so after the photos i went through some of the letters and cards - i've got enough embarrassing juvenalia to blackmail anyone twice over, i think. if anything our taste in men was deplorable at age 14. (except for rupert brooke! although nohrnberg says that he'd rather look like pound and write poetry like him than look like rupert brooke and write wimpy poetry. *growl*)

i notice there's such a thing as the "festive-prophetic imperative" in greeting cards, which is the one that goes "i know you're going to be big in future!" or "we'll be friends for many many years to come!" on no basis whatsoever. this is obvious because i'm still a nobody and some of these people have disappeared from my radar screen for years already. boyfriends are especially guilty of the festive-prescient mode: "i will always love you!" "i know we'll be happy together!" "you're the woman i want to marry!" they write emphatically, and more other such.

all false prophecies begin in the greeting card.