Facts of Life:

1. I've come to the conclusion that I really just don't like blogging at this stage in my life. That said, I'm not remotely opposed to posting things on blogs when it strikes me as a worthwhile thing to do.

2. I can be an extremely manipulative person. I've known this for ages, but I normally don't worry about it. Under normal circumstances, I have no desire to manipulate people. It's just not interesting to me. Under abnormal circumstances, I'm very willing to manipulate the crap out of people. (Literally, I can convince the poop right out of them...)

Normally, in the abnormal situations, I'm not actually trying to achieve anything through my manipulations besides maximizing the potential for amicable feelings--amongst everyone involved--at the end of an interaction. This is accomplished primarily by me being completely aware of how other people are most likely to react to anything I do or say. Then, I act accordingly.

As far as I can tell, most people try to do this most of the time. They just aren't any good at it. Because--in these situations--I'm not actively trying to control people for my exclusive benefit (or at the expense of their benefit), I don't worry about it too much.

Sometimes, however, I control situations for my own selfish reasons. Then, I feel guilty and proud at the same time. And, then I get over it.