Rayna, your writing is beautiful, moving, so powerful....
thankyou so much......

Hello everyone.  I joined this list months ago, but due to a
computer problem (probably pretty simple but I'm fairly inept
when it comes to computers) I have been unable to send anything.
Anyway, it's all fixed now, and I feel like I know you all!!
Guess I'll have to put in a bit of an effort so that you can all
feel the same way about me. :)

For now, I live in Adelaide (hundreds of miles east of rayna!)
and am studying linguistics and spanish.  I'm on holidays now,
though, which is  fantastic.  I work with juvenile delinquents,
play piano fairly poorly but determinedly,  write a poem every
now and then, and read avidly.

So much of what has been said on this list has been eye-opening,
thought- provoking and helpful to me, but rather that trying  to
respond to so many posts from the past, I'll just start from
today- less overwhelming that way.  I will say, though, that I
read the Surgeon of Crowthorne- (what's it's US name? The Doctor
and the Madman?) and loved it- we've talked lots about
lexicography in linguistics, so reading about the OED creation
was just fascinating..... Betty was it you who went out and got
it? Have you read it yet & what did you think?

I share this computer with my housemate, so sometimes I don't
get online for a  d ay or two (ie if she's writing papers, etc)
but I will be posting as often as I can to get to know you all
better.

Thankyou all so much for being so humourous, intelligent,
supportive- just for being here.  It's been great spying on your
conversations over the past months, but I'm out of the closet
now.!!!!!

Emma