privacy

I've realized in the past week or so that it is becoming increasingly necessary to develop some sort of signaling system for my friends while Jeff is hospitalized. In the past, my movements were communicated to Jeff, and vice versa, and we frequently checked on each other. We'd ping, verify, and move on, contented that all was well.

Right now, though, and for the foreseeable future, that safety net is lost. It's up to me to build another in its place that allows my friends and loved ones to have an idea of where I am, but allowing me a modicum of privacy. It's an odd blend: I want, and need, my friends to check on me, but I also have the strong introvert's need for alone time and privacy.

I finally have private entries working, and properly!

If you log in to domesticat.net, you’ll discover a new-to-you entry. It’s got details on how to update the link your RSS feedreader uses so that you’ll see all the entries you’re entitled to see.

(ObNote for anyone who finds this via a search engine: you want the Simple Access module and the Token Authentication module to make this work.)

I would also like to add this related note: beer drunk in celebration is doubly tasty.

You know me. I make a plan, and I sink into it. I was told yesterday by a friend that he envies my focus, and perhaps it’s true; I perceive myself as scatterbrained but maybe it’s not so much so as I tend to think. The books scattered across multiple rooms would certainly belie that opinion.Life’s been odd lately.

I’ve been trying to put it into words and have thrown every attempt away; the entry I quickly entitled ‘braille night’ has been rewritten at least seven times, with every attempt causing me more frustration and leaving me nothing but silence here.

Life’s been simple lately. Not honeysuckle simple, but simple enough.It was a necessary change. I haven’t said a lot here precisely because I couldn’t find the right angle, the correct approach, the perfect turn of phrase that could make it all simple and make it all sound reasonably okay. Because, the truth is, in the end, things are good.

Call it a dilemma: there are parts of my life I don’t write about here because they’re far too personal, far too private, or sometimes just involve intimate parts of other people’s lives. Parts they’re not totally comfortable with me sharing—online, or sometimes even in person. Some secrets can be quietly acknowledged among close friends, but some must remain nothing more than stifled whispers in empty rooms.

This way is as appropriate as any to make the introduction:

Yep, that’s Mary, and that exchange has been somewhat typical of my life in the past month.

“Where do you intend to go with your dirty dress?”
- Jimmy Eat World

I always wondered what might make me change my mind and begin using private entries on domesticat. Now I know. Given a couple of days past the actual incident, I’m calmer than I was before, but the root of the matter still makes me sad.

A couple of days ago, a member of my family got in touch with a friend of hers, because she didn’t like something I said on this site. She was either unaware that he and I are still on friendly terms despite their falling-out earlier this year, or has forgotten. He thought I might want to know about her request, and relayed the gist of it to me: