Doing better, etc

A friend who reads my blog called worried about how I was doing, since I hadn't posted since my last post....
So I wanted to let y'all know I'm fine and felt better shortly after I started antibiotics... thank Goodness. It looks like I'm gonna make it after all (haha) and my kidneys are in the clear...whew

So, totally unrelated, let me post about something I'm pondering in my heart, I wanted to bring up the topic of gossip... My computer dictionary defines it as-- casual and unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true
I really liked this definition. It put it in perspective. I liked how it said it is "unconstrained" so I looked it up and it was defined as-- abandoned, dissipated, dissolute, fast, gay, incontinent, licentious, profligate, rakish, unbridled, uncontrolled, ungoverned, uninhibited, unrestrained, wanton, wild.
Then I wanted to see how many times "gossip" was in the scriptures, and in the NIV it's in there 10 times.
I was wondering all this because a situation arose not long ago, where I was around someone who was pretty drunk (and I wasn't aware at the time that they were) and saying some stuff they shouldn't have said and I got confused and disgruntled about about some things they were revealing, and it caused me to question a friend... and so it got me thinking about gossip and how it just stinks. I know everyone has done it, at one time or another, but it's still so destructive. I think the damage of it is in the carelessness of it...
I don't think this person who said too much is all that bad, I think the alcohol did it...
But how often does gossip go around, damaging people's reputation and causing all kinds of suspicion. I feel sorry for celebrities and all they have to contend with. I guess they just get used to it. I mean, who believes the National Inquirer anyway?!
But lies about folks can run rampant, when people betray confidences or flat out make up stuff about another person, with no proof and no good intent in it...

Proverbs 16:28
... a gossip separates close friends.

Proverbs 26:20
Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.