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Skinnerian
Tuesday, March 24, 1998 There has been some flaming and arguing going on in the singles PF (public folder, like an internal newsgroup) at work. As things were calming down, someone suggested a group outing to make nice. But I knew that these things never work if you take a poll and try to find a time and event to suit everybody. Better just for one person to pick something and decide! So to set an example, I posted an event: to meet at the food court of Crossroads mall and get dinner, then go to see The Man in the Iron Mask. I proposed this even though it was very late notice, because tonight was my only evening free, and the movie is one I'd be willing to see. I forwarded the notice to a few friends who don't read that folder. As it turned out, these friends were the only ones who turned up! (But I didn't take this personally, because of the late notice.) Jon Newman and Tom Lawrence met me at the appointed spot and we ate. I had pho, that Vietnamese beef noodle soup with basil and mint. While we were eating, I described a puzzling online encounter I'd had in the past few days. A man sent me a fine letter after seeing my yahoo personal ads. I sent him what I thought was a reasonable reply. It evidently wasn't what he was expecting, though! He said it was more like a posting to a newsboard than an attempt to open up lines of communication between two people, and more along those lines. Cut and dried. Automatic responses, like the chicken that pecks a piano when the light comes on. I've had my journal critiqued before, but not my email! Things just seemed to get off on the wrong foot between us, and I don't know why. So I asked Jon and Tom if they had ever noticed anything like that in anything I had written to them. Of course they said no, but then I haven't exchanged that much email with them. Probably readers of this journal have gotten more mail from me than anyone, without knowing me in real life. What do you think? Jon wasn't really interested in seeing the Iron Mask, so we walked over to the theater to check what other showtimes were available to us. Primary Colors seemed the most suitable. I haven't read the book, and the movie has gotten mixed reviews, but we enjoyed it. The theater was almost empty! The cast was great. I had forgotten that Emma Thompson played Susan/Hilary.
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