Dear Examinator

You have definitely left me with a conundrum: why are you going?

As with all the posters wishing you well and lamenting your absence, is there any way you would reconsider?

I take breaks away from OLO when the vitriol and utter perversity of some people here starts to cloud my thoughts.

You are one of the posters I learn from. OK, maybe that's a bit selfish of me, but I value well considered thoughts whether I agree with them or not and will certainly miss seeing your moniker on the OLO emails.

Fare Well, in the traditional sense.

Dianne

*Except how do you
get the man to admit he's got a problem
when he won't discuss it?*

Foxy, to get back to your question, the emotional
centres of the mind are quite different to the
rational centres.

The emotional centres are more about black or white,
for me or against me, on or off. For that reason its
quite human to sometimes put emotionally troubling
things out of our mind, as if they don't exist. That
is far easier then facing them.

How we say things often matters more then what we say.

You might have noticed that no matter what I say on
OLO, some people get upset :) There is actually a method
in the seeming madness, but that is another story lol.

Being a sensitive soul, I'm sure that if you tried, you
have the skills to put things in a way to not offend,
but still get your message across.

There is lots of information about all this around. Perhaps
leave some printed information around, about men for whom
hormone therapy has worked wonders. You are clearly much
more skilled at being diplomatic then I am :)

IMHO the thing is to highlight the simple solution, not
focus on the problem, perhaps in discussions which are
seemingly unrelated, perhaps about other people, not the
person in denial or feels uncomfortable about discussing
their situation.

That is my 5c worth.

C'mon, Examinator, you're making us anxious.

If you and your lady are going to take a holiday then we would have expected, from someone like you who is careful with your use of words, an "au revoir". But Good-bye?

I will get really pissed with you if you disapear without giving us all a chance to say how much we rely on you as a measured and educated (and you KNOW I am not referring to formal education particularly) voice on a forum that desperately needs one to bring us all down to earth occasionally.

If you are not returning to us from choice, could you at least get your partner to use your account to end this rather dire-full speculation?

cheers - in every connotation of the word -

Dear examinator,

Can't you see just how much you're valued?

"Here's to the kids who are different;
the kids who don't always get A's,
the kids who have ears
twice the size of their peers'
or noses that go on for days.

Here's to the kids who are different,
the kids who are just out of step,
the kids they all tease,
who have cuts on their knees
and whose sneakers are constantly wet.

Here's to the kids who are different,
the kids with a mischievous streak,
for when they have grown,
as history has shown,
it's their difference that makes them unique."
- Digby Wolfe, for The Goldie Hawn TV Special, 1978.

Please, come back to us all, my cyber-space soul-mate!

In the meantime - Take care!

Dear Yabby,

Thanks for taking the time and responding
to my questions. It was most helpful.

Thanks also for your kind words.

As a little girl, I was shy, and never
comfortable in expressing my opinion.
I didn't believe that my ideas were
worthy of being heard. As I grew older,
I was worried about expressing my opinion
too strongly in case it made me abrasive.

Therefore I admire the way that you're
secure and unafraid in speaking your own
mind. Especially since you do it without
malice or anger - but just from the
depths of what you believe to be true.

Sure, we can all say to ourselves, Gosh,
I shouldn't have said that, or perhaps
I should have said it differently. It
is important to act with civility -
but I think it's equally important not to
forsake your own wisdom. Not to lose your
integrity. I think that's the message
that examinator was trying to leave us.