But of course it is too late. Sunday night, I was in the process of editing, and D. and Jay showed up. They had talked Vincent into bridge, and wanted me to come with them.

I had just been thinking to myself, "Jeez. I say the word (Ana's real home) a lot. I've still got a lot of entries to go through, too. Is this really necessary? Maybe, just maybe, I'm being a teensy bit paranoid? Would it really be the end of the world if someone I knew read this?" so when Jay asked me what I'd been doing, I blurted out "I've got a stalker!" and then I had to explain the whole thing.

D. thought it was funny as hell. "So...you made your journal public, and now you're freaking out because someone is reading it?"

Ana: Well, no. The point is, she wants my address. That's what worries me. (And yes. I did actually guess that Poodgims was a she. That whole "Mr and/or Ms Smythe" thing I was doing was just me trying to be cute.)

Jay: You've got a journal? Cool! Where is it?

Ana: I'm not telling.

D: So, just go to Yahoo, and do a search on Tau...

Ana: Diaryland.com. ana-ng. Please don't tell anyone.

I distinctly remember saying, "Please don't tell anyone." But the first words out of D.'s mouth when we got to Vincent's was "You should tell Vincent and Bob about your stalker!" So then I had to tell them the whole story too.

It's not really that I minded them knowing. Specifically, I can't think of any single person I wouldn't want to know. If Anne or Jack or Vincent or any one of the other Taunies had been the one who asked me at that particular moment what I was doing, I probably would have said exactly the same thing. I just don't want it to be common knowledge, if that makes sense.

So Jay visited my journal yesterday. I got an e-mail from him, "Oooh! I'm a scary stalker! I'm gonna come to Misk. U. and I'm gonna stalk you!" Teehee. Maybe I was blowing it all out of proportion.

I'm pretty sure that Poodgims is not a stalker. I wrote to her, and said who the hell are you, and she's been sending me a lot of reassuringly sane e-mails. She seems like good people.

I may take her advice, though, and have it mailed to the House. Jay pointed out the same thing, and also that my sister works in the college mailroom. She has the power to pull out any funky packages she wants.

Well, yeah, but that's an entirely new set of problems. Lynne does indeed work in the mailroom. But how do I even begin explaining to her why I'm getting this package? I don't know how I can do it, without telling her I've got an online journal. I think she might be right near the top of the small select list of people I don't ever want to know about this. She would tell my parents. That would be all bad.

Even if I did tell her something else, (Um, I met someone in IRC a few months ago, and we've talked a lot, yeah, that's it...) we then arrive at the contents of the package. Poodgims worked in a bookstore, and when the bookstore closed, she was told to take as much as she could carry. Technically it's contraband. Lynne would not be OK with that at all.

So then I modify the truth a little more by not telling her that technically, no one ever paid for these books. (Um, she says she has a lot of books she doesn't want anymore...) and I'm suddenly right in the middle of a whole web of lies. I hate that. I always feel like I'm some sort of Greek tragedy just waiting to happen.

We won't even get into the issue of whether Lynne and her morals would Intercept The Official Duties Of The US Post Office for me. Her first semester in the mailroom, she came across a few CD's that were addressed to me, care of the Miskatonic radio station. She said she had to turn them over to WMSK. I pointed out that I had never had a position of authority in the radio station, and no one would send me radio station business. Besides, they were TMBG CD's. I was on the TMBG mailing list. The station was not. The CD's were clearly meant for me. But she said she had to give them to WMSK. She's funny that way. I don't know if she would help me or not, even if I managed to come up with a completely plausible and totally legal explanation.

So tonight after work, I'll go over and talk to her. More on this story as it develops...

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