That's a beautiful story, ma'am.

Kids today don't know shit.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I think there's Shinola on the bottom of your shoe."

I was going to make one of several witty comments, but they're all irrelevant after Hugh's.

and... arse_hat and Hugh Janus for the TeamWin!!!!!

Way to make an instant enemy of me: call me ma'am.

You know, we can give you a senior discount if you can show us your driver's license, ma'am...

Ahh the joys of public computing

That's a very funny story and I liked it.

me too, and i'm glad the dogshits and chicketshits were its, not whos

arse_hat wins!

(Hugh missed by...... *that* much.)

Next time there's a competition on, tell me beforehand and I'll bow out. I don't like to be involved.

This sounds gripey, and this is an inappropriate place to say it (this thread is funny and rather carefree) but I really don't want to be part of your win/lose universe. It's no fun for me.

I'm serious. Please don't take this as an attack. It just makes me feel crummy to think that everything I write here might be compared to others' comments for humor, or quality, or whatever.

Sorry to be a bummer, and I don't mean anything personal, but that's how I feel. I don't want to feel like I, or anyone else, has anything to prove here.

Now I'm really obsessing.

Sorry, I don't mean to discourage what is a natural and friendly thing to do. I'm just prickly when I feel judged (good or bad), and I think the thread win/loss meme is poisonous.

I read a lot into everything, especially on rainy days. Something the Danish author Peter Høeg writes about children sticks in my mind. I'll try to paraphrase it: telling a child that her drawing is good is just as judgmental as telling her that it's bad -- it sets into motion something that can't be stopped: the cycle of proving oneself and judging others that is central to the adult world. So judging a child's work is thrusting her into that adult world, and the earlier you do this with a child, the quicker she loses her childhood. I'm not making the point as clearly as Høeg does in Borderliners, but I hope you understand.

I hope my tone doesn't make anyone feel bad. That's not my intention. I just want to let you know I'm uncomfortable when I find myself in a competition I never signed up for.

It's okay, though, and I appreciate the compliments, really. Even though all this stuff I just wrote seems to say I don't. Thanks.

Hugh--sure, this is an inappropriate place to say it, but I agree with everything else you said, too, and I'm glad you mentioned it.

The 'soandso wins' thing isn't the world's greatest evil, but I don't think it's doing anything to elevate the discourse, either, and, for me at least, it stopped being funny a long time ago. (Was it ever funny? Shrug.)

thank you both for sparing me what i've bit back for ages.