Here are some words used in these memoirs, listed alphabetically:

Alphabetic index  This index can be used be used to recover an entry you remember by name. To go to it, click on Alphabetic index at the bottom of each page.

Bis  I use the word "(bis)" on occasion in a blog entry title, in the sense of "again, encore". For instance, after an entry called "Biscotti" (in which I explained the origin of that word), I wrote a second entry on a similar theme called "Biscotti (bis)". A third entry with the title "Biscotti" would be called "Biscotti (ter)", for "third time".

Blog  This is not really a "blog", a word which is shortened from "Web log". A typical "blog" is topical, and the latest entry is usually at the top of the page, with earlier entries further down. A blog is indeed a "Log", a chronicle, a bit like an on-line diary. What I am writing, when it is done, will be more like a memoir. But I call the index best used to follow my writings as I write them the "Blog index", because the blog has now become a familiar form.

Blog index  A list of Index entries sorted by the order the entries were posted and numbered. If you are following along as I write, it is the best index to use, because new Index entries can only be added at the end. To go to it, click on Blog index at the bottom of each page.

Entry  I refer to each individual web page as an "entry". I considered just using "page", but I thought that might be confusing, because a single entry may be long enough to span several printed pages. But see also "Index entry".

Index entry  The word "entry" has a different meaning when it is part of the phrase "Index entry". In that case, it refers to an element of an index that links to the actual Entry, and gives the Entry title, a brief abstract, the Entry number, the date it was first posted, and a list of keywords pertinent to that Entry. See also "Entry".

Keyword  A Keyword is a word describing a major topic discussed in an Entry. A given Entry can have no Keywords, or one, or more than one. Keywords are written in capital letters, with a preceeding asterisk, e.g. *CAREER. There is a Keyword list describing all the keywords used, and keywords may be added over time. If you click on a Keyword in the Keyword list, and then on the same Keyword at the bottom of each entry you are taken to, you will be taken through all the Entries that are tagged with that Keyword. That collection is called a Keyword thread.

When you reach the bottom of a Keyword thread, you are taken to a page that so indicates. If you didn't enter the Keyword thread at its first Entry, you can click on the same Keyword on that page to see the first entry in that Keyword thread.

Keyword list  The "Keyword list" is a page describing all the Keywords I use. Clicking on one of them takes you to the first entry in the Keyword thread for that Keyword.

Keyword thread  A "keyword thread" comprises all the entries tagged with a particular Keyword. If you click on that Keyword in the Keyword List, you'll be taken to the first entry in the Keyword thread for that keyword. When you reach the bottom of a Keyword thread, you are taken to a page that so indicates. If you didn't enter the Keyword thread at its first Entry, you can click on the same Keyword on that page to see the first entry in that Keyword thread.

Memoirs  This is where I'm heading - a coherent set of memoirs covering various phases of my life. But my stories of events are not being written in the order in which they happened. I'll be jumping around - that's how I write. The order in which they're written is the order in which they're numbered. That's called the "blog order".

Memoir index  A list of Index entries sorted by the time period the entry addresses. A section at the end includes musings not related to any particular time period. To go to it, click on Memoirs index at the bottom of each page.

Numeric index  The "Numeric index" is in exactly the same order as the Blog index, but compresses the entire Blog index into the entry numbers only, for rapid retrieval of an entry if you recall it by number. To go to it, click on Numeric index at the bottom of each page.

Ter  "Third time" - see "bis".