Valentine's Day Sucks!

Well, that fateful day that everyone loves to hate is coming up. No, not Arbor Day. Valentine's Day. This has just been driven into my head by the dozen or so e-mails I have already gotten about it. Some are from friends, some are spam, but no matter who they are from, they annoy me.

Now sure, not EVERYONE hates Valentine’s Day, but the majority of the population does. I don’t blame them either. There are plenty of viable reasons to hate Valentine’s Day.

Here are a few I have compiled in the past twenty minutes:

1. Being alone on Valentine’s Day sucks. That is right. There is nothing more disheartening than being alone on a day that is dedicated to couples. I mean really, what kind of sick fuck decided to create a holiday that would alienate between one third and one half of the global population? What kind of twisted mind does it take to come up with that kind of thing?

2. Valentine’s Day has introduced the idea of forced romanticism. For those of us who tend to be naturally romantic, it has cheapened the idea. For the rest of the population, it is a day in which they are expected to act like someone they aren’t. This is just another example of our society asking people to change who they are to fit in.

3. Valentine’s Day breeds contention. If a guy isn’t romantic enough, it causes problems with his significant other. If a guy is too romantic, it can cause problems. Finally, if a guy just says, “Screw it, I am not a romantic person” and blows off Valentine’s Day, he will be lucky to survive the day. On the flip side, guys get upset because they are expected to buy expensive and extravagant gifts on this day. What is special about the day? Well, we are just told it is special, and things need to be bought.

4. It doesn’t matter how good your Valentine’s Day gift to someone is, you just have to be better next year. It is the ultimate game of one-upsmanship with oneself. If you do something amazing on your first Valentine’s Day together, every other year will just be compared to that year unfavorably.

5. Being alone on Valentine’s Day sucks. Yeah, I know I already said it, but oh well. It needs to be said more than once.

And now for fun, a Jay Leno quote:

“Today is Valentine's Day - or, as men like to call it, Extortion Day!” - Jay Leno

Puppies!

This post is just because I miss my puppies and was looking at pictures of them. While looking at the pictures, I decided that everyone must see them.


Little dog looking at my brother as he plays Nintendo (Regular Nintendo, nothing fancy for him).


Little dog looking demonic and crazy.


Big dog looking scruffy and cute.

I miss my puppies

Deja vu. . . all over again

So yesterday I was searching for a quote that fit life at the moment.

Richard had noticed that events were cowards: they didn't occur singly, but instead they would run in packs and leap out at him all at once. - Neil Gaiman

I couldn't find it anywhere though. It wasn't in my quote document, and it wasn't on thinkexist. I was confused. I knew I had used it in the past.

Well, it turns out I had. I had used it in a blog over the summer and as I found it and read that blog post, I couldn't help but laugh at myself. Apparently something had set me off that week and I can't remember what it was. Heck, I'll just copy-paste the majority of the post so you all can see what I mean.

Femmes!

I've said it before, and I will say it again - I don't understand women, and I know I never will. I don't think that there is a man in this world who truly understands women and the way their minds work. Oh sure, some guys may know how their wife thinks, but that is one woman. Women as a whole are one confusing bunch.

Now, after reading the above paragraph, many a woman would counter, "Women are easy to understand. Men are the confusing ones." Women may actually believe this argument, but the truth to that argument is that men seem confusing . . . because they are confused. Men don't know how to act around women because women say, do, and think different things. They say one thing, mean another, and think a third, but somehow they expect men to be fully cognizant of what they want.

A classic example is the "Where do you want to eat" dilemma. Most of the time when a man asks, "Hey, where do you want to eat", he will get one of the following responses: "I don't know", "I don't care", or "Oh, it doesn't matter, you pick". Do any of those three things really mean what they seem to mean? NO! They normally mean something more to the effect of "I know exactly where I want to eat, but I want you to prove that you know me and pick the place I want". Every once and a while a woman will be honest and actually say "How about (Insert overpriced eatery here)", and the man involved will internally dance a little happy dance.

Or how about the ever popular "Are you mad" question. Most women have several types of anger that they can express, and the most frustrating of these is the type where they profess to be completely calm, collected, and not in the least perturbed, and all the while they are seething inside about some slight that the man probably doesn't even realize he has committed. As the man remains blissfully unaware of his wrongdoing, the woman continues to allow her anger to build up without expressing it in any way other than to become slightly withdrawn (perhaps with a few surreptitious glares in the man's direction). When confronted about her behavior, the woman continues to deny any anger until finally exploding at the man.

Then there is always the question of what a woman wants in a man. I have heard countless women say that they look for a man who is "Smart, funny, kind" etc. etc. etc. Unfortunately I can count on my hands the number of times I have actually seen a guy who is all the things listed, but not physically very attractive, with one of these women. This is another case of women saying one thing, and their actions saying another. Far too many women date guys based solely on physical appearance, and then when the guys turns out to be an ass, complain that men are all jerks. A great many men are not jerks, but we are looked over because women are as shallow and hormonal as men (they just don't like to admit it).

Due to these - and other - situations, men have learned think things through and tread carefully around women at times, but these are not the main cause of stress between the sexes. In my opinion, the one situation which has caused more stress between men and women than anything else is the question of honesty.

Most men like to be honest about things. If a buddy is doing something stupid, men point it out. If a guy is wearing a hat that makes him look like a moron, his friends will point it out and tell him not to wear it.

Women claim to love honesty, but at times they prefer to be lied to. "How do I look?", "Does this dress make me look fat?", etc. . . . why do you ask these questions if you don't want us to be honest? If any man ever answered either of those questions with a "Sorry honey, that dress does not flatter your figure at all. Maybe you should wear that other one" he would not only be sleeping on the couch for the next week, but he would probably have a few things thrown at his head.

The question of honesty also comes into play when a guy has feelings for a woman. If a guy just comes out and says how he feels, he risks several possible complications. First, he could say it at the wrong time and make the woman upset and uncomfortable. Second, she may have no feelings for him whatsoever, in which case he has probably just flushed a friendship down the toilet by being honest. Third (and in some guys' cases most likely) he can get the always popular "I don't like you in that way", the "I don't know how to respond to that", the classic "You aren't boyfriend material", or my personal favorite "You are just too nice, and I don't want to ruin our friendship".

Of course, if he keeps these feelings in when she wants him to say them, then she can become upset that he is too closed up emotionally. Maybe, while he is wrestling with whether or not he should say anything (probably for fear of one of the above complications), she will decide that he doesn't have any feelings for him, not tell him, and just move on to one of the shallow pretty-boy asshats talked about a few paragraphs ago.

So, with all these confusing possibilities and complications fouling out male-female interactions, men muddle on slowly and confused. Do they tell the truth this time, or is this a case where the truth will get you slapped? Does she really not want to talk about what is wrong, or does she want you to just automatically know what is wrong and apoligize for it? Graaaaaah!!!

From now on, I just want everyone to be honest with me. If you want to say something, say it. Please don't hold back (except for you Mike and BJ . . . I don't even want to know what Mike is thinking, and I already know what BJ is thinking). Just cut through all the bullshit and come out with it already people.

That just makes me laugh.

Emotional Honesty

“Could you imagine how horrible things would be if we always told others how we felt? Life would be intolerably bearable.” – Randy K. Milholland

That is my thought for the day. I don’t really know why, but it just seems to fit. Humans as a species are idiots. They hide everything they feel from one another for fear that they will get hurt. They lock up all their emotions inside and show the world a carefully constructed façade in an attempt to avoid hurting.

Then, when we do finally get up the courage to risk exposing ourselves to the world, most people still don’t do it in a straightforward way. They play little games and make sly comments in which they think they are dropping hints about things. The thing is, because we all know that everyone hides their feelings, most people don’t catch on to the hints because they assume that nobody will actually reveal their feelings. Then, because they miss the hints and signals, the people dropping the hints get upset with them. This leads to confusion, anger, and plain ol’ confusion.

Now sure, when you tell someone how you feel, you are exposing yourself to them. At that point you are reaching into your chest, removing your heart, and holding in your outstretched palm. Any number of things can happen at this point. They can respond by taking out their heart in return, or they could laugh gleefully as they throw your heart to the floor and begin jumping on it. Sure, it can hurt like hell, and the pain might not go away for a good long while, but at the same time, keeping that kind of thing inside is what has led our society to the state it is currently in.

Look around our country today and you will find that the entire population is in some state of denial about their own feelings. Nobody is completely open with anyone. Everybody has some kind of secret feelings that they don’t expose.

So here is my challenge to myself and anyone reading this. Be honest with everyone in your life. Tell people how you feel about them. If it screws things up, at least you now know and can move on with life. Don’t pussyfoot around people anymore. If you don’t like someone, don’t pretend to be nice to them when they are around and then turn around and bitch about them when they leave. If you love someone, tell them that you love them. If someone has kept you sane when you would have otherwise killed someone or yourself, sit them down and let them know that they have helped you. Don’t keep things inside to fester. That kind of thing is never good for anyone.

“Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” – Henry Rollins

If you have a friend worth loving,
Love him. Yes, and let him know
That you love him, ere life’s evening
Tinge his brow with sunset glow.
Why should good words ne’er be said
Of a friend till he is dead?
- Daniel W. Hoyt

“Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find ''tomorrow'' on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, ''If I had my life to live over again. ''Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.” – Og Mandino

“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.” - Pope Paul VI

“If you had one phone call to make before you died, who would you call, what would you say, and why are you WAITING?!”

“The most human thing we have to do in life is to learn to speak our honest convictions and feelings and live with the consequences. This is the first requirement of love, and it makes us vulnerable to other people who may ridicule us. But our vulnerability is the only thing we can give to other people.” – Leo F. Buscaglia

Takes my breath away - just like a suckerpunch

Oh me. . .

This week soundly kicked my ass. Starting last Friday night/Saturday morning, I spent six nights up until at least 6am. Was this by choice? Well, Friday and Saturday were, but the nights from Sunday on were just my insomnia being a bitch. Coupled with this was a recurring dream.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember this post from June about some dreams I had. If you haven’t read it or don’t remember it, read it, or the rest of this post probably won’t make much sense.

Here is where things get weird. What I say from here on only three other people know about before this.

I had mostly forgotten about the dream by the time I got back to college in August (mostly meaning everything except for that face. . . *Starts humming “That Face” from The Producers*). Then I started meeting and hanging out with some of the new students, and guess what happened? I saw her. At first I thought, “Nah, can’t be her, my eyes are just playing tricks on me”, but the next time I saw her I realized that this was indeed the face from my dream. I jokingly told one of my friends about it, but I was shocked and confused. How did I have a dream about her 3 months before I met her? I shrugged it off and got to know her.

That was where I thought the weirdness from the dream would end. I thought that I could just forget about the dream. If something happened, something happened. If we ended up being friends, we ended up being friends. That was all I thought would happen. Then, in mid-November I started having the dream again.

It was the same dream with one slight difference. Instead of shifting through multiple faces, the woman in the dream had the same beautiful face throughout the dream. The first time, I just thought it was my subconscious playing a joke on me and ignored it. By the fifth time, I knew something weird was going on. Now, I have quit keeping track of how many times I have had it.

Over the past six nights, I have had the dream four times. It is getting ridiculous. Part of me wants to tell her about it, but at the same time, I can’t help but think that it is just plain creepy. I mean, how can you tell someone that you had a dream about them three months before you met them? How can you then go on to tell them that in the dream, the two of you were married and she was giving birth? I mean sure, I can refer to the blog post and show her what I said about her in it, but I still think it would be the height of creepiness.

Oh me. . .

2006

Disclaimer: This is going to be an extremely long post. If you don’t feel like having a recap of 2006 from my perspective, shuffle along and find something else to read.

2006. . . What a year you have been. A year of ups and downs. A year of triumphs and failures. On the surface, 2006 seems like any other year, but it was unique. Things happened in 2006 that haven’t happened before, both on the individual level and the global level. Let’s look into the year as a whole.

Events of 2006 –

January 25 - Hamas wins the majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections.

January 31 - Samuel Alito is sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

February 10 - The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin, Italy. The closing ceremony occurs on February 26.

February 11 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots his friend and lawyer, Harry Whittington, in the face with a shotgun on a south Texas ranch.

March 17 - The United States, the last nation in the world to have battleships in a reserve fleet, strikes its 2 remaining Iowa-class battleships from the Naval Vessel Register, ending the age of the battleship.

April 11 - President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran has successfully produced a few grams of 3.5% low-grade enriched uranium.

April 20 - Iran announces a uranium enrichment deal with Russia, involving a joint uranium enrichment firm on Russian soil; 9 days later Iran announces that it will not move all activity to Russia, thus leading to a de-facto termination of the deal.

April - A jury deliberates over the sentence of convicted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, finally sentenced to life in prison May 3.

May 28 - President Alvaro Uribe Velez is re-elected in Colombia for a second term. He becomes the first president in over a century to serve consecutive terms.

June 7 - Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and 7 of his aides are killed in a U.S. air raid just north of the town of Baqouba, Iraq.

June 29 - Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The United States Supreme Court rules that the military commissions to be used to try some detainees in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp are illegal.

July 5 - North Korea test fires at least 7 missiles including a long-range Taepodong-2.

July 31 - Fidel Castro, President of Cuba, temporarily relinquishes power to his brother Raúl before surgery.

August 31 - Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and Madonna are recovered in a police raid in Oslo, Norway.

September 11 - Walt Disney Pictures's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest becomes the third and fastest film in Hollywood history to reach the billion dollar worldwide box office mark with $1,004,100,000.

September 13 - The solar system's largest dwarf planet, designated until now as 2003 UB313, is officially named "Eris"; its satellite is now known as "Dysnomia".

September 29 - U.S. Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) resigns after it is revealed that he sent explicit e-mails for several years to underage male pages.

October 9 - North Korea claims to have conducted its first ever nuclear test

October 10 - Google buys YouTube for USD $1.65 billion

October 15 - The UN agrees to sanction North Korea over nuclear testing issue.

October 19 - On the 19th anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 12,000 for the first time gaining 19.05 points, or 0.16%, to 12,011.73.

October 30 - Former Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet is placed under house arrest for crimes committed at the Villa Grimaldi detention centre where thousands were tortured between 1974 and 1977.

October 31 - Veteran Game Show host Bob Barker announces his retirement from The Price is Right in June 2007 after 35 years as host and after 50 years on television.

October 31 - A comment by US senator John Kerry causes a stir after accidentally insulting the intelligence of American troops in Iraq. He explained that he botched a joke meant to insult the intelligence of President George W. Bush, and later apologized to anyone offended by his comment.

November 5 - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and 2 of his senior allies are sentenced to death by hanging after an Iraqi court finds them guilty of crimes against humanity.

November 6 – 50th anniversary of Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower’s re-election by defeating Democrat challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier.

November 7 - U.S. Midterm elections: Democrats win control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994.

November 7 - In the U.S. congressional elections, Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison becomes the first Muslim elected to the House of Representatives.

November 8 - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigns; President Bush nominates Robert Gates, a former CIA director, as his replacement. Gates is then confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn in on December 18.

November 20 - Iran and Syria recognize the government of Iraq, restore diplomatic relations, and call for a peace conference.

December 15 - An alleged assassination attempt on the Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh sparks inter-Palestinian clashes.

December 25 – James Brown dies.

December 26 - Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States dies.

December 30 - Saddam Hussein, former Iraq president, is executed in Baghdad.

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Whew! Now that was a year.

2006 was also a year of quotes. Here are a some of the more memorable from the year –

The old man looks like he wants to give someone the shocker. – JJK while watching “The Stand”. . . he even did the hand motion.

Girls make my head hurt. If they didn't have boobs, smell nice, feel good, and look so god damn sexy, I wouldn't have anything to do with them. – Roger “Jelly” Spitler

Oh Jesus. . . not me, the other Jesus – Roxie
Yes? – Me
No, not you, the other one. The original one. The godfather of all Jesuses. – Roxie

Jesus was nice every day of the week – Heather
Not on Saturday. Jesus was a bastard on Saturdays. – Me

"Wow. . . that is the first time I have ever been turned on by a Chipmunks song." -BJ
"I was just thinking the exact same thing my friend." -Me

If you didn’t struggle, it wouldn’t hurt. – Kid Pious

That was the best bug polymorphed into human on robot action ever. And if bugs weren’t meant to be polymorphed into humans and have sex with intelligent robots, I don’t want to be right. – BJ

Dude, you know zombies give great cunnilingus. You know, they are going for the brains, but they are totally in the wrong place, and they are totally going at it. – BJ

I must be an acquired taste. But that’s ok. I’ll just make people grow to like me, like pond scum. - Heather

Double the cum, double the fun. - Heather

Just fuck the bitch…
(Two minutes later) You’re not even allowed to screw her anymore. - Heather

It’s hot. I mean I think I have butt sweat. – Heather
Yeah George! Way to get a hug from the chick with swamp ass. That’s hot. – BJ
It’s not swamp ass if it isn’t in the crack! – Heather

What if she was a twenty-two year old good nympho who pleased your member up one side and down the other? Would you have broken up with her then? And yes I did say “pleased your member up one side and down the other”. - Heather

It’s better because you can talk with it in your mouth. I can talk with just about anything in my mouth, believe you me. - Heather

All the pleasure half the size. – Heather (In reference to a sucker.)

This is why I don’t feel bad about doing your mom in the ass. – BJ to Mike

Yeah, sorry Mike. I fucked your mom in the wrong hole. – BJ to Mike

Oh yeah, I just became so ravenous for the wang that I needed to rip your underwear off. - Natasha

Come on, you know Mike has a really needy wang… “Tell me I’m pretty. Why don’t you ever call me any more?” – BJ to Mike

He’s so big. It’s like fighting a black man’s wang. – BJ while playing Super Smash Brothers Melee

“George, will you get in my mouth already?!” – BJ to George while playing Super Smash Brothers Melee

I'm not sure you understand the power of my monkey lust right now. – BJ (Talking about Chunky Monkey Ice Cream)

BJ NO! What have we talked about? – Mike
No sticking things you own in my crotch… - BJ
And what did you do? – Mike
Stuck something you owned I my crotch. – BJ

“So Jesus was the first zombie.” – Sarah
“Wait, what about Lazarus?” – BJ
“So Lazarus bit Jesus.” – Mike
“So Lazarus started the Jesus AIDS, and Jesus AIDS are secretly Zombie-ism. Ipso facto Jesus was great at eating girls out! Mary Magdalene was the happiest woman in the history of the world!” – BJ

“See, it is like B is over here sucking on my left ball, and J is over here sucking on my right ball. So B and J are just sucking both my balls.” – Mike explaining to BJ how BJ can suck both his balls.

This is like football gay, not real gay. - Phil

YES! SPREAD THE MONKEY SPANKING! – Me (Talking to Roxie about an online game. . . I swear)

“Whenever someone tells me that they have burned all their bridges, I look at them and tell them truthfully that I don’t build bridges that burn. Every bridge I have ever built to a friend’s heart has been made of stone. I don’t allow a few words or actions to destroy a relationship built on many many good experiences.” – Me

“Whenever life seems to suck and nothing is going your way, do what I do. Think ahead and ask yourself, ‘Are these things going to matter to me in 1 year? 5 years? 10?’ If the answer to any of those questions is no, then let it go. Don’t let the little things get you down.” – Me

"A true friend is like the sound of your footsteps; always with you, through light and dark, in silence when there is no one else, and in a crowd even when you can’t hear them. When things are soft and comfortable you may not notice the sound of your footsteps, but when things get hard, that is when you notice that the sound of your footsteps is always there keeping time with you.” – Me

"You know that guy who always has a smile on his face. The guy who is there to lift his friends up when they are sad. The one who makes you smile even when you are mad at everyone and everything including him. The guy who, even when life seems to suck for him, is happy and does his best to make sure everyone else is happy. That is who I want to be remembered as. I want to be remembered as the guy who could brighten up everyone else's days even when he couldn't brighten up his own." – Me

Beauty is a personal concept. One man may find beauty in a sunset, and another in a flower. Society may say, “This is what is beautiful, and everything else is ugly”, but I don’t care about what society sees. I care about what I see, and when I look at you I see beauty. - Me

Beauty has power over us. We can't control it. We can be aware of it and try to reduce the effect, but we can't control it - Mark Seely

What is it about beauty that affects me so? One look at lovely eyes and my mouth stops working right. One glimpse of a beautiful smile and my brain shuts down. In the face of beauty I am reduced to simplistic small talk and weakly witty banter… and I think it is one of the greatest feelings in the world. – Me

When a man is thinking about matters of the heart, the most common expression on his face will be one of confusion. – Me

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Yeah, that last one really expresses a lot recently, but before I get into that, I want to go ahead and post up a few new quotes from 2007 (I already have some. . . and wow. . . just wow.) -

“Oh God! I’m gonna be a college slut!” – Catherine

“Have you seen any old pictures of his mom? She was so cockworthy dude!” – Scott

“I just fucking broke a nail.” – Scott

“I LOVE GEORGE!” – Catherine

“You guys got the penis thing.” – Ben

“No damnit! I am not going to wear your man-thong with a tape measure on it. Put it down Will. . . DAMNIT! Don’t try to put that thing on my head!” – Me

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That is what I get for hanging out with my former coworkers at 1am on January 1.

Next, I’d like to say a few things about some people who have made a difference in my life this past year. I won’t say who most of these people are, but if you know me, you can probably figure out who they are. (Note, these are in a random order . . . but somehow the person who assisted in making them random ended up last) –

1. I only really got to know you in the past year. We’ve had a few rough patches, but overall I think we are good friends and there are no hard feelings. No matter how many times you tell me that you owe me for the things I have done for you, I am going to insist that you don’t. Friends help each other out when they need it, and your insanity has kept me sane when I would have broken down. Just being you is repayment enough you Stupid Crazy Fool.

2. Until this past month I hadn’t seen you in three and a half years. You haven’t really changed, but at the same time you are a completely different person. I know you don’t read this, but I know that you know I really appreciate what you do for the country, no matter how much it pisses you off.

3. You . . . oh you. You are another person I only got to know over 2006, but I wouldn’t trade our friendship for the world. You are an amazing person, and just talking to you brightens my day. You have to go through more shit than anyone should, but somehow you still manage to muck through. Always know that you have friends who are here for you, because you are always here for us. One thing though – Get some self-confidence girl.

4. We don’t talk as much as we should. Random IM snippets or Blog comments really aren’t sufficient. Our philosophical conversations are one of the few things I really miss about High School (that and all of us goofing around during music events are about it). Sitting around debating the meanings of the universe is something I love doing, but don’t do anymore for some reason. We need to find some way to start those conversations back up. I know you read this periodically, so I will make sure to let you know if anything is going on here at SJC that you might want to come see (like hopefully me in Chicago).

5. You’ve always been here for me, and I love you to death. You are one of the few people in this world I feel safe actually talking to about anything. I’m sorry I’m not home more often and even more sorry that I am normally ensconced at my computer when we are both home. I’ve somewhat changed that this break, and I hope to spend quite a bit more time just hanging out with you before I head back to campus.

6. Wonder nerd powers activate! Form of – two friends who are too much alike! In you I have found someone whose nerdiness rivals (and in some areas surpasses) my own. Being able to make jokes about quantum particles, quote cartoons by heart, and randomly break into song and always knowing that there is someone around who will probably join in my randomness is always comforting.

7. As always you have been my inspiration. You have had the hardest life I can imagine, yet you are never sad. You live with constant hardship. Even walking is difficult for you, but you never complain. You are somehow the happiest person I know, and you have the ability to make any and everyone around you happy. I don’t know how you do it little bro’, but keep it up.

8. In you I have found two things. First, someone I can talk to both on and offline. I have a hard time having a fifteen minute online conversation with most people, but somehow we have managed to have not just one, but multiple online conversations lasting in excess of 4 hours. Second, a member of the opposite sex I don’t feel odd around when I reveal my nerdiness. Hell, in one aspect of nerdiness I am positive you beat me anyway.

9. You are my role model. If I can somehow find a way to become half the man you are, find a wife who loves me half as much as yours does, and manage to raise a family while dealing with the shit you deal with at work, the constant pain from you neck, and the other health problems you have. . . if I can find a way to manage to have a life even half as good as the one you have created for yourself and your family I will count myself as an incredibly lucky guy. I love you and I am proud to call you Dad.

10. As we said to each other in a conversation right before I wrote this post, “Go team nerd!” Between you and person 6, I know that any nerdy thing I think or say is not unique to me. I know that there is someone I can talk to about it. Heck I think we reached the height of nerd-dom earlier this afternoon, and it was tons of fun. You just need to get some books so I can borrow some from you for a change.

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Now to the topic I had the most trouble thinking about – Things I Learned in 2006. It isn’t that I didn’t learn things, because I did. It is just that I can’t think of very many things to list in this that aren’t cynical or downright depressing. Here goes though –

- Sometimes death isn’t something to be mourned, but rather it can be something to be accepted.

- Sometimes you can just be friends, and in doing so make some of the best friends you have ever had.

- Even if you have been having prophetic dreams for 20 years, don't trust dreams involving beautiful women. Sure, you may meet those women, but it will then turn out that God was just fucking with you again.

- Having a sentient computer can really suck when it decides to be exceedingly cruel and play certain songs over and over again.

- Nice guys don’t finish last. No, to the contrary, they don’t even get out of the starting gate because there is a sniper positioned to take them out early on.

- God has a hidden pair of arms. He uses these when you give him a double high five to sucker punch you in the stomach.

- I am apparently marriage material, but not boyfriend material.

- BJ looks more natural in an adorable pink dress than in his ordinary attire.

- Mike's physical repulsiveness is apparently not genetic.

- I have a problem expressing how I truly feel to people, and it stems from years of rejection and loneliness.

- Not everyone has the same notions about what a friend is.

- I talk too much when I have been drinking.

- Sometimes it is just easier and less painful to just stop giving a crap.

- I cannot be an actual asshole. I can make some pretty mean comments sometimes, but then I feel bad and have to make it up to the person. I am nice guy and I can’t get around it.

- House M.D. is one of the greatest television masterpieces ever created.

- No matter what you think, or what everyone is telling you, there is no such thing as a sure thing, so you should never take something for granted and expect it to happen. That just leads to more pain in the long run.

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Now I want to put up a quote and a song for the year. This is difficult for me. There are so many that fit so well.

For the quote, I am going to have to go with one of my favorite quotes ever:

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.” – Neil Gaiman

Now, this quote is somewhat sarcastic. It is a comment on what love can do to a person. The thing that Gaiman is saying he hates isn’t really love itself, but what love can do to you if it doesn’t work out.

For a song, I was torn, so I am going to have to go with two songs. First is one that just seems apt. Here’s “Nice Guys Finish Last” by Green Day:

Nice guys finish last
You're running out of gas
Your sympathy will get you left behind
Sometimes you're at your best, when you feel the worst
Do you feel washed up like piss going down the drain

Pressure cooker pick my brain and tell me I'm insane
I'm so fucking happy I could cry
Every joke can have its truth but now the joke's on you
I never knew you were such a funny guy

Oh nice guys finish last, when you run out of gas,
Don't pat yourself on the back, you might break your spine

Living on command
You're shaking lots of hands
You’re kissing up and bleeding all your trust
taking what you need
Bite the hand that feeds
You lose your memory
and you got no shame

Pressure cooker pick my brain and tell me I'm insane
I'm so fucking happy I could cry
Every joke can have its truth but now the joke's on you
I never knew you were such a funny guy

Oh nice guys finish last, when you run out of gas,
Don't pat yourself on the back, you might break your spine

The next song is just my feelings lately. It reflects my current feelings better than I can. Here’s “It Ends Tonight” by The All-American Rejects:

Your subtleties
They strangle me
I can’t explain myself at all.
And all the wants
And all the needs
All I don’t want to need at all.

The walls start breathing
My minds unweaving
Maybe it’s best you leave me alone.
A weight is lifted
On this evening
I give the final blow.

When darkness turns to light,
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.

A falling star
Least I fall alone.
I can’t explain what you can’t explain.
You're finding things that you didn’t know
I look at you with such distain

The walls start breathing
My minds unweaving
Maybe it’s best you leave me alone.
A weight is lifted
On this evening
I give the final blow.

When darkness turns to light
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Just a little insight won't make this right
It’s too late to fight
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.

Now I’m on my own side
It’s better than being on your side
It’s my fault when you're blind
It’s better that I see it through your eyes

All these thoughts locked inside
Now you’re the first to know

When darkness turns to light
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Just a little insight won't make this right
It’s too late to fight
It ends tonight,
It ends when darkness turns to light
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Just a little insight won't make this right
It’s too late to fight
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Tonight, Insight
When darkness turns to light,
It ends tonight.

Well, so that is what I have to say about 2006. Hopefully 2007 ends up better than 2006 seems to have for me. I'm not sure if I am going to make any kind of resolution for myself. If I end up making one, I will be sure to post something about it.