I'm just trying to assemble a smallish list of entries that are better than others, for people dropping in for the first time. I have my own favorites, but if there's one you particularly remember and like, let me know.

You don't have to find the entry; just give me a quick description and I can find it myself.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Answers

About the time I started reading DJR (mid 1998?), you did a couple of entries on the death penalty. I forwarded them to a good number of friends and relatives. In fact, they're the reason I kept readin

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Your story of the previous owner of the house, and the "spay or neuter your pets" one.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

How to Train your Dog. I laughed for days. Stupid human tastes good! The one about the guy who got executed for a murder the police knew he didn't commit. Important information, but an unfortunately grim subject. The one from a couple years ago about putting up the Christmas Tree, where Beth's contribution is drinking red wine. Sitting in the airport waiting for your flight back from Australia while having the mother of all anxiety attacks, which is the first post of yours I read. Kind of puts an odd slant on things, in retrospective.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

My favorite was when you made fun of Nixon after he said he wasn't a crook during his address to the nation.

Oh wait. Maybe that was a Doonesbury cartoon.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Beth,

Hi. Asking to pick out one Beth entry is like asking someone to pick out his favorite song. It changes from time to time and you always curse not picking another one.

Oh well, since I'm one of your older readers, from DJR.

http://www.xeney.com/djr/97dec/01dec97.htm

Take care,

Jim Valvis

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

I have to say I agree with Jim.....

"If You See Her Say Hello" - I like the entries where your just walking along, observing the neighborhood.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

I second the vote for the story of the previous owner of your house, and I secondly second the execution committed in all our names (even those who don't live in California), and thirdly I second abstention on grounds of impossibility. "Come back tomorrow!" as the Wizard of Oz's doorman says.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

my favorite favorite thing you wrote, though maybe not all that artistically, poetically, or intellectually demanding in the eyes of some - your's included, probably - was a little piece of verbal sunshine formerly located deep in the depths of the dame section of xeney dot com many a moon ago [am i retarded, or what??] called 'a day in the life of a morning person' ... not that that was exactly an entry, persay, but fuck it.

that, and any and all references to maxine louise swackhammer. i'm easy to please.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

I can't remember it very well, but I remember enjoying an entry in DJR (I think) where you described a time in college when a homeless guy gave *you* money.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

This is going to sound weird, but one of my "favorite" entries was the last DJR entry. Now, I'm not trying to make light of the struggle that was happening there, but in terms of what stuck in my mind the longest, what had the clearest expression of rage and pain, and what illustrated one of the key dilemmas of online journalling, that entry was it.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Hands down, the four-part series on the initial stages of your relationship with Jeremy. The entry titles were something like "They meet; They date; They kiss; They fuck."

[Wow, when did Jim Valvis become such a little suck-up? Last time I looked he was fuming "If you read her, say HO HUM

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

I'm only agreeing with previous entries, but the entries about the sour (grape flavor, was it?) dog spray was priceless! "Share a beer?" LMAO! The entry about the street boy that gave you money was thought provoking, and the entries about meeting "The Boy" and that car ride you took was just great! I could go on and on. I sure hope you do!

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

Anything about cats is good. I especially liked the entry about Sally and her tampon obsession (I think that was in Jan 98 DJR).

I also have to follow the crowd and say that the entry about the homeless guy who gave you money was a classic.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 1999

It has been awhile since I've read DJR, so I thought I would go back and take a peek. I started with February of '98; I'm pretty sure that was when I first started reading your journal. Oh man, right away I found one: 2/07/98. I started tearing up, reading that entry again. Anyone who hasn't been reading that long should go back and check it out. It got me thinking about preconceptions I have about people and what I would done in your place. That kind of entry is one reason why I keep on reading these on-line journal things.

On a lighter note, I loved your dog training entry so much that I read it aloud to my boyfriend. It took forever, because netiher of us could stop giggling long enough to get through more than a sentence or two at a time.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 1999

The "spay your cats and dogs" entry, where you talk about finding the kitten and sat up with it as it died. I can hardly even think about that entry without tearing up.

http://www.bitchypoo.com/bitchypoo.html

-- Anonymous, October 30, 1999

You were in the process of buying your house when I started reading DJR, and I think it folded almost immediately after hat. (After "that.") Anyway, I remember one entry, very clost to the end, when you were ranting beautifully about bills and the nature of your relationship, and how those things collided to form the ultimate spinning suck cycle. I identified wholly with that entry and have never stopped reading you.

The Australia journal was very good, too, though I don't exactly recall which bits I liked more than others...

Sorry for misspellings. Much wine.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 1999

Definitely the story of the people that used to live in your house. Also the Australia journal. I liked the Brady Bunch style family story too - where was that? Was that Girltalk or DJR? The stories about your old neighbours and the shared yard used to make me laugh (and wince in sympathy). Didn't you do one on how you acquired all your cats? I liked that.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 1999

My vote is another for the death penalty pieces.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 1999

All of the above, and the one about the Fairy Farts.....

-- Anonymous, November 01, 1999

Kim!

Jim Valvis became a Lizzie suck-up a few months ago. You've not been paying attention, dammit.

Beth- I like this one, about motivation: http://www.xeney.com/djr/97nov/07nov97.htm It was real to me. I totally identified with it. Well, two years ago I did.

and this one: http://www.xeney.com/djr/97nov/10nov97.htm about how you defend your clients.

and this one resonated with me: http://www.xeney.com/djr/97nov/13nov97.htm

and, well, I'm going stop now before I have every single entry up there.

On the bandwagon, Sar

-- Anonymous, November 01, 1999

I love some of the writing for "Just the Girls" (????) Particularly the one about your hands. I also love the ones about how you met Jeremy and the container gardening epsiodes. To tell you the truth I dont think there has been anything I havent liked that you write. Your unique view of the world and expressing yourself always adds something to my day. Ive been reading you since Dec. of 1997 and always miss you on your breaks.

-- Anonymous, November 02, 1999