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23 October 2005
Hear ye, hear ye. Turns out kmellis is a pretty cool guy after all. →[More:]I sincerely apologize for any and all derogatory comments I've posted. Carry on.
There is a shocker. Someone on the internet realizes that a person they loathe for some reason or another is not nearly as bad as they think when they take the time to get to know some about them. That sort of thing never happens.
/sarcasm off
Keith has always been a good guy to know, and a very helpful and generous person to those who get to know him.
Bogeymen are just men too. Didn't Shylock teach us anything?
Now jonmc, on the other hand, that guy is nothing but trouble.
you've got a point, dios. I think people cling like hell to their boogeymen, though, simply because if they let go their loathing they might have to question things about the world, or even *gasp* themselves.
Well, dios, that characterization doesn't really work in this case ("take the time to get to know") because Keith and I have something like 23 years of history behind us, though sporadic. But thanks for your input.
The anti-Keith sentiments that seem to follow him around are complete bullshit. The guy is smart, and usually the comments that evoke the most disdain do so because they hit a little too close to home for some people.
I think certain people are utterly terrified of liking certain other people (politics aside). It's the same feeling one gets when the catch themselves singing along to some top 40 song on the car radio. My advice: just surrender. It's a major league relief.
At least with my bad memory I usually don't remember what username posted what so if I am mad at you I don't remember who you are. So then it becomes moot, and each new post is a new experience.
*blushes* Thanks so much for the kind words, everyone, and particularly to you, postmodernmillie.
To dios and anyone else who is curious, pmm and I went to high school together, though she was two years behind me, and though we weren't intimate we were friends and thought very highly of each other. We've only met in person once since then, but we corresponded via email for several years until last year when we had a big falling out. In that context, and as I said privately, I'm not entirely sure that either of us could say that we really "know" the other as who we are today. But I can say with certainty that postmodernmillie is very much the highly intelligent, fascinating, and very attractive woman I knew she'd become 25 years ago.
I've always thought you were a little too long-winded and in love with your own voice, K, but I see that in myself (certainly before I dialed back my MeFi contributions), so held that criticism. Except for an early contretemps in MeTa I've always thought you're bascially decent, though.
i've never gotten the keith malice either, meself. I don't always agree with him, and have wished on a few occasions that he'd cultivate a closer working relationship with brevity, but he's a sharp guy who I've always liked, frankly. Publicly nurturing one's ongoing personal animosities towards online acquaintances seems awfully mid-'90s to me, anyway.
eh, I've never understood internet animosity. Sure, there's people whose comments I skim over, but actually getting upset about people you don't know? Ridiculous.
Oh, and selfnoise, somehow I missed that you were a fellow johnnie (I prefer the "ie" spelling for some reason). Did we correspond last year sometime? 'Cause you're also on mofi? I can't recall. But there are a few johnnies scattered about the mefi universe. Don't know why there aren't more, other than the fact that, um, we're a tiny, tiny community as alum communities go. Still, though. We tend to be, um, talky people. My one and only mefi meetup shoutout was to another johnnie, Blake West, who on mefi is, predictably enough, "blakewest". Like me, SF '95. (The shoutout was clever, it was actually his own signature on a piece of pottery he'd made for a mutal friend.) But Blake's not been on mefi for a good while, I think.
Did you organize the johnnie blog and webring? I raised the matter of a possible johnnie group blog on the unofficial alum mailing list a couple of years ago, but didn't get a big response. I really do think a johnnie group blog could be very good. I already know at least three people who'd be eager to contribute.
Turns out kmellis is a pretty cool guy after all. →[More:]I sincerely apologize for any and all derogatory comments I've posted
are the two mutually-exclusive? can not mr ellis be both a "pretty cool guy", yet also deserving of our scorn and public ridicule? what are we to do with our rotten fruits and vegetables, if not to lob them at yon filibusterers?
...have wished on a few occasions that he'd cultivate a closer working relationship with brevity...
Keith, I haven't spoken to you and didn't organize any of those things. :) I'm Annapolis '01. And I actually have no memory of why I knew you were a Johnny.
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