Over the past year, this blog has really gotten away from the personal tell-all that it always has been. A lot of it had to do with all the crap I went through from the end of September to the beginning of December in 2003. I spilled my guts in here and after the post I made in February about my best friend deciding to have nothing to do with me, most of my posts have been chronicles of the places I go, all the free stuff I've gotten, my obsession with The El Orbits, and various links.

A lot of it is because I've begun to feel very isolated again. Despite going out all the time, I'm so very lonely deep in my heart. I've never really gotten over losing Jeanna, my best friend, and I think I haven't let any get as close to me as I used to after that. Add to the fact that my boyfriend of six years left me just a few months earlier and I swear, as melodramtic and pathetic as it sounds, that I just cannot see why people would even want to be around me.

Realistically, I know it's not true (the fact that Katie, Irfan, and Gil hang out with me constantly and Mac always wants to know when I'm coming back to Philly mean that at least some people enjoy my company), but deep in my heart I've really begun to believe it.

I haven't wanted to post this because things have gotten better. I've got a job that I really like (and, as I got told this week, I'm kicking serious ass at). I've started going out more and even have become a regular down at The Continental Club. I've made new friends. But I'm still lonely. I miss having someone to be close to, like I was with Jeanna.

I watched The Village again this weekend and the scene where Ivy is at her sister's wedding and walking through the crowd with her hand outstrected, trying to find her way, and Lucius takes it, tucking it under her arm so he can lead her, made my heart yearn and ache for that. I want someone to be there to take my hand again.

.: 378 words at 02:39 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (11) :.

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Today is the birthday of one of the most fun, craftiest (in more ways than one), coolest chicks that I know - Mac.

Hell, she's one of the few reasons that I would even venture out of the south up the frozen north.

So, happy birthday, Mac! I hope it's a fabulous day. I love you tons!

.: 58 words at 10:12 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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As many of your know, I've received items from FreeHandbags.com, FreeiPods.com, FreePhotoiPods.com, FreeiPodShuffle.com, and FreeFlatScreens.com.

Last week I was contacted by Sean from Gratis Customer Support. A magazine wanted to write an article about people's experiences receiving their items and since I had just gotten my purple Coach bag, he was interested in my story, good or bad.

Unfortunately for Sean, my handbag experience was by far my worst. It took several e-mails and six weeks to get credit for my offer, they put my account on hold for a brief period, and worst of all, put my brother's handbag and flatsceen accounts on indefinite hold because they suspected we might be the same person.

I told Sean all of this, being very polite and including the fact that I'd had other experiences with Gratis that were much more positive.

He got back to me right away, was very nice and apologetic for my problems, and offered to look into my brother's account. To make a long story short, Russell's accounts were taken off of hold, he received credit for his offer, and Sean is now my personal in with Gratis Customer Service.

I know some people have had problems with Gratis in the past, but I hope that this recent experience with customer support means that they listened to all the people who had legitimate complaints and will be more flexible in their hold policies.

As a matter of fact, I was so pleased that I went out and signed up for FreeGamingSystems.com, FreeMiniMacs.com, and FreePSPs.com.

If you haven't signed up for any of Gratis's offers (or OfferCentrics.com's either), you can get a complete list here. You can even e-mail me your own referral link (don't post them here; I will delete them) and get added to the conga line that I have going on.

.: 310 words at 12:49 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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This has been another one of those crazy, busy weeks. I've got stuff I want to blog about (including my upcoming thirtieth birthday), but I have just been swamped.

Last Monday, even though it was Valentine's Day, saw me meeting up with Katie, Chris, and Irfan at The Continental Club for our requiste Monday night with The El Orbits. My brother, Russell, and Joanna even showed up in the limo that he had rented. Of course, he had to bum $20 off me to tip the driver, so I think his stopping by might have been motivated by that. ;)

Despite a late start, The El Orbits rocked, even playing their new favorite, the theme song to The Dukes of Hazard. That then segued into a true Houston classic, the theme song from the old Thunderbolt commercials ("If your transmission's got you down and your motor falls apart..."). It totally rocked.

The next night, I managed to get some free tickets to the Toyota Center to see the Rockets play the Washington Wizards. I took Irfan along with me and we were surprised to find out that his friend Josh and Melissa were going to be there for a late Valentine's Day celebration. We hooked up with them afterwards and went to La Carafe and Twelve Spot for drinks and conversation.

Wednesday Irfan's apartment complex was throwing a soiree at Sambuca and, not only was there free appetizers, The El Orbits were also playing.

We had made plans to meet Gil, Scott, Hollie, Martha, Don, and Pam there and as we were walking up, I thought to myself, "Man, I should have invited my friend Mandy. She would have loved this."

No sooner had I walked through the door when I saw Mandy walking up! She was there with her girlfriends Becky and Annette. As soon as she saw me, she said, "I was just thinking I should have invited you to meet us tonight! Look who's playing!" It was such a cool coincidence.

The party was upstairs, but I actually spent most of the night downstairs on the patio with Mandy, Becky, and Annette. Irfan, Gil, and most of the others also came outside to sit with us, as did this cute guy named Cash. Mandy had had a bit to drink, so when he walked by and smiled back at us, she yelled at him to come join us for a drink and he did. I was very impressed at her cojones.

I also accosted someone from the patio - Jim Henkel of The El Orbits! I've never actually spoken to him before, even though he's really good friends with Jay Lee, a new friend of mine. I'm fairly certain I didn't make too big an ass out of myself, though I did tell him we were car twins (we both drive silver Miatas).

We finally left when the place closed down, but since I'd had a few drinks, Irfan and I went to Katz's Deli for some food so I could sober up for the drive home. I had french toast and french fries (they don't really go together, but it's what I love) and I felt much better.

Thursday was a down day, but it was spent mostly recuperating from being out so late the nights before. Lots of television was watched.

Friday, it was Girl's Night Out with Mandy, Becky, and Annette. I met Mandy and Annette at Mandy's and then we went to Becky's for some pre-party drinks. We ended up swapping brother stories and talking about television shows, past and present.

From there, we walked over to Komodo's Pub. Komodo's is just a house in midtown; it's hard to tell it's a bar. If you drove past it, you would probably think, "Wow. Those people sure know how to throw a hell of a party!"

Lots of alcohol was consumed, a creepy guy that wouldn't stop touching me was fended off, and we eventually left to go to The Copa Room. Again, lots of alcohol was consumed and Annette saw this cute guy from Komodo's that had been totally flirting with her and they exchanged numbers. I'm betting he calls her Tuesday.

We left there, walked back to Becky's (me barefoot since my new boots where killing me), hopped into Mandy's jeep, and picked up Taco Cabana for a little late night snack. After eating, I totally crashed on Mandy's couch.

I woke up late the next morning and decided against actually getting dressed and drove home in my plaid housepants; putting on make-up and jeans seemed like too big a chore. I left, picked up lunch, and headed home to put in some time on the help desk (I have to put in five hours on the weekend to complete my forty hour week).

After working, I had just enough time to get ready to go to Katie's house so we could head over to The Continental Club (twice in one week!) to hear Dave Alvin play. The music was awesome, Jay Lee was there too, and once again lots of alcohol was consumed.

As is usually the case when I go to Katie's house on a weekend night, I crashed there and the next morning we went to Katz's for breakfast (lots of reoccurring themes in my week with double doses of The El Orbits, The Continental Club, and Katz's Deli).

I finally made it home at about 3:00 after running various errands at the mall and Wal-Mart. I'm telling you, I'd never been so happy to have a night with nothing planned.

Of course, it's now 2:30 and I'm still up. I'm now off to bed to get some sleep since I have a feeling I'll be going back out to The Continental Club again tonight to hear The El Orbits. I swear, it's like I'm stuck on a repeat button!

So, another chock-full, fun filled week in my life! Yeah for cool friends and cool things to do!

.: 1003 words at 01:38 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Well, I am about to bite the bullet and upgrade this blog from Movable Type 2.62 (which was current probably like a year and a half ago) to 3.15.

I'm sick and tired of having to delete TrackBack spam by hand and look forward to doing it right from the MT interface itself.

So, if things are wonky around here, you'll know why. Cross your fingers for me. ;-)

Updated: All done! Now to see if anything is funky or doesn't work right. Please leave me a comment if you come across an error.

.: 94 words at 11:04 PM in Geeky Things, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Just a friendly reminder, but if you participated in the last round of Burn It, your CDs should have been mailed on Friday. If you're running late, that's cool, but it would be nice for you to let your group members now.

Don't be lame and not send your CDs out; it will get you banned from future Burn Its.

.: 61 words at 04:45 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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I think that Mr. Blobby (who's a Fathead, which is a species of fish found in the NorfolK Ridge) so needs to be a mascot for something. Can't you see that face (such as it is) on a t-shirt?

(Link courtesy of Katie.)

.: 44 words at 07:45 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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My dad just surprised me with a big bunch of beautiful roses, the yellowish-redish mix kind.

He called asking me what color I thought my mom would like. I told him I wasn't sure, so he asked me what kind I would like. I told him ones that are mixed are always pretty and he bought some that were exactly what I was describing.

When he got home, he showed them to me asking me if I thought mom would like them. I told him they were beautiful and then he gave them to me. And here I thought I wouldn't be getting any flowers at all!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

.: 111 words at 01:55 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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iTunes has released a second free music sampler. This one contains sixteen songs, including music by Death Cab for Cutie, Simple Plan, and Skindred. I have no idea how long it's going to be available, so get it while the getting's good.

(Link courtesy of iPod Lounge, a wonderful iPod resource.)

.: 53 words at 03:52 PM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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You know what's a great feeling? Getting ready for a funeral and realizing you have no good funeral attaire. Gah!

.: 20 words at 11:48 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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For last year's Summer Burn It CD Swap, I received an awesome CD. Unfortunately, if it came with a tracklisting, it's been long since misplaced. The CD itself is orange with various euphemisms for sex (the theme that season was "music to have sex to"). It's cool, but does not have the maker's name or URL on there, so I have no idea who created it.

The whole point to this post is that I love the last song on there (actually, I love most of the songs on there. It's a really excellent compilation). I know the artist is Art of Noise, but I don't know what the song title is. Can anyone name that tune? (Right click and "Save As" please.)

Art of Noise - Unknown

.: 129 words at 03:31 PM in I'm Looking For...., ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (6) :.

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My aunt Meleese just died. She was one of my favorite aunts when I was growing up. She was a Mensa member, read a lot, and could read palms. We'll miss her.

.: 32 words at 05:51 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (12) :.

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I have a new favorite phrase: "Arrette ou je te fous une baffe."

It means, "Quit it or I’ll slap you." Isn't that great? I think I'll be using that one a lot.

.: 34 words at 05:48 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Time for a music meme since Mike tagged me.

Random 10:
1. K Ci & JoJo - Tell Me It's Real.
2. Information Society - Ozar Midrashim 1.1
3. Mono - Slimcea Girl
4. Gipsy Kings - Solo par Ti.
5. Erasure - Always (Trance Mix)
6. Bananarama - A Perfect World
7. Hi-Five - I Can't Wait Another Minute
8. Gary Allan - Man Of Me
9. ABC - Blame
10. Trace Adkins - (This Ain't No) Thinkin' Thing

1. What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
56.05 GBs (if I did the math right) in various folders. I still need to sort through a little over half of that for duplicates, incomplete files, etc. Some day all my music will be cleaned up...

2. The last CD you bought is: Depeche Mode's Remixes 81-04 (limited edition three disc set)

3.What is the song you last listened to before this message?
The El Orbits - Night and Day

4. Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
The El Orbits - Talk To Me
Dido - See you when you're 40
INXS - Not Enough Time
Outkast - The Way You Move
George Michael - Cowboys and Angels

5. Who are you gonna pass this stick to (three people and why)?
- Mac because her taste in music rocks
- Christine because she made one of my favorite Burn It CDs of all time
- Promoguy because we talk about music (and all kinds of other things) a lot

.: 262 words at 12:00 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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