mortified - warning

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Thu, 2005-11-10 10:37

mortified - warning

Now I don't embarrass easily - there would be no point. BUT, I just sent an email to the boy I was in love with at school and it went madly wrong.

We've been in touch for a few years, and he contacted me, so that's fine. We were friends all throughout school. But I always send these fairly funny, quick emails that look as though I've just typed them off (when let's face it, I've spent a little while drafting it so it's right)...

ANYWAY, I kept saving it as a draft before sending it off, then sent it off, and realised that hotmail adds every draft to your original one. So basically I sent him the same email 10 times in the same email with all the things I changed in it. ARGHHH! Really, I am quite anal about getting the right word in any kind of writing I do.

I hope he just thinks it's the same email repeated and doesn't go through and read all the various drafts.

Curse you hotmail. You ruin lives.

I feel sick here. It doesn't really matter if he thinks I'm a complete nutjob does it? It's not as though it matters anymore.

*gulps back pure panic*

Thu, 2005-11-10 10:39

fergal

the warning part of the title was to warn those with hotmai that that's what the drafting process does. Grrrr.

Thu, 2005-11-10 10:40

Brooklands

Wow - that's gotta hurt. Especially when you're trying to sound breezy and cas (as in casual)... I would hate to have my carefully planned nonchalance laid bare. Maybe he'll take it as a compliment... Joe

Thu, 2005-11-10 10:43

fergal

Oh God.... The thing is, it really is nonchalance, honest guv, it just takes ten drafts to get it just so. *shudders motifiedly*

Thu, 2005-11-10 11:42

ely_whitley

it's like getting caught out bluffing at poker. It's all part of the game etc but it really stings, there's nowhere to hide. should it ever be mentioned just remind him that you're a serious writer and your habit is always to rewrite everything without even thinking, then pull seven versions of the same shopping list rom your bag and hope he doesn't run away from the strange lady.

Thu, 2005-11-10 11:59

2Lou

Oooh Fergs. I've not used the draft thing - but I wouldn't have guessed it did that! Never mind - unless the first sentence was noticeably different each time, I expect he'll assume it's a repeat, I would. Oooh Fergs. I've not used the draft thing - but I wouldn't have known it did that! Never mind - unless the first sentence was noticeably different each time, I expect he'll assume it's a repeat, I would. Oooh Fergs. I've not used the draft thing - but I wouldn't have known it did that! Never mind - unless the first sentence was noticeably different each time, I expect he'll assume it's a repeat, is he particularly bright or a bit of a dullard?

~
www.fabulousmother.co.uk

Thu, 2005-11-10 12:15

fergal

ha ha... I am hoping he will just think it's a repeat. The first line was a bit different, but hopefully, even though I used to think him very bright, he is actually a dullard in later life and won't notice. Though I doubt this. But still... It's one of those things people do - pretend to be all breezy and casual on the surface and be all seaming underneath... Serves me right anyway. Should have just bashed out a reply without the grandiose gesturing. I deserve all i get. If he says something I could try the 10 versions of my shopping list thing. Or I might actually say, 'Yep. I actually drafted that email 10 times because I was trying to impress you.' and see what he says. (I won't do that really).

Thu, 2005-11-10 12:23

Corvus

I wouldn't worry Ferg, at least he will know that, despite your nonchalance, you are pretty damn keen - which however he looks at it, is only a compliment...still, it's a definately a hot under the collar moment. My worst one was a few years ago when I first started using Messenger. I sent a rather 'flirtacious' message on MSN to a girlfriend, but got a reply from my boss (who I'd mistakenly sent it to, as I was chatting to her at the same time) - she was a little stunned at my rather up-front, open-minded attitude to physical attraction (she was Cathoilc and Irish!). I'm not sure who was the most embarrassed, but we didn't look at each other eye to eye for weeks. I'm sure she thought I was some horrendous perv. Still have hot flushes about that one.

Thu, 2005-11-10 12:30

fergal

Yes, typing and clicking can lead to all sorts of embarrassments. I don't want him to think I'm keen, tat's the problem. Especially not pretty damned keen! I think the shock of sending the email made me reailse how much time I put into the email when I send it, when I actually *believed* I couldn't care less. Saddo. That's what it says to me. I'm a Saddo. (Do people even use the word 'Saddo' anymore?) I'm not keen. Only losers get excited about being in touch with people from school. *slumps off in a loser-like manner to redraft handwriting*

Thu, 2005-11-10 15:17

#10

mississippi

Hayley, it's better to compose email in notepad and do the corrections and alterations before even opening hotmail. Yeah I know, it's stating the obvious andIi have to admit having been embarrased myself about stuff I've sent.

Thu, 2005-11-10 15:25

#11

fergal

Yeah, George. I realise NOW! Luckily I didn't say anything I wouldn't normally say. It's just a bit silly, you know? The point is that we stay casually in touch. I don't want him to know I think carefully about what I say. Not because of any deep meaning, but because I don't like anyone thinking I'm anything other than flippant. I will never use the draft thing again. What a stupid thing it is. (Who would want 10 drafts of the same email in one, eh? Who is that catering for?!)

Thu, 2005-11-10 21:38

#12

ivoryfishbone

HAHAHAHAHHAHA ... oh fergs ... i just felt so mortified FOR you ...

Thu, 2005-11-10 22:44

#13

ged-backland

let's not confuse school and the people we were with real life - maybe we all hark back to a simpler time when our only worries were homework and what the boy with the floppy fringe thought about us.Sometimes it's easy to look at what could have been and confuse it for what itwould probably been. Be happy now, revel in friendships and enjoy the people in your life who love you return that love and you'll never thinkwhat if?

Ged Backland

Fri, 2005-11-11 10:59

#14

justyn_thyme

In elementary school we were required (incredibly) to exchange Valentine's Day cards with everyone in class of the opposite gender (about 25 kids). Everyone had a little envelope pinned to the cork board to receive their missives. Well, I didn't want to spend a lot of time writing everyone's name on a card, so I figured I would just put my name oneach cardt and drop one into each envelop. Like so many things in life, the plan was better than the execution. Inevitably, I put two into one girl's envelop and one girl got nothing from me. And equally inevitable, the girl who got two cards thought I'd done it deliberately. That might not have been so bad, but she was the one person in the class I wanted to have nothing to do with. Then when everyone noticed I had taken the generic sentiment route, there was a groundswell of revulsion at my inattentiveness. So the next year, I just didn't give any at all. Oddly, my mother kept those little cards (the one's I'd received) in a shoe box for well over 40 years. I threw them away after she died. Nothing to do with email, but somehow your story reminded me of it.

Fri, 2005-11-11 12:04

#15

fergal

Yep justyn, I know why that reminded you of your story - same sort of thing. Unintentional revealment (is that a word). Thanks fish. onlywords - I honestly don't hark back to 'a better time when all I had to worry about was the boy with the floppy fringe'.... for a start, I'm pretty sure at the time things weren't that fantastic, and also I'm not trying to get him interested in my romantically - lord no. He was a good friend of mine all the way through school, and he got in touch with me a few years back which was/is nice. I do live in the present - too much so, some might say. Still don't want to look like a complete buffoon in front of him though, you know. Just for my dignity's sake. The good thing about this is that I realised that I see every piece of writing as a chance to get just the right word. That was the funny thing. The redrafts weren't anything I didn't want to say - just casual chat about what I'm doing at the moment... it's just the final draft said it with exactly the right words that I wanted. I am more worried about what this anal obsession with words will lead me to (the Booker and a shedload of cash, hopefully...)

Fri, 2005-11-11 12:05

#16

fergal

ha ha - I meant I'm not trying to get him interested in 'me' romantically. 'My' romantically is probably something quite different, and possibly anatomical.

Fri, 2005-11-11 13:26

#17

2Lou

Ah the old me/my mistake. I know! If you were to use a draft facility...

~
www.fabulousmother.co.uk

Fri, 2005-11-11 15:20

#18

Corvus

I'm the same Ferg, I treat every piece of writing as something that needs form, humour and a good ending, regardless of how 'throw-away' it is. It's a writer's thing I'm sure. I'm not sure how the draft thing works anyway. I just redraft my first splurge directly in the body of the email, try and make it make some sense, re-read it (if it's important, I leave it for an hour or too, as my early morning brain is far les circumpspect than my afternoon brain) and send it with a sense of trepidation that I've mayve said something entirely stupid or insulting. But such slips are rare these days I'm glad to say. WANKERS!

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