Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site gatech.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gatech!spaf From: spaf@gatech.UUCP (Gene Spafford) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: a new group??? (net.singles.js) Message-ID: <11809@gatech.UUCP> Date: Wed, 30-Jan-85 15:14:09 EST Article-I.D.: gatech.11809 Posted: Wed Jan 30 15:14:09 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 31-Jan-85 03:23:32 EST References: <11702@gatech.UUCP> <1707@pucc-h> Reply-To: spaf@gatech.UUCP (Gene Spafford) Organization: The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech Lines: 83 In article <1707@pucc-h> aeq@pucc-h (Jeff Sargent) writes: >From Gene Spafford (gatech!spaf): >> Of course, we could always take up a collection to hire some poor >> Purdue undergrads to break Jeff's fingers. If he couldn't type for a >> few months, it might force him to break his dependence on the net and >> cause him to go out and form other, more rewarding, relationships >> with real people. > >> Gene "7 months and counting" Spafford > >Does your fiancee know about your taste for violence? Seriously, who would >want to marry someone who makes such suggestions publicly and without a :-)? Yes, Kathy knows about my taste (sic) for violence. She loves it. She thinks that it is wonderful that I'm not so caught up in introspection and self-doubt that I can come up with ideas for direct action. She is also the one who came up (indirectly) with the idea of breaking your fingers. "What would he (Jeff) do if he couldn't type for a few weeks?" she remarked to me. So, I posed the idea to the net. I didn't think it needed a :-) after it. Oddly enough, I got 6 replies from people at Purdue offering to do the job on (at least) your fingers, and only one was interested in the price; 2 offered to donate their time outright. My own style would be more on the lines of paying to locate some woman with similar views to yours and put you in a room together. You could both feel so fulfilled by being scared to approach each other, and then feel guilty about not taking the chance. :-) I'm trying not to act insensitive to your problems, Jeff. I know they're real, to you at least. I also appreciate the fact that you're trying to relate to the net community as best you can. You've posted some interesting and insightful pieces to this group, but you've also done a lot of whining. You've created a lot of hostility towards yourself as a result of this, and I don't know how you can negate that if you continue to post anything that contains yourself as the subject. There's just so much anyone can take of: "Oh, I'm so miserable and full of doubt. I got up this morning and couldn't decide which shoe to put on first. My left shoe was closest, but I couldn't put it on first because my parents ruined me as a child by insisting I not put that one on first. Everyone thinks that the other one is right, but how can I be sure? How can I know if God wants me to put on the right shoe first? I know he doesn't want me to have socks before marriage.... If I know the right shoe is first, how do I know which is actually the right foot? Just because one is at the end of my right leg doesn't mean it is the right foot. I'm so screwed up, maybe my left foot is at the end of my right leg. My parents and God would do that to me as a test and I'm too mixed up to be able to tell the difference. Oh woe is me! Maybe I should give it up and just wear sandals? But how could anyone love me if they saw my toes? Nobody has toes like I do -- nobody! I know that for a fact, and everyone will be staring at my toes. I can't even stand my own toes -- how could any woman like me with toes like this? I can't stand it anymore -- I won't even bother with my shoes. I'm going back to bed." Even if you now have an analyst helping you out, I think many of us aren't interested in hearing any more: "My analyst finally has helped me see that I can put on my own shoes -- both together at the same time! See, I'm making progress! I'm sorry about that rash of postings a while back, though, when my analyst and best net-friend were away at the same time (maybe they were together plotting against me?) -- but I just couldn't decide which shoe to tie first. What if I made the wrong choice? If God isn't testing me, why don't I have loafers? So I wrote all those things on the net but I won't do it again. Until next time." If you want to play the martyr, Jeff, find a lions' den and throw yourself in and be done with it. And that's without a :-) You've antagonized a lot of people, Jeff, so don't be surprised at the responses from those with a lower patience threshold than the rest. I doubt that any of us, no matter what we may say, wish any harm to befall you; we may, however, continue to react in a belligerent manner to your postings. We're tired of trying to make it work, Jeff. It's not you -- it's just us. You'll find another newsgroup someday, and maybe you'll have subgroups of your own. But not with us. Go now, and maybe in a few months we can exchange a few notes and try to be friends again. -- Gene "6 months and counting" Spafford The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332 CSNet: Spaf @ GATech ARPA: Spaf%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!spaf