Saturday, September 18, 2004

My email messages go out with an orange butterfly in the upper right hand corner. Hmmm. I never requested this feature or specially arranged to be represented by a butterfly. I like butterflies. They're pretty. But the butterfly is not me; not my symbol, my logo, my calling card. I am not the butterfly, and yet whenever friends or family hear from me they are seeing the butterfly, and maybe they're thinking: "She's really into that butterfly."

I searched around my toolbar for the butterfly "on/off" switch. Couldn't find it. I thought I might find a list of other character options and wondered whether any of them would better suit me. There don't seem to be any; not that I can find. A chicken is a likely option, and some time ago I might have felt like using a sea turtle. My cynical side wonders why ants aren't showing up on my outgoing email. Ants are everywhere else in my life. Frickin' ants.

It might be amusing, in a junior high kind of way, to have symbols that change with holidays, seasons or moods. Google has creative fun decorating their banner. At the moment I feel like I could be best symbolized by a cute sloth, sweating and lethargic, staring blankly, waiting for a special delivery and cooler weather.

Max is writing his Christmas list... Alex is drawing... William is fixing a bagel... Geoff is playing tennis...

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