Tired of Being Told Who to Be

I know they don't mean it - at least I hope to hell they don't - but all my life, nearly 60 years now, people have told me what to think, how to act, who to be.  Some of the people who've told me this the loudest are people who actually love me.  Weird, right?  I mean, if anyone should let you be who you are, it's the people who love you, yes?  Well, not so, at least not for me.  I get told I'm wrong to feel what I feel - hey, I don't mind being corrected if my facts are wrong, or being told there's another viewpoint that maybe I hadn't seen, but dammit, what I feel is what I fucking FEEL already - I get blasted for political views (yeah, so I'm a Democrat, OK?), get yelled at by family when I get so stressed that I finally decide to say "you know, I could use a little help here".  I make people uncomfortable.  It's easier for them if they can pretend I'm just a nice grandma who's basically in stasis until they want me around when I come to life magically and hand out cookies or listen to their problems or agree with their views.


So, here I am, me.  If you find this without being invited - and you might - and you figure out who I am - and you might - and you don't like it, too damn bad.  If I've invited you here, I trust you.  If I'm trusting you and you start in with the "you're wrong to feel like that" bullshit, I'll just delete this and start another and not let you know.  Feel free to *talk* to me about anything, as long as you respect the fact that I have a right to BE WHO I AM, thank you very much.  Unless you're my granddaughter - and you're not, since she doesn't have unmonitored internet access - I don't try to tell you who you should be, so I expect the same consideration.


I'm opinionated (like that's a surprise), intelligent (IQ scores available upon request), have a kinky sense of humor and am interested in almost everything from quantum theory to knitting.  I love cats, music of most kinds (though country doesn't thrill me and I could go the rest of my life without anyone reminding me that there was once a guy named Lawrence Welk), Monty Python, and good books in many genres.  I've seen a lot of life - and death - and lived in a lot of places in the US.  I'd sacrifice fairly important body parts (my own, of course) to be able to live in the UK, even though I'd have to give up my Beretta .25 Panther.  


I have no idea what I'll write about here, or how often.  This is who I am, hidden away.