My most heartfelt apologies to all of you who I slighted this evening, particularly jiltos and depotmode.

I simply quit.

The mental and physical exhaustion that I have been fighting for weeks now has finally caught up to me. I came home last night, ate a quick meal, and went to bed at 6:30. I had every intention of trying to get up to go dancing, and actually got out of bed around 3 AM. At this time, noticing that my cellular phone is decidedly void of messages, I reboot it. I am then inundated with a good 20 or so text messages.

I have decided that I am no longer using AIM on my phone. It screws things up too badly.

So anyway…for oversleeping…for not getting messages that were being sent until well after the fact…I apologize, and hope you can forgive the fact that I have just pushed myself too hard recently, and had to pay the price for it tonight.

I am absolutely and completely stuffed.

For the third day in a row I have had lunch purchased for me here at work. On Wednesday and Thursday we went to this nifty little place called the Brunchery. Had quiche and spinach salad on wednesday, and a turkey sandwich with cheddar on a croissant with a spinach salad yesterday. Today the head of the I.T. department bought everyone mexican food. Had some vegetable fajitas with refried beans and rice. That was about the best thing I could find, points wise, on the menu. I avoided getting into the tortilla chips, and I didn’t order anything with cheese and meat. There WAS sour cream and guacamole for my fajita toppings. Oh well. Can’t be perfect in everything.

Lots and lots of food. I ordered the lunch portion. I can’t imagine how much the dinner size is. I feel slightly nauseous.

The light headed sensations continue. Almost fell in the hall last night, and have been swimmy on and off all morning. If I don’t start feeling better I may back out of The Castle tonight. I hate to do it to you two weeks in a row, depotmode, but I’m not really sure how well loud music, dancing and huge clouds of cigarette smoke are going to mesh with me feeling all stupid. I have passed out there once before. I really don’t want to do it again.

Announcing the first ever Critus.com contest!

Ok, so first of all I can’t take credit for this idea. Emotion Eric thought of it first, and I’m stealing it.

I’m having a “Decorate My Desk” contest.

My probationary period is up in two weeks here. To celebrate, I want to totally deck out my workstation, but I don’t want to do all of that hard work myself. So I’m turning to you, faithful readers. Send (or give) me something nifty to put around my work station. There are a few rules to this contest, however :

1) Noting obscene or in any other way inappropriate for display in a credit union.
2) Don’t send anything too valuable. As of August 5th, I’m going to be working from home 3 days a week. Not much point in putting expensive stuff here.

The winner, chosen by yours truly, will recieve his or her very own Geekspotting T-Shirt!

Ok, so maybe this is a totally lame idea. I just can’t think of anything cool to put on my desk.

It was pointed out to me last night that I haven’t talked about my relationship with netgoth much outside of my friends only posts. As a result, my post last night about the flowers may have come as a bit of a surprise to those of you who don’t have a live journal.

So I shall elaborate. In fact, I’ll go into even more detail than I have behind closed doors. The posts haven’t been hidden because of my desire to hide her. They have just been part of larger posts that have included more personal subjects.

Long and smooshy text follows

Whoa…

Quite accurate. Ganked from dawaioser

You are emotional and intense. When involved in a relationship, you throw your entire being into it. Nothing stops you; there are no holds barred. You are all-consuming and crave someone who is equally passionate and intense. You believe in total sexual freedom. You are willing to try anything and everything. Your supply of sexual energy is inexhaustible. You also enjoy mothering your mate.

What does your name mean?

I’d like to thank those of you who helped netgoth send me the flowers today. It was truly a special gift, made more so by the fact that my friends helped it to come about. I took a picture of them so I could share.

Flowers!

Whew!

Boy, that’s a relief.

There was a boy…
A very strange enchanted boy.
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea,
A little shy and sad of eye
But very wise was he.
And then one day,
A magic day, he passed my way.
And while we spoke of many things,
Fools and kings,
This he said to me,

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.”

– Nat King Cole

Mixing with your neighbors

Can’t really say I do. The closest I ever was with a neighbor is when Jody and I lived in the apartment next to thoemeringue. We would open the doors between the two apartments and basically wander back and forth between them at our leisure. Beyond that, I’ve never really gotten close to people I’ve lived near. I know a few of my neighbors at my current house, but hardly on anything beyond a passing hello on occasion.

A song that describes my life today

As The World Falls Down – David Bowie

Well, it was rather subtly (or not so much so) pointed out that I have missed three of these, so without further ado…

Patriotism. Discuss.

The American Heritage dictionary describes Patriotism as Love of and devotion to one’s country.

That being said, I think I’m more patriotic than most “flag wavers” out there.

Why? Because I love my country so much I want it to be a better place. Because I am not satisfied with the status quo. Because when I see us doing something that I know is wrong, I say something. Because as the years go by my eyes open a little wider every year. Because I see the comments of the “patriots.” I see the coldness in them. The condescension. The righteous indignation. The smarmy attitude that says “My country can do no wrong. Things are different now.” I see all that, and I fear for the future.

I love my country. I love the opportunities and the freedoms it has given to me. I love the land, and the people. The diversity. I love the fact that we have done so much in such a short amount of time. I love the fact that we are the upstarts of the world. The people who stood up and said “We aren’t going to be like you anymore. We’re going to be different. We are going to make a country were all people are free. We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

But I honestly think we are imploding. I believe that. It’s not some kind of party line, left wing, “get the republicans” out rhetoric. This country is falling apart, and it’s not because we took God out of the schools, and it’s not because of the “liberal media,” and it’s not because of the violence in Hollywood. It’s because we don’t care about anything except ourselves. The “humanitarian” efforts that we take are always associated with the bottom line. What’s the net worth to us, in dollars or political favors? When instead the question should be “what is the net worth to our humanity?”

No, Mr. President, I do not accept that you had “darn good” intelligence. No, I think you’re full of shit when you try and differentiate between Niger and Africa. No, I do not accept your intentions as true.

And I am a patriot.