Appearing with One's Pants Down

A person who publishes a book wilfully appears before the populace with his pants down.

(Edna St. Vincent Millay to Mrs. Cora B. Millay, 25 May 1927. Letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Ed. AR Macdougall. Harper & Bro., NY, 1952. p. 220.)

I now inflict myself on the unwilling and unwitting public. Conversely, I inflict the public on me. Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I doing it to you? The responses, in reverse order, are: You pulled the trigger; I accept no responsibility for doing anything "to" you; and: I am scratching my neuroses--there is no "why."

Actually, there is. My Bloggernacle Pathologies are 2 and 3, but that only explains why I lurk and comment. I'm starting a blog as an experiment in social development by baby steps. I am, by most informed accounts, emotionally incompetent, socially inept, and slow at just about everything except annoyance; appearing in public with "my pants down," as it were, induces severe wigging-out on my part (I'm blogging to improve my social interactions, for crying out loud!). On the other hand, I enjoy words and am Mormon. My theory is that if I write about things Mormon, etc. the necessities of regularly producing content and of interacting with commenters will force me to think, feel, and relate faster. Eventually the skills and confidence I acquire in cyberspace will spill into meatspace. Of course, it could all backfire and I could retreat to my cave.

Here goes: Hello, World. My name is Edje (pronounced similar to "edgy"). Check out this tan line...