Category: well?

Basically, after having the new big ass TV for a few days, I started to regret my purchase; the picture looked like crap. Even on DVDs. Then, I found out that the cable that you connect shit to your TV with makes a difference. So I got component cables. Problem solved. Now, how does Comcast fit in here? Why let me tell you!

First of all, on Saturday, I had to wait 7 hours for them to show up, with them pushing their arrival back by hours at a time every time they reached their “absolutely no later than” time. I got in a fight with the woman in customer service. They didn’t care. I told her it was bullshit. She said she would terminate the call if I used anymore harsh language. Fuck. I got nowhere with that. All in all, we were successfully “upgraded” the the new Comcast DVR receiver, which means, you guessed it… “no more need” for Tivo. Ah Tivo, you have been so good to me all these years; and now I know why I loved you so much. Comcast DVR SUCKS!!! No seriously, Hoover, Dyson, they got nothing on Comcast DVR. The user interface is like taking pieces of construction paper and writing down names of shows, and then making a crappy looking graph out of them for you to browse with your horrible remote. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but it seriously, seriously sucks. I would give ANYTHING to get my Tivo back.

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That is the last line from the comments on this post, where I was pondering the dynamic of friends and friendships; both in development and maintenance of individual and group friendships. I said that I would come back to this topic, and I didn’t realize it had been so long since I wrote the original post; so I hope that you’re able to keep going with me…

The reason I chose Karen’s statement, is because that is exactly how I feel. A lot of other people identified that they were in close friend groups, a lot of people said they didn’t have any friends, pretty much the whole gamut was expressed, much as I expected. But, what I didn’t expect, is that most people didn’t identify why they held on to these friends, and why those friend groups still thrived. I think that Karen’s statement of comparing gaining and keeping friends as an adult to dating is spot on; it takes work on both of your part to find out whether you are compatible, and eventually, you have to start calling each other back. I find that is why I think many of my friend groups have drifted apart, a little bit of drift came from a lot of not calling people back, and it spiralled out of control. Simple as that. And the weird thing is, it is never just one person, it is a combination of everyone doing it at different times.

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I just have to comment on the impending censure bill that should be introduced against the president today; comment on the republican response, that is. Seriously, what planet is Bill Frist living on? In response to Fiengold’s efforts to censure the president, and rightfully force him to answer for his crimes (remember, breaking the law is a crime, even if you are the president) of illegal wiretapping, Frist responded that:

“attacking our commander in chief … doesn’t make sense.”
“We are right now at an unprecedented war where they really want to take us down,” he said. “A censure resolution … is wrong. It sends a signal around the world.
“The American people are solidly behind this president in conducting the war on terror.”

See ya’ll! You too can become Senate majority leader!! Just ignore everything that is going on with the constituents you are supposed to be representing, ignore the response of almost 70% of Americans, and shove your head up your rich white ass!!! Then, you are a shoe in! Apparently, since only about 30% of Americans actually even believe in the president anymore, then that must mean we are “solidly behind him”. I love crazy people.

I better be careful, I guess, ’cause you know that the NSA and Dept of Homeland Security are reading this right now; I am probably just giving them one more reason why we should enact martial law. Seriously though, anyone else see that things are kind getting out of hand these days? I mean, a censure is kind of a big formal slap on the wrist, right? What’s so bad about getting the president to admit to criminal action? It’s not like he is trying to impeach him for something silly, like, oh, say, a blow job, right? Whatever. I say censure him, because it does send a message around the world; it says that Americans DO believe in democracy, and that even though you are the elected president, you are not above the law. Doesn’t THAT make sense? I think that I am going to have to start a category for “crazy republican sayings that cause me to react” or something. Happy Monday, ya’ll; hope your weekend was scrumptious.

(oh yeah, quote above came from this article.)

Today, I was sitting here looking at some pictures on flickr, when it totally struck me; I don’t feel like I have a “stable” “friend group” anymore. The pictures I was looking at, were of a group of friends all having fun, and celebrating birthdays, new years, etc. While I do know, and am grateful, that I have many friends (some of which I haven’t had the privilege to meet IRL yet… that’s you blog-buddies!), I just don’t feel like I have that sense of a “group” that I used to. It is a weird realization, I guess, but I just wonder; was it ever really a group, or did we just happen to all hang out at the same time? What about our “group” made us go in different directions, so much so that we don’t hang out that much any more? And finally what does it take to remain “in” the group, and are we, or were we ever really, a group?

I must say, that the past 4 months or so has been awesome for me. I have done things that I have never done before socially; I have gone out on a limb to meet people, and it has actually turned out very well. I have embraced my hobbies, and allowed it to take me to meet new people; and I couldn’t be happier that I did.

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Yesterday, James got that new razr phone from Verizon, and much to my dismay, it is practically featureless. See, my dismay comes with his purchase, because I am getting a new phone in a couple of months, and I had my heart set on the razr. But, now that I have had the chance to see his, and try to play around with the features, I am more than disappointed. You give up practically everything that any of those other phones (even the one I currently have) can do. So, now, I am torn between getting the razr, or getting this one, which is an updated version of the phone that I currently have. I think that it would be awesome to have the razr, just because of the sleek design and whatnot, but I would totally miss being able to have my own ringtones (without paying $2.99 a piece for them). My current phone has a memory card, so I can store literally 128mb worth of stuff on there, and if I got the updated version, I could put music videos and stuff like that on there… So what to do? Anyone have an advice? If anyone has the razr with Verizon, and can key me in to the goods that it has locked inside, talk away… I really want to know.

Everyone probably knows that I work in HIV prevention, and there is one issue that surrounds testing that is always debated, and is honestly something that I think about a lot. (Note: While I am NOT talking about work, but am talking about HIV prevention, the obvious connection is there, but I don’t want anyone to think that there is any motive by my asking, or any true tie between the two. They are just related based on in intellectual interest and sheer curiosity. Again, this is NOT FOR or ABOUT WORK!) The issue of which I speak, has to do with whether or not people that get tested for HIV are deterred in any way because the test is confidential vs. being anonymous. In case you don’t know, confidential testing does record some identifying information about you that is recorded and reported to the county in which you test, and ultimately to the government (HIV prevalence and all that good stuff); whereas anonymous means you get the test, and that’s it, nobody knows who you are, and you are identified by only an arbitrary number (of course, if you test positive, it is recorded, but it is not associated with you, it is the number that is recorded).

Basically, out of my own intellectual curiosity, I want to ask you this: if and when you test (you better all be testing regularly… even you straight ones) are you more or less likely to test somewhere or in some situation because the testing being offered is confidential vs. anonymous? If so, then why? Does it even make a difference to you? (and this is a personal preference type question; no one is wrong here, and there will be no consequences to any answer; as I stated, this is mere curiosity.) If so, which test do YOU prefer; and how does it effect your willingness and frequency to test?

Seriously though, just to state again, this is not related to work; it is my own curiosity. It is something that I honestly think about a lot, and find very interesting. Hopefully you have found it interesting enough to read through this post, and even interesting enough to provide you own responses.

Here’s what I am thinking, which is kind of a melding of a few designs, but in a way that they seem connected. Inner arm, right arm. What do you all think?

It would obviously be bigger than this, but this is just to give an idea of what it would look like strung together.

I don’t really have too many thoughts on my mind today, other than, “why am I not still in bed?”, but that is a typical Monday, really. I do have something that I want to talk about, but you will have to wait a day or so for that one, I want to let it marinate before I get into the meat of it. So, I thought, in the meantime, I can ask you some questions, and address the questions that a couple of people have asked about my recent mentioning that I want a new tattoo. I found a pretty cool North American Indian clip art book today, and here are some of the ones I really like: (obviously, I would not be getting the words underneath, as depicted in the pictures. That is just for reference as to where they came from/what they represent)







I was thinking that maybe I should get a bunch of them, and tie them together somehow, as I don’t really want one big ass bird on my arm (inner arm, bicep, btw), but I don’t want them to just look like several different tattoos (which tends to look a little trailer if done wrong). I was thinking of placing them together some fashion and trying to see if a tattoo artist could think of a way to incorporate some or all of them. What do all of you think? Cool? Lame? Cooly Lame? Ah, whatever… I’m just sharing here. There are tons of other cool crap in the book too.

Also, I think that I am going to design some shirts on Cafepress or whatever. I will keep you updated, but you should want to buy one; sydney is now the official mascot of duanemoody.com. Rock on!

James and I just got in a fight about him not calling me; which was only a fight, because he stayed at work for an extra hour and a half, and I was left under the impression that he was “on the way”. James told me that he was leaving work at 3:30, and that he would call. Naturally, when he hadn’t called by 4:30, I was more than a little worried. All he had to do was call me/email me and say, “I’m staying a little later, call you when I leave”. Am I being a completely insane boyfriend by worrying and freaking out over the fact that he could be laying in a gutter somewhere? Or, is it too much to ask for the consideration of letting someone know that you are in fact not on the way, and will simply let them know when you are? I just want to get some outside perspective on this, it is something that comes up a lot.

Seriously… two worry wart posts in one day; I promise I am not going mental. But should I be worried about going mental? Ugh…

I know that there are like 2 of you out there that are still waiting on my top movies of 2005 list, and I promise that I will post it soon, but I felt like I was inundating people with lists so I wanted to give you some more of the real me before I posted that final list. But, it is compiled, don’t you worry; I don’t procrastinate when it comes to things I like.

As for this post, the reason why I chose this title and subsequently the subject, is because of some dreams that I have been having lately. Mainly I wanted to post about them to kind of get them off of my chest, and sort of see them in front of me, so that I could put them into perspective. Or perhaps, someone may be able to add their analytical insight, and tell me what they think about the hidden meanings within my subconscious. Either way, here goes.

Last night’s dream was pretty simple, but evoked a lot of feeling in me, and enough anxiety to wake me up. I was going to a meeting at work, where all of my bosses would be there. When I got to the meeting, I was so bored that I was overcome with sleepiness, and fell asleep (despite my best efforts to stay awake). When I woke up, everyone was gone, and I was in a bed in a different conference room; and I was even changed into sleeping attire. I was so freaked out by this dream; and I can’t figure out why. I would never actually fall asleep in a meeting (although who hasn’t done the jello-neck droopy head before?), so it isn’t something that is a real threat; but, the feeling of waking up in that bed was so real and scared me. I just knew that it was going to effect me negatively, and without even seeing them, I knew that all of the people in that meeting were going to judge me, and perhaps punish me. Scary!

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