Dealing With My Newfound Fame

Four readers of the Herald-Journal came up to me today and congratulated me on being on the front page of the paper. I had no idea so many people read the Herald-Journal! (Just kidding, David...)

Seriously, though, it was a little awkward for me to be "famous", even among people who already know me. I haven't yet been accosted by strangers ("Hey, that's the blogger that was in yesterday's Herald-Journal! Let's chase her down the street!") but it's still a bit strange to have your bank teller tell you she read about you in the paper. I've never been much of a "social" person, and to appear in the paper at all was rather a big step for me. It's actually making me a bit scared to post stuff I think people might not like.

I also want to be cautious because I don't want any ill fame to come on the Math Department up at the university, by association with me or my opinions. And my husband is even getting some ribbing-- somebody at his work came up to him and asked him, "Your wife's legs aren't really hairy, are they?" Favorite Husband responded jokingly, but just for the record: I do shave my legs, just not as often as some women do. I knew one girl who shaved her legs twice a day; she scared me, partly because of that and partly because she also flat-out refused to use any feminine hygiene products. She had problems. But leg-shaving is a topic for a whole other post.

It's easy to spout off and say whatever I like when I know nobody's listening, but when the spotlight turns around to shine on me, I suddenly get tongue-tied. Guess I'm still not over those junior-high popularity issues after all...