Are you a regular Reflections reader? When did you start reading? Why? What keeps you coming back? Do you have a favorite entry? Are there any comments or suggestions you'd like to make for the next year?

-- Liz (ebrooks@widomaker.com), January 27, 2000

Answers

Yeah, I'm a regular reader. I started reading late last January, not too much longer after the journal started up, I think. Mostly I read because I know Liz, and because it's been, I think, very benificial to the lines of communication to have another line open. Sometimes, in this busy life, we say or do things without thinking about how they might affect another person. By being able to later see what Liz has to say, I know more about what kind of person I am.

There's an interesting quality to reading the journal of someone you know. It's certainly different than reading the journal of someone I don't know (which I also do). I find out, of a frantic weekend we spent together, what things she remembers most clearly. On occassion, we've been known to write he said/she said sort of entries.

Would I read the journal if I didn't know her? Probably. Assuming that I had found it. Liz doesn't really go out of her way to let people know she's writing. I think Liz has a simplicity of style that's easy to read. Soothing. Unlike some other journalers, she's not looking for the big laugh, so I don't feel like anything is expected of me.

I sort of miss the brain teasers that were around for a while.

KT

-- KT Hicks (kt_hicks@yahoo.com), January 27, 2000.

I've been reading regularly since...I'm not honestly sure. At first I would read a month or two at a time in order to catch up. Sometime over the summer I guess I finally got into the habit of reading regularly, mainly because I'd get onto the Hall (www.meadehall.org) and everyone would be talking about KT and Liz's latest entries and I'd feel left out because I didn't know what people were talking about. I keep reading in order to avoid feeling left out and because Liz and I have stopped exchanging daily emails (mainly because I rarely have anything worth writing about).

-- Jeff (koros@usit.net), January 27, 2000.

I started reading, oh, as soon as you started, actually. And I read daily. Even when I was in New Orleans on travel I'd check out your journal entries as soon as I could on one of the random Internet stations that were scattered around the conference. I keep reading because I like getting your point of view on things that are going on. Sometimes I've got a pretty good idea of how you feel about something, and other times I'll find out somethings I didn't know about. I'll admit that there are times I'd rather find things out in person, but I'm glad that I know them at all.

Comments or suggestions for the coming year? Um... I like the monthly themes? And I don't really have a favorite favorite entry that immediately leaps to mind. I don't really have favorite entries for any of the journals I read, I guess. I sort of enjoy them for while I'm reading them, digest any pertinent information that I should remember, and move on. Is that bad?

Ta.

-- Matt (mbrooks@3gi.com), January 27, 2000.

yeah i am a regular reader. but i cant remember when i started reading, sometime latish (november or december) last year i think. i dont remember how i found your site either...strange...my memory must be poor! :) although i know i read all the archives of it. it took me a while.... i dont have a favourite entry, sorry. mmm...suggestions for the upcoming year...only one thing: keep constantly adding entries - it is great! -helen newman

-- helen newman (osmund@stressed.eng.monash.edu.au), January 30, 2000.

I'm a sporadically regular reader-- meaning, of course, that I read faithfully for a while, disappear under a mountain of distractions for a bit, and come back to read a week or so of archives and catch up. Until the next time. I've read back through to the beginning, but I probably started around April or May, when Matt tracked me down and let me know that all my old TeamMate friends were still out there (on a much bigger 'Net than where we first met, to be sure), and the Hall was back in business. The combination of Halling once a week and keeping up (in my own fashion) with friends' journals keeps me in touch, and makes me feel like I'm still with them in some way. Favorite entries? I like the funny ones. The two that stick out in my mind right now are the spider saga (when Liz tried to let the cat out and was blocked by a spider of heroic proportions) and, more recently, the Spanish language cursing tape. Suggestions? Hm. Keep plugging? Write more fiction?

-- Karen O. (Lisl_1@yahoo.com), February 01, 2000.

I found the site because a friend of mine goes to Virginia Tech and I happened to stumble into the alumni listings. Some people have links to homepages and I found yours. I have always had a fascination for online journals, even people that I don't know nor never will meet in person. I don't know if I'll come back again, although your journals are very interesting. There is a great deal more intelligence than I see elsewhere. Good luck in life and the best to you!

-- Jacqueline Chabot (jacci@electro-net.com), February 03, 2000.

Oh... about twenty minutes ago, I guess. I've been kind of off-put by online journals in the past; some of them get a bit too private or self-involved for me, until I'm like, "Should I be reading this?" But I enjoy this one more than most, so I'll probably be back

-- T Campbell (pop@faans.com), February 19, 2000.