...See the Difference?

The nicest blog-compliment I’ve ever received was being told that I was “real”. That seems silly when I write it down; of course I’m real! Here I am, sitting at my desk, wearing my favorite sweater, drinking my coffee, and writing my next blog entry. How could I be anything else? But the underlying meaning of that simple word, in the context of the blog-o-sphere, is so complimentary it made me blush.

Anyway, that’s not the point. Among the group people who read each other’s sites, there are some “regulars” whose links overlap in many places. Among those regulars, on many sites, is Jack. This post is dedicated to Jack. Hi, Jack.

I visited Jack’s site this morning for the first time. I’m not sure why I waited so long, except that it seemed to be sort of a game. It occurred to me this morning that it might only be a game in my head, the existence of which and the rules to which he was unaware!

Sometime way back, Jack corrected Jay on word usage. I misunderstood, and thought he was correcting Jay on his spelling. The “rules” went something like this: Picking up on the correction (not out of any sense of malice, just as a sort of picking-on-you joke), I began looking for typos from Jack. They were hard to find, but whenever I did find one, I would mimic his original language to Jay, “Jack, you wrote ‘xxx’, but you meant to write ‘xxx’. See the difference?” He never corrected my comments. Heck, he never even addressed me at all, but I always imagined that when I got him, he smiled. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but in my head, he has the sweetest, “aw, you got me” self-depreciating grin.

Yesterday, for the first time ever, Jack got me back. I was totally deserving and it made me laugh harder than it ought to have. I thought it was hilarious!

But it also made the “real” me think; it made me wonder what the real Jack thinks about me. Am I just some pain-in-the-ass chick annoying him like a fly buzzing 'round his head, or is he in on the game with me?

So I went to his site today and, for the first time ever, I left a comment that was NOT a correction of a typo. I guess that means the game is officially over. To my knowledge, he’s never been to my site, but that’s ok. If he did come here, he’d probably find a typo somewhere and bust me in my own backyard. ;)