Quote of the Day

"And silence of the heart can leave you shattered, and now you're torn . . . torn and tattered." -Carbon Leaf

Quote of the Day

"There's something missing from my life. Cuts me open like a knife. It leaves me vulnerable, I have this disease. I shake like an incurable. God help me please! There's a hole in my life." -The Police

I'm back from my first week-long vacation in almost 2 years! I returned to the same place this time, too (Naples, FL). Usually when I spend time with my Aunt and Uncle, there is a running joke that is used frequently. This time, it was randomly yelling something to my Uncle. Why would my family and I do this? Here's the story: my grandfather, Carl, is all but deaf. The week prior, he and his wife went to visit my relatives. My Uncle would try to sneak out of the house for work before Carl got up and about. Unfortunately, my Uncle wasn't fast enough. Carl would shuffle out of his bedroom, walk up quietly behind my Uncle, and yell "Good morning, son" at the top of his lungs! Needless to say, this startled my Uncle each time! One morning he actually spilled his coffee on himself! So that was our running joke. I overdid a few things while on vacation: got too much sun and ate too much! The food down there was excellent! There are lots of goor restaurants in Naples that are locally owned and operated, something that's missing from Williamsburg. We may have gone to one chain and that was a place called Skyline Chili which was friggin' amazing! They pile shredded cheese on top of their chili dogs as well as their other dishes. Very, very tasty! I also got to see my friends Sean and Ryan and was informed that Ryan is pregnant. She is 14 weeks and is due next April! I am very excited for them! I really enjoyed spending time with them. Now I'm back in dreary old Virginia with colder weather and rain. Back to work!

New album out today!!

For those of you who are Carbon Leaf fans, their new CD came out today! Your best bet for purchasing it is going to a small record store as opposed to places like Target or Best Buy. You can also buy it through their website: www.carbonleaf.com. But if you're an obsessive fan like me, waiting for it to come by mail is not an option!

Square 1

Well, I'm back to square one again. Like it says in the song, "I got nobody to call my own." But don't be upset, I put myself in this position. In this bizarre game called 'dating' I'm still learning. A co-worker told me this morning that it is a process, and I really believe that. I truly believe that for some of us, you have to meet several people before we find that one person that we are destined to spend an undetermined amount of time with. This begs the question: Is there really such thing as "the one?" I don't know. If there is, I haven't found her. I have been mistaken on a few occasions. I believe that maybe there is one person for some people. I also believe that we are meant to meet more than one "the one." The purpose is to know that person, to experience the best of that person, to share life with each other, and then move on. People come and go in our lives all the time. At some point, you have to be okay with letting people go. As the Buddhists believe, attachment leads to suffering. With my new philosophy on dating, I am thankful for all of the wonderful experiences I've had with people in my past because I have learned or taken something important away from that relationship that I didn't have before I met that person.

R.I.P. Grover
2005-2006

Tonight is the first time in a REALLY long time that I have been here by myself on a Friday night with no one around. No you might think that I would be lonely as Hell or just going nuts! In all honesty, I'm surprisingly doing all right! I know that there will be a time when it will just be me, so I have get used to this I guess.

So tonight I went to my friend Zack's bachelor party, and I am still experiencing some strong feelings about it. First and foremost, I'm not a fan of strippers. If any of my friends have even the slightest desire to become one, I would beg you not to! It's degrading. It's disgusting. And the money's not even worth it! The girls I saw tonight were on the trampy side. Not much class with either of them but maybe I was expecting too much! I saw first hand the shit that strippers have to put up with from men, and we were a fairly tame crowd! I don't know how they can stand it.
I was also humiliated by one of them and by my friends tonight. As I was receiving a lap dance while laying on the floor, the stripper took off my belt. At the urging of the other guys there, she wrapped it around my neck and tightened it to where it was a little difficult to breathe. One of my friends (he shall remain nameless to protect his identity) told her to command me to bark like a dog. I tried not to at first but my "collar" became tighter the more I resisted. It wasn't until later how humiliating this was for me! I felt subservient! How dare someone make me act like an animal for other people's entertainment! I will NEVER be made to feel like that or be put into that situation again!
The last thing I want to mention before I go to bed tonight is about Vince, Zack's friend. This guy represents all of the things that give guys a bad name. He is the stereotypical male chauvinist. Every time I see him, he's always bragging about the girls he's fucked or the bizarre sexual situations that he's been in. Tonight as he was relating a story about a threesome he had in Indonesia, I called him out on it and told him that he sounded just like one of the Forum letters in Penthouse. Needless to say he didn't like my comment. Then later during the "show," I suggested that we help out one of the guys financially. To this he commented that he had already dropped $100 for the strippers and told me that I owed him some of that plus the tequila shot he bought for us earlier. He said, "So you should be paying me $80 so I don't want to hear about how we need to help out one of our boys!" I wanted to hit him but luckily I didn't. I never paid him, and I doubt he will remember it. I can look at him and be thankful that I'm not like him!

Me and my girls! 

Time is winding down,
But there is so much left to do!
Trying to fit everything in
With you and you and you.

Where did the time go?
Amazing how quickly it went by!
Two years wasn't nearly enough to get to know you,
But now it's almost time to say goodbye!

Don't be sad, my dear friends.
For this is not the end.
There's much more life waiting ahead of us
We will see one another again.

So dry your worried eyes
And wipe away those tears!
Never forget all of those beautiful memories
That we have made during these years.

For each one of you has left a mark on my soul
That can never be erased or wiped away.
You have added so much beauty to my life,
That I will carry with me always.

I can't imagine my life without you
It has been blessed since meeting you three.
Thanks to you I am a much better man
Than I ever thought I could be.

We have one more week together,
So let's make it one of the best!
We're almost out of the woods
To put this grad school thing to rest!

I will always love you guys!

I loathe LeBron James!!!

So I have been told that I need to leave my posts up so that people can check my posts on a continuing basis. This is what I am going to try to do. I don't have very much to talk about. I am currently in the comupter lab with my friend Helene who is intoxicated. We are almost done with school and went out for a little celebration tonight at Paul's. The more I type, the more I realize how silly and pointless this post is. I mean, really, who is going to read this? Everytime I post a message, I never get any comments. And then ones I do get are from weird people who are trying to sell something. In a few minutes, I will be helping my friends with a group project where we are supposed to act out different family scenarios. This could be interesting since Helene is drunk. I am in for an interesting night!