Watch what happens when the Japanese pop group Morning Musume gets shown Ringu. It's great.

(Link courtesy of Ernie.)

.: 21 words at 11:56 PM in Entertainment Value, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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I know that I visited Mac back in October, but I'm just now getting around to putting up my pictures from the trip.

I'm planning on going back up there in either late April or early June, so if you live in the area, keep watching here for dates so you can come meet me; you know you're dying to. ;-)

I also wanted to give a shout-out to A Northern Soul who gifted me with a Flickr Pro account for my birthday. I figured since I have all of that space now, I might as well start getting some pictures up there.

.: 104 words at 08:35 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Remember how I said that my back had been killing me and I was taking massive pain killers to deal with it? Well, it turns out there's a reason for my back pain. I went to the chiropractor yesterday for an initial consult and x-rays and went back today to see what the good doctor found out.

Turns out that my right hip is out of alignment. It's actually higher (somewhere between a half inch and an inch and a half; can't remember what he said), causing my spine to get a bit of a sideways curve to it and also putting pressue on the nerves in my lower back.

This means that I will be starting chiropractic therapy again. (I saw a chiropractor a few years ago for a loss of curvature in my neck. I mentioned this to my new doctor and he said that it's looking good, so whatever the last doctor did obviously worked.) I'll be getting adjustments for three times a week for three weeks and then twice a week for three weeks (another freaking $250 in doctor's bills, give or take. Will I ever be done with doctors or hospitals?). We'll then re-evaluate and see what needs to be done next.

I also get to wear little lifts in my shoes, which makes me feel like a total dork. Hopefully this will help it stop hurting, though, which is the important thing.

.: 238 words at 07:34 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (6) :.

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It's hard to believe, but this spring marks the second anniversary of the beginning of Burn It, my seasonal mix CD swap.

Since this is a big anniversary, I've decided we're going to go back in time and redo the very first Burn It theme - the one that kicked it all off - driving music.

Sign-ups begin now and, as always, please be sure to read the rules carefully before signing up!

The Theme:
Music that makes you want to roll down your windows/open your sunroof/put down your convertible top and sing along at the top of your lungs. It's spring time and I want music that makes you feel good. It doesn't haven't to be a happy song, but it does have to be great music to drive to.

Here's how it works:
After the sign up period, people will be put into groups of 4. You will then receive an e-mail from me telling you the names and addresses of the people in your group. You burn 5 identical CDs. Keep one for yourself and send the other three to the other people in your group and one to me. New Rule: Since so many people have been complaining that they haven't gotten CDs from people in their group, I am now requiring that you send one to me so I can keep track of who sent them out and who didn't. I hate to do this, but it seems the best way to keep track. You should then receive three new CDs from the other three people in your group.

The rules:
- You should have a blog. I would like this to be a fun way to connect people in the blogosphere. If you don't, go over to Diaryland or Blogspot and start one for free or beg me. I'm not immune to a little begging if you really, really want to participate.
- If you're not going to follow through and make your CDs, please don't bother signing up. It would be a shame if one or two people ruined this for their group. If you signed up last swap and didn't send your CDs out, don't sign up this time.
- You must live in the US or Canada. If there's a intrest in this in other areas, I may do a swap at some point down the road that includes other countries, but I'm going to limit it to the areas where I know most of you guys live.
- If you live in the US, you should be willing to ship to Canada. If you live in Canada, you should be willing to ship to the US. The postage is a teeny bit more, but nothing that's going to break the bank.
- Remember that most people can't play mp3s in their car, so make sure they're something that will play in a standard car stereo. I tend to use .cda or .wav files. I have put together a list of Burn It resources for those not familiar with making CDs.
- Please be sure to put your name, URL, or e-mail on your CD somewhere. I get at least a few CDs every Burn that have nothing on them at all.

Guidlines on creating your CDs:
- Include a track listing. If someone like an artist, they might want to buy more music by them. Let us know who it is.
- Fill up the CD as much as you can. There's 80 minutes on a blank CD. Don't half-ass it and make a 30 minute CD.
- You should definitely use a jewel case when sending your CDs to protect it during mailing. You can get them cheap anywhere.
- I know a lot of people are graphically inclined, so feel free to make your CD a work of art.
- Don't be afraid to put on "cheesy" music. If you like it, others probably will too.
- Don't be afraid to put on music that no one has ever heard before either. Billboard or MTV may never have known this music, but you did, so that's what counts.

If you've gotten this far and you still want to sign up, send an e-mail (change the AT to an @ in my e-mail address) to me and make sure you reference the swap in the subject line. You must include the following information (please send your info even if I already have it; it's too hard for me to keep all this is one spot):

- Your name
- Mailing address
- Your blog URL
- Your e-mail address
- New requirement: If you want to be in one group or two. (You can send the same CD to each group. You don't actually have to create two different mixes.)

Sign-ups will continue through end of day Monday, April 11th. By Thursday, April 14th, I will send e-mails to everyone letting you know who is in your group.

You should have all of your CDs burned and in the mail NO LATER THAN Monday, May 9th. This gives you at least a full three weeks to create and ship CDs to your three group partners and me.

Please spread the word! More people equals more music! Just be sure to link to this URL, because eventually this entry will cycle off the main page. Also, feel free to swipe one of the buttons here and link it to the category page here.

If you have any other questions, you can e-mail me or leave a comment.

Special thanks goes out to Alison for both the inspiration and allowing me to use most of her rules and guidelines.

.: 969 words at 07:11 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (10) :: All the Voices Say... (11) :.

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Talk about your upper body strength.

(Link courtesy of Christine.)

.: 12 words at 02:03 AM in Entertainment Value, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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You know what I would love? If someone wrote a program that would take all of your TextAmerica pictures and import them into Flickr.

Anyone with mad coding skillz want to take a stab at it?

.: 37 words at 12:43 AM in Geeky Things, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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The other day Wendy, my birthday twin, participated in this meme where you get asked five questions and then you ask someone else five questions.

Here are mine:

1. Someone just gave you a round trip ticket anywhere in the world. Where ya gonna go? I am so going to Italy. I've always wanted to go there and I will see The Vatican before I die.

2. Which current reality show is one you'd fill out an application for? The Amazing Race. You get to travel, the challenges aren't super difficult like Survivor, and I like to think I'm smarter than most of those people on there and could manage to get out of a city in two hours (unlike Susan and Patrick on an episode a couple of weeks ago) even with my horrible sense of direction.

3. When you meet new people do you ever Google them to see what you can find? I think I did once, but for the most part, no. If they have a blog, though, I totally visit.

4. Have you ever actually stolen or wanted to steal a pair of bowling shoes? When I was a teenager, I was on a bowling league, and I had my own fancy light blue shoes so I didn't have to steal any.

5. Can you paint with all the colors of the wind? Of course.

Now it's your turn. Follow the rules for your own mini-interview.

THE RULES
1. Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3. You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. You'll include this explanation.
5. You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

.: 295 words at 10:54 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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For the last three or four days my back has been killing me. It's been painful to stand, impossible to stand up straight, and even hurt when sitting.

I was whining to my mom and she asked me if I had any pain medication left from my last trip to the ER, and while I didn't find my vicodin, I did find some hydrocodone that I'd forgotten about.

I'm thinking that the drugs are kicking in since I'm starting to feel buzzed and my back doesn't hurt any more. Yeah for good drugs!

.: 94 words at 08:45 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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There are several bloggers right now gearing up for their walkathons to help benefit some great charities. If you have a few dollars to spare, why not consider donating to the following people?

KB is raising money for the Walk for the Kidney & Urology Foundation of America. I've had kidney stones twice before thirty, so this is a cause near to my heart.

Wendy, my birthday twin, is raising money for the Three Day Walk for Breast Cancer.

Eka is also raising money for the Three Day Walk for Breast Cancer.

Pam is participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life.

.: 108 words at 12:05 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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Looks like my birthday season got extended by a few days because I received another present today. Yeah for birthday gifts!

Wendy, a cool chick who just happens to have the same birthday that I do, sent me The Incredibles. My mom and I just finished watching it and it was great. Thanks, so much, Wendy! It's an honor sharing your birthday! :-)

Since we're still talking about my birthday, you can now see a picture of my bling shoes (purchased almost a year and a half ago and forgotten until I found them in the closet while looking for nail polish. I immediately decided that they were the perfect shoes to usher in my thirties with) and me in my bling tiara. Notice the sparkler in my cake. Between it, the shoes, and the tiara, it was a very sparkly evening.

.: 145 words at 11:07 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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I've seen people that have mentioned Audioscrobbler before, but it had totally slipped my mind until Mike reminded me about it.

So, being a lemming, I signed up and you can now view my profile and see what I'm listening to.

It also will let you see who you have musical tastes in common with, hopefully making it easier to find new groups that you like.

If you've got an account (or if you go sign up), add me to your Network so I can check you out.

.: 88 words at 09:47 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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So, last night was Kymberlie's Big Three Oh Bash (as I called it for the Evites) and fun was had by all.

I headed over to Katie's and we took off for Farrago, getting there about 7:20. The original plans had called for dinner at 7:00, but it looked like most people were going to be late, so I moved the reservations to 7:30.

When we got there, Kimberly was outside, so we all went in together. We sat and talked for a while and then Kathy and Elaine arrived, bearing gifts. I got handmade cards from both of them (Yeah! My first Kathy card!) and gift certificates from Stampin' Up and Target.

I've always much admired Katie's 2004 SXSW DJ monkey shirt, so I was thrilled when she found one at SXSW this year and got me my very own. Yeah for monkey shirts!

Then my brother, Russell, Joanna, Steve (AKA Boob), Shelby, and Garrett showed up, followed shortly by Christine and Mike, with our friend Kendall arriving later. Russell even brought me a seriously bling tiara from the local Fiesta that matched my bling shoes.

We talked, we ate (and I got the most delicious cake with a sparkler on it; it was so pretty!), we talked some more, and then finally, Katie, Chris, Kendall, Kimberly, Russell, Joanna, Boob, Shelby, Garrett and I headed out to Spotlight Karaoke.

I've always wanted to go to a karaoke bar, but I was never sure if I would actually be able to get up in front of people and sing. I figured, though, that if I can jump out of a plane, I could sing a song in front of a bunch of strangers, especially considering that the music was pretty loud, drowning out the singers a bit.

Katie had said that she would sing the Bee Gee's "How Deep is Your Love?" with me, a song that we've adopted as "our song." True to her word, she got up and sang it with me. I have a feeling that everyone in that place probably thought we were lesbians since I was really too scared, especially at first, to look at the audience and sang it looking at or holding onto Katie. You can hear Katie doing her patented Bee Gee sound here if you're curious about what you missed. After that, we headed home and I slept until very late this afternoon (had to recover from my night of debauchery).

This was really my first birthday party since I was like twelve at the roller rink, but I must say that I think it was a success. Everyone seemed to have a good time; I know I did.

Thanks so much to everyone who sent gifts, left good wishes, and/or came out to the party. I think this bodes well for my thirties!

.: 478 words at 11:33 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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The UPS man just rang the doorbell (well, the bell at the gate, so I could go meet him since our house is like a fortress, but I digress...), making me squeal with delight and run out to meet him.

I got not one, but two boxes from the UPS man, increasing my joy on this momentous birthday.

The first one was from Syd who sent me Donnie Darko - The Director's Cut. She also called me darling on her card, making me all mity-eyed. Thanks, Syd! I can't wait to see you tonight; it's been too long!

The second box was from Cat. She sent me Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors. I've never read Squee before, but it looked right up my alley, so I can't wait to jump in! Thanks so much, Cat!

.: 143 words at 01:19 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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Woo hoo! Today is my thirtieth birthday!

While I'm kind of torn about moving up into a new decade (I'd thought I'd be in a lot different place than I am), I'm still pretty excited. I've met a lot of great new people over the past year or so, made tons of new friends, and got an awesome new job

Tonight's plans involve dinner at Farrago, home of delicious pizzas and pink lemonade martinis, with lots of friends, and then, for something different, we're all heading over to Spotlight Karaoke. I've never been to a karaoke bar before, so it should be interesting, at the very least.

Here's to hoping that thirty treats me right!

.: 116 words at 12:50 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (2) :: All the Voices Say... (25) :.

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All my life, I've never known anyone else with my birthday, but now, thanks to this Internet thing, I know tons of people with the same one.

So, take a minute and go wish happy birthdays to Wendy, Amber, and Pariah.

Happy birthday, y'all! I hope it's a wonderful, wonderful day for each of you!

.: 58 words at 12:34 AM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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I forgot to mention this, but I got an early birthday present from the people at FreeiPodShuffle.com this week - my free iPod shuffle! (Click the picture to go to the larger version on Flickr.)

I promptly named it Mulder and I must say, that I do believe that I'm in love.

When the iPod shuffles first came out, I scoffed. I really couldn't see why anyone would want one. It was too little, it didn't hold enough songs, blah blah blah.

But, now that I have one, I can totally see why you would want to own one of these babies. It's so very cute! It's so very tiny! It totally would fit in my little bitty purse and still give me room for my phone, wallet, and other stuff.

While I wouldn't replace Abe, my 40 GB iPod photo, with a shuffle, it's still nice and a hell of a lot cheaper at only about $150.

.: 159 words at 08:35 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I managed to get a couple of really great shots lately with my camera phone and uploaded them over to my Flickr account.

This one and this one are my favorites.

And, since it's spring time (just about), I've got more flowers on my toes.

Six hours until my birthday! Eeek!

.: 53 words at 05:42 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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My dream of getting enough people approved so I can get a digital camera (though, now I've changed it to the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P200 in red. A red camera! How cute is that?) has hit a snag.

Two people I referred for MP3Playsers4Free.com got disqualified, so I still need one more person for the $275 and two more for the $40 iTunes bonus offer.

Despite two different people being disqualified under me at DVRs4Free.com, I still have enough for the $275 offer, but need two more for the bonus $75 and I still need one more for the $150 offer and one more for the bonus offer at DS4Free.com.

My birthday's in two days (Eeek!). Don't you want to sign up and complete an offer for me to show me some birthday love? ;-)

As always, send me your link and I'll add you to the conga. Don't paste your links here, though; I'll delete them.

.: 159 words at 08:14 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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I'm a big fan of the charity Heifer International. As a matter of fact, when I did the twenty-four hour Project Blog, they were the charity that I blogged for, raising over $400 in donations.

Right now, Heifer has become the beneficiary of a Million Dollar Matching Gift Challenge. This means that every dollar they raise between now and April 25th will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $1 million.

Their success stories are truly inspirational; you can see what a difference Heifer has made throughout the world.

If you've got a little extra money, even if it's just a few dollars, please consider donating something to help their cause.

.: 113 words at 04:43 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Today, a gift from an unknown person (Admirer? Friend? Blogger?) arrived; something very special for my birthday season.

When I went out to check the mail, I noticed a large box (think almost up to my hip) sitting at the gate. As I got closer, I noticed that it said "Perishable" and "Fresh flowers," which caused me to squel in delight. Aside from my stay in the hospital with that pesky pulmonary embolism, I've only had flowers sent to me two other times.

I took it inside and opened it up to find twenty pink tulips, so fresh from the grower that they still had dirt clinging to their stems.

They are absolutely beautiful, but since there was no card inside, I have no idea who they are from. If you sent them, please let me know so I can thank you; they so made my day.

.: 149 words at 10:43 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (6) :.

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For those of us not lucky enough to be attending South by Southwest this year (I swear, next year I am definitely going!), you can get 750 songs from their Showcasing Artists library for free, via BitTorrent. In addition, you can also get the music festival schedule for your iPod as well.

Also, I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but every Tuesday, iTunes has a free single for download. I haven't been crazy about a lot of them, but it's still free music and you never know what you're going to find.

(Link courtesy of iPodlounge, a great resource for information on iPods and music.)

.: 107 words at 07:19 PM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (2) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Today, I received not one, but two gifts to help me celebrate my birthday season!

The first was yet another gift from Howard. He sent me George Michael's CD single "Amazing." Thanks yet again, Howard! You so rock!

Amber, another March 18th birthday, sent me Top Secret! on DVD which immediately brought back a ton of memories.

When I was in middle school, my best friend Rebecca had the biggest crush on Val Kilmer. We watched Top Secret!, Real Genius, and Top Gun on an endless loop. She had a big, soft stuffed bear that we named Val and, if was lucky, she would let me sleep with him when I spent the night at her house. We were silly kids.

Thanks so much, Amber, for both the present and the fond flashback!

.: 140 words at 02:20 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Today is Katie's birthday.

Katie is smart, beautiful, funny, interesting, and a bunch of other adjectives that would take up too much space to list. I always joke that if she was a man (and not married), she'd be my ideal boyfriend.

I love you, Katiebug, and I hope you have the best birthday yet!

.: 55 words at 02:06 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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For quite some time now, I've been coveting the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P150, a 7 megapixel digital camera that's small enough to fit in my tiny purse.

As bad as I want it, though, I haven't been able to justify buying one. I have a digital camera already (another Cyber-Shot, the DSC-P71). Plus, I'm going to have to pay taxes and I was out of work for about a year.

However, it looks like I may be able to make this camera mine. I've been patiently waiting and I've finally gotten enough people so that I'm being processed at DVRs4Free.com and MP3Playsers4Free.com for a $275 PayPal payment on each. Provided that no one on my list gets disqualified, I'll actually have enough to get my camera.

I still need to get people for the bonus cash, but I'm closer to getting there. I also just need a few more people for DS4Free.com, so if I can just remain patient, that cute little camera will be in my hot little hands.

Must. Remain. Patient.

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

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This week has positively flown by. I've been so busy that just about every day, I've looked at the clock and been shocked at how late in the day it's gotten. It's already Friday, for crying out loud.

Since this is the first Friday of the month, it also happens to be time for the monthly Geek Gathering at Kaveh Kanes. Several people from both the Technology Bytes show and the IRC chat that Katie and I hang out in should be there.

If you don't already have plans, come on out. I'm not sure what I'm doing either before or after the GG, but if you want to meet me for a drink or something, let me know.

.: 119 words at 02:09 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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It's kind of funny that I declared today the start of my Birthday Season (and thanks to everyone that has left a comment already!).

You're probably wondering why that's funny. Well, when I went out to get the mail today, I found a package waiting for me that contained my first birthday present of the year! Hooray!

Howard sent me The Infinite by Douglas Clegg (whom I once got an e-mail from) and the Tiffany Designs Stained Glass Coloring Book. The image for this skin came from a contest that Mena once had using it.

Thank you so much, Howard! You totally rock and you made the beginning of my birthday season very memorable!

.: 116 words at 09:42 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Christine has declared that today be a "De-lurking is Delightful" Day and since I've been feeling lonely, I'm going to follow suit.

This blog doesn't get as many readers as it used to, but I know that at least a few of you still drop by here. So, speak up. Say hi. Make me feel loved.

After all, it's my birthday month which means that I can declare the rest of the time up until the 18th (which is my actual birthday) as my Birthday Season (ala Mac).

This gives you the chance to start my Birthday Season off right! Say hi or even send me a present. After all, I'm going to be thirty! It's a big occassion. Well, at least to me it is. ;)

.: 129 words at 10:40 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (29) :.

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Hard to believe, but it's already March 1st.

If you haven't said anything yet this month (which has only been about four minutes in the central time zone), go ahead and say, "Rabbit, rabbit."

If you're just now reading this this morning, simply reverse the process as you go to bed tonight by saying, "Tibbar tibbar." That's rabbit rabbit backwards.

It'll bring you some extra luck, especially if you're a March baby like me.

.: 74 words at 12:07 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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