did you know when you go it's the perfect ending to the bad day I was just beginning?

There's always a worry that, when you attempt to explain why something has changed and/or affected your life, you will come off as being overwraught or you won't be able to find the right words to say it. You run the risk of seeming overly sentimental or stupid.

Right now, I'm trying to explain why Harriet the Spy, for better or worse, inspired me to keep a journal. Hell, it even earned me the nickname of "Harriet the Spy" for a short time, because basically... I started keeping a journal because the "spy" angle appealed to me. I had a spy kit in a metal tin in my locker that I carried out to recess, with binoculars and pens and stuff, and I'd "hide" behind a tree and mostly watch the boys, as I was convinced that they were all Up to No Good. Take that, and the fact that I was scribbling something down in my little red notebook and this added to a level of paranoia around the playground. I ended up getting a reputation as being the girl who wrote things about everyone, and suddenly everyone wanted to know if I was writing about them and if so, what.

Considering that and other stupid things I did as a kid, it's amazing that I had friends at all.