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As a child, I was never really like any other child in my social circle of friends and relatives.

I had this odd sense of humor (yes, even then) and my life experiences made me see the world differently than most kids.

And, I looked different.

I was the chubby girl with olive colored skin. Most of my friends were skinny and fair skinned.

And they had shiny straight hair that they used to curl with curling irons or hot rollers.

Me - I had an afro.

Now, it wasn't an afro in the African American sense, but it was an afro in the chubby olive-skinned girl sense. I hate to date myself here but about the only styling product on the market at that time was Dippty Do and that didn't do shit for the chubby olive-skinned girl's very very very very curly hair. So all of my attempts at straightening and curling turned my hair into one big giant 'fro.

I used to longingly watch as The Sister would get the Farrah Fawcet Feathers in her hair, which was so wildly popular at the time. And I hated her for it.

So I looked different and I acted different and in my own mind I longed to be in another place. All I wanted was to be just like everyone else. Which was crazy. But normal for a girl my age.

Somewhere around the age of 14, I finally "got myself" and stopped trying to be like everyone else. I stopped trying to make my curly hair straight and I stopped trying to blend into the crowd. It wasn't a matter of purposely being different, it was simply a release of who I truly was.

Fortunately, hair mousse had made it into mainstream usage and the 'fro turned into a somewhat better looking hair-do. And fortunately, I was wildly popular and had amazing friends.

Since that time, I have lived my life that way. I do what I do, be it right or wrong - good or bad, and I claim it as my own. I have no desire to "be like" the rest of the world. And I am drawn to unique and funky people and things.

And the kicker about my personality is this: I am not trying to be like anyone else so please do not try to be like me. I know that's crazy and I am sure somewhere in the world a therapist is licking their chops, but I am one of those people who doesn't find it flattering when someone copies who I am and what I do- I find it creepy.

The point to all of this is that what you read at this site is as true of a reflection of me as you can get. I don't have a "writing style", I simply write as I think and I write as I speak. I didn't take a writing class or learn a certain technique. It's just - me. All the life experiences with crazy people and all my little quirks and all the times I say bad words - it's all me.

Which is why when I read the e-mails I have received of late telling about other bloggers who are copying me, I found myself in a wierd position. At first I didn't believe it because I thought it was crazy that anyone would do such a strange thing. I was told to report people who steal my stuff, it is copyrighted, after all. So I did. Which made me feel like a tattle tale. But it bothered me to think that someone is so pathetic that they have to take from someone else to make themselves feel better. And it bothered me even more to think that someone would copy my life experiences and make them look like their own.

And that made me sad and then I felt like had to feel compassion for those people and then I thought, oh fuck it.

STOP STEALING MY SHIT!

Posted by Foodwhore at September 30, 2004 02:36 PM

Posted by: Gail at September 30, 2004 04:52 PM

Posted by: Barb at September 30, 2004 08:13 PM

Posted by: Elizabeth at October 1, 2004 05:14 AM

Posted by: Ranta Lot at October 1, 2004 07:01 AM

Posted by: Michelle at October 1, 2004 07:45 AM

Posted by: Averyl at October 1, 2004 09:34 AM

Posted by: Averyl at October 1, 2004 09:36 AM

Posted by: Lina at October 1, 2004 10:32 AM

Posted by: thefoxymama at October 1, 2004 10:48 PM

Posted by: Heather at October 2, 2004 06:37 AM