I Swore I Wasn't Going to Do This!

(Preserved for posterity from My Manilow Network)

Rediscovering Barry's music at just the right time reignited my love of music. But no WAY was I going to get involved in fan stuff. No online friends for me! Nuh-uh! Nothing good comes of this. It got fugly. Once was enough and even though the old wounds are healed, I didn't want to aggravate any old scars.

Then I blogged. Just for myself mind you, and whoever might stumble across it. Wouldn't hurt to say some nice things to the other bloggers out there. They're the ones who inspired me so I should say hello. It's the polite thing to do.

But don't make any friends.

Then the comments came in on my blog, and the stats were rising. Hey, someone likes this! Cool! I'm paying it forward!

But don't make any friends.

Then I started visiting the old BarryNet message board and checked out what people talked about. Not my cup of tea, but hey - no one is putting a gun to my head to sign up, so live and let live.

No friends there.

Then my other half and I got to see our first Barry show in ATL. Oh no, watch out for the weirdos!But there weren't any (many?) weirdos - just lots of nice, normal human beings having a good time.

Don't talk to the people around you - they're not your friends. Especially Creepy Bald Guy who wanted to share my umbrella after the show.

Then "My Manilow Network" is launched. Wow, there's lots to do here! Even my own page! So I can put stuff on my own blog, and other stuff here. Hey, there's someone from the other blogs posting here too. And what's that alert? A friend request? Well.....maybe just one. Besides whoever is working for Barry and using his name on their icon. There's more - where are they coming from? I don't think it would hurt to add these other people - they've posted nice comments on my blog before....

Hey - I found some new online friends!

How did that happen????

However it happened, I'm glad it did! It's great communicating back and forth and having fun again. So all of you who check out whatever I'm posting, THANX! I needed it more than I realized.