Musings and Memories

-There are a ton of adages and rules and whatnot people have. I've compiled a list of mine. I figure I'll post some of mine here from time to time. I think I'll start today, with my seventeenth law:
Never deny, delay, nor attempt to negate the effects of that which you will inevitably end up doing anyway.

-I need to make my iPhone forget the acronym "ATM". Why? Because every time I use "atm" as the now-common text abbreviation for "at the moment" it tries to capitalize it. Good grief, like I am going to be text-messaging someone about an ATM machine? My life is far from that much a wasteland. Mental note: ATM Wasteland sounds like a good band name.

-Tonight there was a song being played by the DJ that everyone, and I mean every single person, in my group new well enough to sing along to. But nobody could think of the name, much less the group who did it. It was "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" by the Gap Band, 1982 (a good year!) Doesn't ring a bell, perhaps? Give it a listen, odds are you'll be signing along within 30 seconds. Listen Here!

-I finished catching up on the seventh season of 24 but now there is no place for me to watch the full eighth seasons; everywhere just has the last five episodes. And Jack won't tell me what happened!

-Why does it feel like Sunday?

-There was a news article today about the USS Freedom, LCS-1, the Navy's latest fast-moving near-stealth ship. I was on that puppy about this time last year, just before her christening. She's an impressive thing. And freaking intimidating, too.
Kind of like a hot wrestling chick in that sense.

-There was also an article about how Facebook is driving up divorce rates. Really, folks? Why? Because spouses are finding new dates and mates on there, that's reason number one, apparently. We've come to the point where Facebook is a dating service. Lovely. (Eh, but then again, I know how facebook can start some impressive arguments.)

-I saw a girl tonight who looked exactly like what one of my ex's will look like around age, oh, 35 or so. I thought it was intriguing. A friend of mine couldn't help but laugh though when I made the comment: "Damn, I thought she would be hotter."

-New reason to hate the FedEx website: the tracking page can't remember from one day to the next the number of the package you were tracking. Back to the e-mail, copy the number, paste... aw, fuck it.

-I checked prices; GeekSquad charges like $300 or more just to do a 'check-up' on a computer, like optimize memory, filter viruses, etc etc. Damn! I can do all that myself, for free! And any virus my computer may have can stick around for that price. Well, actually not, because I have a better trained and more effective GeekSquad- my friend Dave. And all he charges is a beer. Useful!

-I get more instant messages the second I turn off my computer and log in from my phone than any other time of the day, maybe with the rare exception of some times when I'm working... and thus online from my phone. Or driving. I think it's a fate-driven conspiracy to give me early onset arthritis of the thumbs.

-No matter how much I have to make calls, I can never get used to international ring tones. It's frustrating because sometimes the ringing sounds just like the sounds you hear while the call is going through the exchanges.

-I haven't forgotten the picture of the Kosher Salt, it just doesn't seem to want to post right from my phone to here. It got me thinking, though- if it's Kosher, that means it has been blessed, right? By a Rabbi, presumably? Well, this is straight from the factory, so does that mean that Morton's has a Rabbi come by at some point to bless certain batches? I'm trying to picture this.

-My friend Jann (yes I'm addressing you by name!) finally posted some new pictures of himself online, at the prodding of our mutual friend Madeleine. His hair has gotten long and he's surrounded by Japanese people; though the latter part probably has something to do with his being in Japan still. I feel it's my duty to pick on him for this, lest I be negligent in the unwritten terms of our friendship. Scoundrels, we.

-I was at a reception a week or two ago and the DJ started playing swing dancing music, which was awesome hear! Get some big band stuff going, most DJ's don't have the huevos to do that. But nobody was dancing! I didn't have the opportunity, but dang it, are all types of traditional dancing a lost art? I just won a tango competition not even a month ago, but people can't even swing dance? I weep. (On the other hand, at least nobody tried to do 'modern' dancing to it. Thank God.)

-Knowing psychology can be a pain. You tend to over-analyze everything, even if not consciously, and find answers deeper than where most people look. Combined with an acute natural instinct, and it's both an annoyance but also a blessing. You'd be amazed how much you can help some people when you put those two things together.


So, moving past the random musings, today was way, way too busy. Good humor prevailed, there was no booze hounding it at all, so the day closes out on a high note. I did get a very nice, long e-mail asking some questions from/about previous posts, and making some comments. One comment was how touched she was at the initial post (see: The Next Chapter), which I found both humbling and awesome.

One question, though, caught my eye and I thought it deserves an open answer right here: "(when) you mention the word friend, I wonder - who are those people you count as a friend and who are acquaintances and who are something in between? How do you divide people between such groups?" It's a really good question. I have tons and tons on acquaintances, and those are people I've met, probably talk to when we meet, might know a bit about, but we don't really share any bond.

There is an in-between group, I suppose, like anyone has, where I care more about that person than just another acquaintance, but that's a hard to define gray area. A friend, though, in my book is someone I relatively trust and can speak open with for the most part, can share humor and good times and good conversations with, I care about their health and well-being, and would put my life on the line for any of them.

The closest friends, though, are a rare group; those are the people you trust completely, without hesitation, knowing that they are there for you, won't sacrifice your best interest even at the cost of their own, and you care about more surely than even if they were your own brother or sister. I'm fortunate to have many friends, and even a very few close friends. As for division of groups, I trust my reason and my gut instinct. Hard to beat my gut instinct.

Don't mis-read; love and romance, while definitely not mutually exclusive from friendship (one would hope), is a category all by itself, so we'll leave that out for the moment.

Moving on, I find myself missing dad tonight... who, for those of you who don't know, passed away a few years ago. We had a lengthy discussion on losing close family members and friends this evening, and it predictably brought up some tough memories. Anytime that happens makes for a melancholy evening. There's a lot I'd like to say about dad, I'm just not sure who I should share it with. Let all know, though, that he was a great man. May I live my life well enough to live up to half his legacy.

Well, loyal readers and creepers, I think I'm going to call it a night for the moment. When you can't type one of those 'random thoughts' without making four or more spelling errors, you're too tired. Thanks for walking the path of my thoughts with me, hope you didn't get lost along the way. Have a great night, and remember- don't do anything I'd do.