in-Flamed!

Over where the light is strong, an intra-blog flirtation is distracting me from doing what I really should do - find a job.  But it is worth noting, I think, because of the difficulty of being understood when you write e-mails, and by extension, I guess this includes blog posts. Hopefully at least half of you will understand this...

I got thinking about being understood after reading an article on Wired that was here . In the article research is mentioned that indicates that someone has even odds of being able to determine the written tone of any e-mail.  I think this is lottery of understanding is a simple but inherently true statement - that no one can really comprehend media like this.  I'll try to explain.

While I'm not a good writer, I'd like to think that I'm a person who deliberates about what I am trying to write.  And while I might spend the time trying, I'm astounded at how often on re-reading my own e-mails I find something wrong, or inconsistent, in a "Hang on, I didn't mean it that way!" sense.  I'll often re-write passages to get it to make more sense to me, and only when I'm happy I'll hit the send button.  But as soon as I do that, I reckon that my view of my message becomes concrete.

So when someone replies or queries the content, the automatic assumption is that they have got it wrong, they have misread it or didn't properly understand.  I am egocentric when I view these challenges, and that makes my responses to them disproportionate.  I can't see how I contributed to the situation.  And that then makes escalation a distinct possibility. 

Anyway, getting it back to the flirtation.  I wrote a hungover and depressed post, referencing an e-mail I'd sent to my best friend.  Now best friend is a confusing term for me to use in the first place, there are many friends that I consider *best* for many different reasons, but in my state I thought that by writing 'best friend' those who know me would know exactly who I was writing to and know just how weird a message it was to send to this person.  I thought it was concrete.

Then I get a tongue-in-cheek (he states flipping a coin) comment, from Cal that shatters that thought.  My correspondence is fallible yet again.  I read the wired article and it makes sense.  No one can understand me fully, so enjoy it. 

So now I am going enjoying it.  I went over to strongerlight and commented on her sad-sack (Head?/Tails?) Valentines post that I was her secret Valentine.  And now we have achieved escalation. 

We ARE best friends who ARE hot for each other or dare I say... inflame!

Blogs are great.