locked
2004-06-01, 2:58 p.m.

I made a decision last week to lock my diary. It isn't that I wish to keep it completely private; I couldn't care less if some stranger would want to waste their time reading it. The thing is, I want to be able to speak freely here. That is what a diary is about for me. My journal makes no promises to anyone--it has no mandate to entertain, provoke thought or discussion, bring laughter, or ring tears.

But some element of self-protection is necessary for me to keep that freedom. The things I say about my job should not be available to my co-workers. If I choose to criticize a friend, relative, or Spouse in these pages, it is because I'm letting off steam because I can't say it to their face, or I am using the diary as an aid to working out what to say to them. Naturally, I do not want them to read it here first and pole-vault to conclusions. So the only solution was a lock. I have no intention of being any more specific with details than I have been in the past, though. The lock is an additional layer of protection, not an alternate.