It’s Monday morning and I seem to have lived through the wierdness vortex, mostly by just staying indoors all day Sunday.

The top goes down on the Miata today, so I’ve got that going for me.

I got so much done at home this weekend by the simple expedient of just being at the house that I’m all fired up for work this week.

Good thing, too, since I’m dead broke and MUST bill some time in order not to starve to death. LOL

I got a lesson in the written word last night.

I’m so proud of my writing and I think I express myself so much better in writing than I do verbally. I rely on this ability to be clear and precise with words. Except, when it fails, it fails big time.

I wrote a letter to someone I care about. I tried to tell them how much I really really care and that I would always care, no matter what.

What they READ, however, was: You’re OK, but leave me alone from now on.

How did that get so fugazi?

I’ve been told in the past that my emails are harsh and unforgiving and punishing. Each time, I resolve to work harder to say exactly what I mean and leave no room for doubt about my position, which is almost never intended to hurt unnecessarily. I don’t ever want to be unkind. Mostly, my motives are pretty pure and my intentions are benign.

It just doesn’t seem to always come out that way.

I know for a fact that I’ve faced the same thing in this blog.

Sometimes, the confusion over what I meant and wrote isn’t my fault. One person mentioned in my blog just flat made up something hurtful as my words. When we went back to the text, the words imagined weren’t there. Nevertheless, the reader found the “tone” hurtful and harsh. I wonder what there is about how I express myself that gets that reaction. I mean I understand how that happens when I’m TRYING to be mean. That happens sometimes in my profession. But, when I want to be understanding and comforting and what is read is hurtful and harmful?

Part of the problem must be in the tonelessness of the written word. A big part of my verbal communication has an ironic tone in it that can’t be expressed in writing. However, as I write, I hear the emphasis on one or another syllable and it makes perfect sense to me. In black and white it can be a very different thing.

So, here’s the deal. When you read what I write, try to remember that I’m a mostly genial guy and don’t really harbor grudges or angry thoughts about much of anyone. Those people I have a problem with can generally tell because there’s no mistake or judgment to make about my intention to give them a piece of my mind. The vast majority of the time, I’m just making an observaton or a joke or don’t care enough to skewer, only to cheep cheep cheep my birdlike protest at the nature of the universe.

Unless you are George Bush, Ann Coulter, Dick Cheney or Don Rumsfeld, you are very likely off the hook with me and I probably either really like you or at least like you enough to tolerate your flaws since I need for you to tolerate mine.

Don’t just sit and stew and be offended by something I’ve written. Come ask me. It may be I was trying to tell you how much I love you and it just came out wrong.

Gotta go. It may get up to 80 degrees this week and I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it and I’m going to start by putting the top down on the car.

C U later.