FAQ – Updated June 29, 2007

 

So, I was tinkering with my frontpage yesterday to put up a link for the contact info and it occurred to me that the FAQ hasn’t been updated in a very long time. So, I gave it a freshening up by adding several questions, changing the answers to others, and deleting the less relevant ones. If there’s anything that you think should be added, you can do so by asking me and having a friend ask me too, thus making it a frequently asked question. Or you could just ask me and I could tell you. But there’s no fun in that.

 

Anyway, off we go.

Q: Hey, where do you live?

A: Starting in August, I’ll permanently be living Athens, Georgia. That is at least until my roommate inevitably kills me with a hammer in the middle of the night.

Q: Really? Athens? How far is that from (insert city here)?

A: I don’t know.

Q: Really? Athens? That’s close by; can we meet?

A: Probably. I’ve grown to like meeting people from online, especially since my schedule generally isn’t too busy. It’s semi-fascinating seeing how people interact in person in comparison to the online medium. Besides, I’ve honestly never met an Open Diarist I didn’t like (and I’ve now met . . . 5), so it’s actually become a good way for me to make friends. One would think it’d be awkward meeting someone who knows so much about your personal life, but I’ve always found the interacting easier than it would be if you were just strangers.

Q: Can I see your picture?

A: If you’re a favorite and have been reading for very long, you likely already have as I post them occasionally, whenever a purpose arises. If you were just dying for one and didn’t want to go through the trouble of wrestling through all the old entries, just IM me and I’m sure I could give you one. Or a dozen. I can be a bit narcissistic.

Q: Why are your entries so vague sometimes?

A: There are generally two reasons for this. One is that, due to the number of people I’ve met from OD (including one person who I was in a year-long long distance relationship with), oftentimes I don’t want to get too personal because of the incestuous nature of the site and how lots of people who read my diary read each others diaries, etc. The other reason is that, there are some things (and one thing in particular) that I’m simply too ashamed of to ever talk about directly in the diary. Yeah, I know, I’m even vague when I answer questions about the reasons why I’m vague.

Q: Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say you were in a year long relationship with someone from this site?!

A: Yes, I did. We’ve since broken up, but the two of still talk very frequently and get along well. She lived in California and our relationship did actually culminate in the two of us meeting for 10 days. The meeting went spectacularly, but, misleadingly, we broke up shortly after, for other reasons. There are, as you might imagine, tons of entries on this (a diary search reveals 56 entries with the word “Heather” which is her name), so if you honestly want to know more about it, there’s nothing keeping you from it but having to sift through my writing.

<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family:

Tahoma”>Q: Is there any chance the two of you might get back together?!

A: I don’t like to shut the door on anything, especially something as meaningful to me as my relationship with Heather was/is. She is definitely still a huge presence in my life (and I’d like to think I am the same in hers) and I imagine she always will be on some level. That said, she is currently planning on spending a year in England studying abroad while I remain in Georgia working on my Masters in Accounting where we will both pursue our own lives and interests. There is no real reason to think that we will be getting back together.

Q: What kind of stuff are you actually interested in? You can’t really tell from the diary.

A: I think that I am in a constant obsession with being alive and what the significance of it is. I intentionally try to surround myself with a wide variety of entertainment and learning mediums so I don’t become too stagnant of a person and have a broader idea of everything the world has to offer. I love a good film or book, regardless of genre or message. I admit, I do have a weakness for sports.

Q: Why don’t you ever read my diary?

A: It’s quite possible that I do read it.

Q: If you read it, why don’t I ever get any notes from you?

A: It’s likely that the entries I read just didn’t seem to require a note, or that I just didn’t have time to leave one. I usually try to leave them occasionally, but don’t get too offended if I don’t. However, I will get offended if you don’t note on my diary. I’m unreasonable in that way.

Q: Why is there a 3 month period where there are no entries?

A: Open Diary was hacked and these entries were lost. Later, people paid the Diarymaster $100 to thank him for this inconvenience. 

Q: What’s an RFIM?

A: RFIM was an oft used abbreviation by me for Random Female Instant Messenger. It was a reference to the large amount of females who instant messaged me, generally because of my helium filled yahoo profile.

Q: Who is Spider? Who is Kyle? Why do they act so similarly?

A: Spider is the alias I used for my old roommate Kyle back when we first started living together (or even previous to that, I think) just because he was internet wary and the name amused me. It since has ceased to amuse me, so I simply call him Kyle, which is his real name. Those interested in his address and social security number, just let me know.

Q: What does A.J. Stanson mean? Why do you call yourself that in some of the earlier entries? Why would you use it if it’s not your real name? Where did it come from?

A: It doesn’t mean anything, honest. It’s just an alias I used when I started the diary, but eventually I tired of everyone asking about it, so I just changed my diary name to the more understandable "Matt." I’m currently debating yet another name change, for privacy reasons.

Q: Who/what is The Goddess?

A: “The Goddess” was a girl I had a rather large crush on during my sophomore year of college (wow, that really has been ages ago now). I extended the idea of a “Goddess” to an ideal mate for me and underwent a “Goddess Search” for several months in my diary. Perhaps it’s time I went on another one.

Q: How many times have you had sex?

A: I&rsq

uo;m a virgin. I used to think I had made it to second base, but apparently the definitions are becoming modernized. There’s a possibility that I’m still in the batter’s box.

Q: You’re a virgin?! Come on, admit it, you’re really gay, aren’t you?
 
A: Oddly, when people find out I’m a virgin this seems to be the first assumption they make which is ironic when you consider gay men have more sex than anyone. And, no, I am not a homosexual, and despite all the “no person is completely gay or straight, there are only different levels” notions, I’ve never really found myself attracted to another male. Now, some of you might want to argue that I secretly have repressed feelings that I’m in denial about because of social upbringing, and I won’t bother arguing with you, but I will say that sexual attraction towards a man is something I’ve never felt, whereas sexual attraction to a woman is something I can’t bloody stop feeling, even when I’d like to. And, trust me, if I was in the closet, I’d at least write about it in my diary.
 
Q: Well, why are you a virgin then?
 
A: It isn’t necessarily something I planned. To put it simply, no person that I’m willing to have sex with has also been willing to have sex with me. I don’t have moral objections to sex.
 
Q: Who is your favorite diarist?
 
A: Well, Heather is definitely my favorite diarist, but I’ll admit to a slight bias being that I was in a year-long relationship with her and she’s still my best friend. She does write very well though. I think Curious Dave probably has the most interesting diary that I’ve read, but it isn’t actually a diary as much as a collection of answers to random questions and academic musings. I like diaries like Michael. and Arabesque and Blackbird Fly, because they’re actual diaries in the sense that they’re an actual recordings of their lives, which is interesting to me. I find NotKieran to be brilliant and intimidating and think it’s a shame the stuff he writes is read by mostly people who have no chance at really comprehending it (myself included). I like and envy Fire and Ice and Posthumouser because they read obsessively and give great book reviews and recommendations. So, basically, I like lots of diarists for lots of different reasons and couldn’t pick a real favorite because it’s apples and oranges. Or I can just say Heather.

Q: Do you really live on a farm?
 
A: Well, my parents do, and I spend a lot of time there, though calling it a farm may be a bit of an exaggeration. There’s livestock and a small garden and lots of land, some of which is used for a hunting club.
 
Q: Was Heather a Goddess?

A: I consider her one, but this is complicated by her claims that she doesn’t want to be one. It’s these sorts of disagreements that kept us from working, I imagine.