(People who maintain personal/opinion blogs like this are probably often lonely. Here is 15-years-old proof by me, of a phase when I began to be unrequitedly infatuated with a beautiful & wordwise woman, me thus given to occasional bouts of wild secret prose, in this case at least once unintentionally funny...)

I've always felt it a cop-out to tell a person I'm interested in and who I at the time hope is interested in me: "I warn you, I can be difficult. There are certain times when I can become very hard, however soft I may appear to you now; e.g. I react badly to exploitation - of the I'll-engage-with-you-as-long-as-you-don't-crit-me kind - or manipulation. On the other hand, I'm not one to bear grudges."

It's as if I'm insuring myself against an uncertain future, if, when things developed and then go sour, I can say, "I told you so at the beginning". Friendship or love needs to have an element of true risk, I think - people need to accept that (as I need to, too).

I'd be a fool not to see that you're unsure about wanting to get closer to me. I don't even know if I want to, or want you to; I have my own prejudices against "popular people".

Anyway, I've written the above fast here. Let's hope we get beyond pre-emptive warnings and snap judgements.