It sucks feeling down. The worst part is when you start getting sick of yourself and all the whining… just like this. This is the sound of me hating myself.

Fortunately, having friends around the world helps me keep my sanity. Sometimes it bums me out that most of my friends are in Nebraska out-of-reach except by wires or wireless. But I’m thankful they’re around at all. In the last week I’ve managed to talk to a number of people (Tyler, Cora, Jenny [& Phil sorta]).

Conversing with Tyler had me laughing harder than anything other than The IT Crowd, The Big Bang Theory, or Savage Chickens (read this one). Then some drunk a**hole passed out in front of Tyler’s house while driving and his head kept blaring the horn so Tyler had to go call the police. It still kept me laughing, but it ended the conversation.

I talked with Cora for 80 minutes. This is the longest phone call I’ve had in a while. Though I managed a solid 50 minutes with Luebbe the last time we talked.

I talked with Jenny briefly during lunch today. She and Phil are both feeling a bit better, but will continue to rest as they battle their separate woes. Also, she wants you all (who know them) to visit The Bolls website and leave comments so she’ll know you’re reading it.

I IMed Erika the other day. We talked about cooking, pondered the time-dilation effects of living multiple time zones away, and conversed quite pleasantly.

I talked to both of my bros today. Jesse turned 24, and Isaac bought an iPod Classic (80GB!).

So now I’ve told you what’s going on with a lot of people. Little things like these conversations help keep me going.

Tags: alcohol, Cora, Erika, family, Jenny, Luebbe, phone, Savage Chickens, Tyler

For the regular visitors, I thought I’d let you know I’ve updated the links on the side of the index page. Most notably, you’ll now find Erika and The Varv in the Friends section. The music, islands, and news sections each have a new site or two.

I’ve also added a couple comics to the comics section — PvP has been on the list in the past, whereas Questionable Content and Savage Chickens are new additions. I’ve got Savage Chickens comics posted all over my cubicle at work. They help keep me sane.

I’ve also added a “Community Trading” section. I’ve been using LaLa for several weeks now to trade CDs. For every CD you don’t want anymore and send to another user, a CD on your request list will get sent to you. It’s not a bad system and the cost is just $1/trade. The only “problem” I’ve had is some CDs didn’t get sent with artwork, but recently they’ve added an option to request only CDs with artwork. Shipping costs are included in the price LaLa charges for the trade (in addition to the $1/trade).

I just signed up for PaperBackSwap (book trading) and SwitchDiscs (CDs/DVDs/videogame trading) tonight, so I’ll give you more of a review on those later. Both of these sites ask you to pay to ship your own items, but in return you incur no shipping costs for items you receive.

With PaperBackSwap, after I listed 9 books I was willing to trade, it gave me three free credits towards books. I’ve used these and requested some books (Prey by Michael Crichton; a Calvin & Hobbes anthology; Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert), so they should be shipped to me soon.

I’ve had my first DVD requested on SwitchDiscs and will be sending that out soon. As soon as I get credit for the DVD, I’ll be able to request items from other users. With SwitchDiscs, my primary goal is unloading a bunch of old Playstation games I never play.

Also, remember to check out For Your Perusal in the sidebar (via del.icio.us) — an aggregate list of links I recommend taking a look at. If you’d rather grab the RSS feed, it’s right here.

Tags: Erika, The Varv

I returned from Nebraska yesterday evening. I had a great time while I was there. I saw over a dozen of my college friends through such activities as the co-consumption of coffee, devouring of food, watching of movies, playing of videogames (Burnout 3 is sweet), playing card games, and much discussion. Do to the great amount of verbal interaction, ridiculous statements, and funny moments, I got many new quotes to put in the database so you should be seeing a few new ones mixed in randomly as the QOTD (or as I select them for the QOTD).

Changing my setting for just a few days by being with old friends in my old town gave me a different perspective about some of the things going on in my life. It helped me realize how bitter I am about some of the events in my life from the last year and show me they aren’t worth being bitter over. I really enjoyed having some people speak to me truthfully about what they see in my life and taking a real interest in how things go.

Luebbe provided plenty of deep conversation. I had a nice breakfast with Erika and him at a bagel shop playing horrible, football-themed, song parodies. It was good hanging out with people who’re okay with being honest with each other and with themselves most of the time.

The hard part about being back home now is going to be living like I have been while having these fresh memories of what friendship can be. Can the friendships I have here develop into such deep ones? I hope so.

Thanks to all of you who I saw while I was in town, many thanks to my gracious host for the weekend, and I hope y’all keep on keeping it real. We only get one shot at life; don’t waste it lying to yourself about who you are or who you want to be.

Tags: Erika, Luebbe, Nebraska, videogames