From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!trb
Newsgroups: net.singles
Title: Re: one last letter
Article-I.D.: floyd.1454
Posted: Wed Apr 20 11:35:28 1983
Received: Thu Apr 21 08:43:21 1983
References: watcgl.353

I've written the degenerate case of "one last letter", that is, the
"one first one last letter."  On several occasions in my youth I was
too shy to approach some girl I had a crush on, so I would write a
severely damaged scan of my brain onto a piece of paper and stick it in
the mail.

This is sort of different from watcgl!ihardtke's "one last letter" but
some of the motivations are the same.  I would write a letter rather
than talk to someone face to face because it's easier.  You don't get
interrupted.  A person can reread your sentences if she is confused.
The person is more prone to listen when reading than when listening - I
know that sometimes a person wouldn't give me a sustained audience, but
I don't know anyone who would throw away a hand-written letter without
reading it.  If you lose your train of thought, you just stop your pen
instead of standing there looking like a fool.

I think that my biggest problem in relationships with women involves
communication.  I get so exasperated that I feel that punching someone
in the face would be a more effective method of communication than
trying to continue the conversation or argument.  When you write a
letter, you don't get as exasperated as quickly or as much.  If you do
get exasperated then it's no problem, instead of a major problem.

I think I'd write "one last letter" out of a sense of despair.  I'd
take stock of the situation and realize that I don't have any resources
left, no cards left to play, no chance to win.  So I think of what I
can do to get my point across, and writing a letter fits the bill.  I
can write it as incisively as I want, and it has that nice mystery
about it.  It's possible that the recipient will really get what I say,
that's success.  It's also possible that she'll scan it and toss it.
At least I don't have to watch myself fail in that case.

I think that maybe some day when I'm rich and famous some biographer
will collect the desperate letters that I'll have written and publish
them.  Oh horrors, maybe I'll be dead be for it's published.  (Would
you buy "The Netnews and Hacks of floyd!trb" clad in tan from the
McGraw-Hill Computer Science Series?)

	Andy Tannenbaum   Bell Labs  Whippany, NJ   (201) 386-6491