On the up: Feedback for articles
On the down: Bitchy know-it-alls

I'm back after a spell of feeling like the sky is falling down! the sky is falling down!

I had a nice lovely happy article out on Sunday about a peace conference I attended. Lovely lovely.

Then yesterday this lady rings me up all "rah rah rah I am Bridget Menezes and I read your article about peace."

Blur me is like, "Sorry, where are you from again?" trying to be polite a bit lah.

Apparently she's some big shot lah, and I just spat all over her shoes.

So she's all like, "I'm Bridgeeeeeeeeeeeeeet MooMoo, I write for NST, I do this-and-this on TV2, I do that-and-that on NTV, I do this, I do that, I write for this, I present on this, I have this, I have that AND I've written my own book which has become a bestseller....." She went on and on and on about all the peace-related work she does in local media.

And then, "And I do all this FOR FREEEEEE you know."

*gag* the minute somebody boasts that they're doing something for free, it instantly stops being sincere.

Then she proceeded to tell me what was missing in my article. And then went on to tell me her theories about finding inner peace.

At first naive, dumb, trusting, silly me was all "Oh wow, she wants to have a cool discussion with me" and I got all happy cos the stuff she was talking about matched up with Dharma stuff.

Then she wanted me to "spread the message" about her techniques for inner peace.

I told her I do some work for Dharma and they have the same message and even though it's based on Buddhis teachings the emphasis is NOT on religion.

She barked down the phone, "Yes, but it's NOT about religion you know. It's about SPIRITUALITY."

Like, gee, didn't I just say that?

Anyway she went on and on and on and on about how to find inner peace as if she was the only person in the world who had thought of that and as if her way was the most special way.

So I said again, "Well actually, I am already doing quite a lot of similar stuff with my Dharma work."

She said, not without an edge to her voice, "Well, WHY didn't you put that into your article then?"

I didn't because I didn't want my article to be preachy. And it was supposed to be an overview and introduction to conference, not a whole tract on how to rediscover your soul. So I told her that.

Bridgeeeeet was adamant. "Yes, but PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW."

So I screeched, "Look, I only had 800 words! How much could I possibly write?"

Stupid c**t. I couldnt' believe I was wasting valuable time talking to someone who rang up to question why I did what I did in my article. You so clever, you write lah. Write another best selling novel lah.

Some people just think far too highly about themselves.

Call yourself big ass peace worker, and then ring up people to insist they should have done things your way.

Gee, that's sooooooooo spiritual of you, Bridget.

At least I don't pretend I'm a big shot peace person (cos I know I ain't!). I just do the work I gotta do and I sure as hell don't go around proclaiming I'm a bestselling novelist and telling complete strangers how to live.