It was time; my previous persona, in all likelihood, should have died a long time ago, but for whatever reason, I couldn't bring myself to kill it off. And I suppose, when the notion of whats really new, and what sticks, become more self-evident, there may be further changes. But for now, that which should have passed on, I believe, finally has. If it somehow doesn't seem quite right, if I haven't exactly hit the nail on the head...we'll get there. I'm making changes to myself, and have been, though Lord knows I'm no place close to done yet. There is still very much that will likely never disappear, that which I simply cannot dispense with, because it's just in-grained. Honestly, I am who I am; perhaps the real trick lies merely in learning how to work with it. I still haven't mastered that, or if I have, it just falls well outside the mainstream. Which is probably as true as anything. I don't believe I've ever made a selection in life one could regard as completely conventional, simply because I don't see things that way. But hopefully, I can make enough changes so that a bit of that "soul armor" can be removed; it's getting pretty friggin' heavy, and just plain ol' weighing me down, at that. At any rate, it's not good to have people afraid of your persona, it doesn't help you, or them. And, perhaps, much of who I am HAS indeed been defense mechanism. But if I'm not generalizing, if I want to see people as they really are....I really should do the same.