with brad rutter'. my sympathies for the poor guy, actually, because how will he ever know if someone he meets that way is really interested in brad, and not 'brad the millionaire'? pity, really -- he certainly seemed like a nice guy, and i hope he doesn't get stuck with some sort of haute couture fashionista. not saying the potential applicants are, but hey, we know it's possible.

had an interesting experience tonight, reading over posts on a messageboard i visit from time to time. apparently one of the posters is passing themselves off as someone who they aren't. scary thing is, it's not that uncommon, and it's not the first time i've personally seen it happen. only this case was particularly disturbing. the allegations being made against the poster were incredibly disturbing, including and not limited to pedophilia and other unhappy events. the kicker? how do you know who to believe? as much as i want to believe the person making the posts, it's hard when there's so much staring you in the face.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/frau31.shtmlshtml

years ago, i was on a mailing list with a woman who told a lot of people many, many personal things about her life, things that turned out to be false. to be honest, i never believed her. why? because it seemed sometimes like she was bragging about it. but then, i'm a bit of a cynic, and i'm also a privacy buff -- i don't believe in sharing my business with the world. (this blogging thing isn't the same, because there are a lot of things that are private.) her deception destroyed the list, because no one ever felt comfortable talking again. it went from a very active list to absolutely nothing.

a lot of people think there's nothing wrong with impersonation or lies online. many people have done it, whether it be a major thing or a minor thing. something as simple as lying about a boyfriend, or a celebrity autograph. i don't bother with lying about who or what i am -- if i don't want ya'll to know something, i won't tell you. i can't see the point in lying about who we are when we're online. is it that important to someone that i claim to know something or someone i don't? i could go online claiming to be angelina jolie's cousin, but why? i'm not, and it's not going to change my life overly much if i pretend. and sooner or later, someone'll catch me in it and i'll end up looking like a total knob.

so i am what i am -- a northern girl born and bred who would rather spend my night dancing in the snow than dancing at the clubs. i'd like to say i'm a nice pigeon-toed anarchist, but let's be honest, i'm not even that interesting. that, and i'm not. (a pigeon-toed anarchist, i mean.) i read, i write, i work ... you know, all that boring stuff we do to get ourselves through the day. i can't watch 'wheel of fortune' because i scream at the tv (picture a person screaming 'it's *the world according to garp* you idiot!), i love to watch 'jeopardy' because i can usually clean up in the privacy of my home (except for some of these 'tournament of champions' questions), and i enjoy playing 'jeopardy' on my home computer (although i usually quit when i find myself starting to cheat). i had a personal life at one point, but i seem to have devoted myself to my job years ago and lost the will to party.

but hey, i'm old. i'm still on the sunny side of thirty, but i'm getting old. another year or two and i won't be able to say i'm in my mid-twenties anymore. and think of all the things left undone! i always wanted to travel the world, but except for western europe, i haven't seen much. i can answer the phone in english, french, and spanish, but that's about it. and believe it or not, i can speak correct english and use proper grammar, but it didn't seem appropriate for a blog.

and that's all ya'll will ever learn about me.