Blogger should have private posting.

Maybe it would be nice if Blogger had some kind of "friends list", so to speak, where you could post entries and give the viewing-rights to certain people. There isn't any form of "optional" private-blogging on Blogger (except making your entire blog private, which is not what I'm looking for). I suppose the lack of optional private-posting is both good and bad. Afterall, if you're gonna say it, say it. If not, don't get a blog.

But I dunno... some days you wanna talk about things that aren't something you want to broadcast. Or you just want to branch completely off topic. Or vent or cry (okay, I don't cry but I do vent). Why put your regular readers through that? Other blogging services provide this option, even YouTube does something similar. Maybe one of these days they'll add it as a feature, but who knows.

Friday I had a date in Lincoln (I know you all wanna hear about it, but you're not gonna) and then met Ashley at her house. Tabby (Ashley's 10-(or 11)-month-old daughter) was sleeping so we talked and caught up a little while we waited for her to wake up. We went shopping afterwards, etc. After Derek (Ashley's husband) got home, Ashley and I drove to this vegetarian restaurant in downtown Lincoln called Maggie's Vegetarian Vittles.

And the damn place closes at 3:00! What kind of deal is that? I thought Friday/Saturday nights were supposed to be the busiest time for restaurants. And they're not even open on the weekends! This going to drive me nuts. If I don't get to eat there someday, I will scream. I checked out their website and the food looks/sounds freakin awesome. I realize they're probably a small place, but even Dazy Maze was open better hours than that.

Anyway, Ashley and I went to The Oven instead for some Indian food. It was amazing, as I expected. And the service! Wow, ya know, I really need to find a new Indian place in Omaha, because I see now that the place I frequent here has the worst service imaginable. I thought maybe it was supposed to be like that, but I just didn't know any better. Service at The Oven was both immediate and pleasant, so now I know that I've been going to a really lousy place here in Omaha (not gonna name names!).

We got the stuffed paratha (whole wheat bread, stuffed with peas and potato and baked in the Tandoor) for an appetizer, which was very tasty. And then I went to order my usual bengan bearta (roasted eggplant sauteed with ginger, garlic, spices, and potatoes), but they only serve it on Sundays! Whyyyyyy? Oh well, it forced me to try something new. So, I got the alo chole (chick peas and potatoes cooked in onion and garlic), which was to die for and I'm glad I tried something new finally. Although I have to say I still love bengan bearta the best, because the alo chole was just not spicy at all. When I go to eat Indian, I want my mouth pleasantly burning throughout the entire experience. Bengan bearta does this job perfectly.

I'm most likely going back to Lincoln tomorrow with Nadine and Joe, just to go shopping at this place that has a really great clearance/sale going on. So that's my next chance to go to Maggie's (if I can convince Nadine and Joe to go). Hopefully on our way back we can stop at the Nebraska Crossing outlet mall too. It's been so long since I've been there, all I can remember is that it was the most ghetto mall on earth. But yeah, so that will be fun. I haven't been on a roadtrip (haha, it's only 45 minutes) with anyone else for years. When I drive anywhere I'm always by myself, singing extremely loudly to my mix CD's.

Uhm. Well... I guess that's all I'm going to say today. Sorry folks.

Mind your manners.

On a Friday night, Echo and I get to Eli's Bar & Grille early (as usual) and hang around waiting for it to pick up. Echo is drinking beer and I'm fairly sure there were a couple jagerbombs in there too. I'm the sober driver, so I'm drinking a Diet Coke and trying to convince Echo to go ask this cute guy to dance with her. She and I both know that when I'm not drunk, I'm not gonna dance. So basically she's on her own unless she finds a dude (which not hard to do for Echo at Eli's!).

So, I see this really cute guy "wearing a nice shirt", standing by himself just off of the dance floor. That's my thing... I seek out the guys wearing nice shirts and then nag at Echo to go talk to them. To me, a nice shirt says they probably have a job. In reality, all it means is that they spent $4 on a clearance-bin dress shirt at Wal-Mart in order to pick up chicks that are a gullible as I am.

A couple jager-bombs later, Echo is brave enough to approach him and ask him to dance. Mr.Manners-Wearing-Nice-Shirt very politely declines and says he is waiting for someone. Annoyed, she comes back to her chair next to me at the bar and says, "God!" I'm annoyed too and I want a candy bar, so I suggest we drive over to the gas station around the corner. Echo goes in and heads to the back to go to the restroom, wherein she literally runs into this cute guy that I named Lawnmower Boy. After we head back to Eli's, we notice that cute Lawnmower Boy has come in too. Small world! Or should I say, small parking lot.

About 5 minutes after we sit down, the Mr.Manners-Wearing-Nice-Shirt that Echo approached earlier comes up to us and politely asks if he can sit with us. He politely says that he isn't from around here and would like to just hang out with us because we seem really nice. He politely sits down. (Notice I'm describing him as "polite" quite a bit. That's because he's freakin way too polite. Like, disturbingly polite.)

Extremely polite introductions are made. His name is Marshall, who we would later dub "Marshall Manners". (God I'm clever.) He says that he's waiting for his girlfriend to show up. He just finished taking her and her friends out to dinner (he paid for everyone) and she asked him to meet her here.

Marshall Manners tells us that he works on an oil rig down in Texas Louisiana or something like that. His company pays for his commute back to Omaha once or twice a month. And all his meals, entertainment, cab rides (his car stays in Texas Louisiana), and all other expenses while he's here. If this isn't unbelievable enough, the guy has travelled all over the world with this job and his accent is just plain hilarious.

He sounds like Keanu Reeves as the surfer-dude/moron from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, mixed with Hugh Grant's ultra-polite British accent, and then finally mixed in with Matthew McConaughey's Stoner/Southern accent. So, a Duuuuuuude-British-Southern accent.


It turns out later that evening that his girlfriend has ditched him for "an old friend"... to go see a movie about boxing. Yes, the 'old friend' is a guy, yes that was her oh-so-believable story, and YES, he actually believed it. And she doesn't even call to tell him she's ditching him. He has to call her a couple times wondering where the hell she is (super politely) until she picks up, and I can hear him being a complete doormat while he's on the phone with her. What kind of girl is this?! And more importantly, what kind of moron is he?

Echo still wants to dance and she's pretty tipsy at this point. And damn Marshall Manners is just plain boring yakkety yakking away, so I don't blame her when she goes off to dance with Lawnmower Boy that she has previously ran into at the gas station. Meanwhile, I sit and talk with Marshall, who really seems to be The Nicest Guy on Earth and also The Biggest Pushover. Echo and the cute guy come back after a little while and I hear that the guy does miscellaneous landscaping work. Uhm, okay. I always wonder if that's true or just a cover-up for "mows lawns".

So, before Echo leaves again to continue dancing with Lawnmower Boy, she hears from Marshall Manners that he's planning on taking a cab home (remember, he takes cabs everywhere because his car is in Texas Louisiana). Now, let me give you a little background on this: One of us is always the drunk, the other always drives. The drunk one always volunteers us to give rides home to whatever strangers we happen meet throughout the night.

I do it all the time: "Echo Echo Echo (poking her) , we have to take [complete stranger we just met] home. They shouldn't drive. Really, Echo. We have to take them home, okay? Echo, okay?" So, Echo tells him we will take him home. In fact, she is forced to insist because of course Mr. Manners doesn't want to accept at first. He finally does, and I give Echo a look like, "UHMMMM, what did you just do?!" which she doesn't notice because she's leaving to dance.

Well, going to Eli's as often as we do, you start to notice that literally everyone there gets plastered as the night goes on. A group of girls were drunkenly buying a round of shots near Marshall and me, and accidentally ordered an extra. This is not unusual for drunk people to miscount their own group of friends. They shoved it in my face at first, but when I refused they gave it to Mr. Manners.

Marshall Manners: What is it?
Extremely drunk girl: I dunno, alcohol?
Marshall Manners: Golly gee. (or something similar, in a Duuuude-British-Southern accent)

After he took the shot I could tell he was getting quite drunk. This actually made him talk more. Blah blah blah. I sip my Diet Coke and mentally record his accent because it is frickin strange. Meanwhile, Echo is off dancing with Lawnmower Boy.

Last call comes around and the three of us leave. Marshall Manners politely gets into the backseat of my car, while Echo sits up front next to me. As we drive, we're asking Marshall bluntly why the hell he's still with his inconsiderate girlfriend. I'm blunt because, well, I usually am, but Echo is the bad kind of blunt... DRUNK BLUNT. Somehow the conversation leads there, and Marshall confides quite seriously that his girlfriend had a form of cancer a while back and cannot have children. I'm not even sure how this got brought up, but he told us.

For reasons unknown to me, this makes Echo laugh. Yes, Echo laughed at cancer. That's when I realize that I may in fact be going to hell just by association. Mind you, she's a little drunk, but I scold her with an "Echo!" though this doesn't seem to stop her. I think she thought he was kidding or something, I have no idea.

But this obviously doesn't phase Mr. Marshall Manners, who is still a little drunk, and when we stop at his house to drop him off, he leans in from the backseat and gazes at Echo and says "You have such beautiful eyes" and touches her cheek.

Okay... So let's break down the logic here: You're not gonna hit on the girl that patiently listened to you yammer on all night long and drove your drunk ass home. You're hitting on the girl that laughs at cancer. OKAY THEN.

Thus concludes yet another completely insane night at Eli's! Hope to see you all there next time. Believe me... it will be interesting.

Nintendorks visits Jen's crappy blog!

Whoa. Chris (ChrisV82) of Nintendorks fame visited my blog entry about the Wii launch and left a comment! I immediately IM'd Nadine about this and she was almost as excited as I was, if not more. Although I'm not going to take her suggestion to cyber-stalk him, I do appreciate her enthusiasm.

ChrisV82 said...

If you're looking forward to the Wii, but also a little curious about Nintendo's strategy regarding the Wii, take the time to read this article. It certainly got my juices pumping, so to speak. It's nice to think that not only will the Wii have some great gameplay, but it may revolutionize the industry.

2:18 AM, September 26, 2006

I read the article, which is horribly long (9 pages!?!) but worth reading. For more Nintendo-related news and quite a bit of sarcasm, visit Nintendorks.com.

On the phone yesterday:

Nadine: "So, what's wrong with him?"
Jen: "I don't know, I think he's actually too nerdy. Even for me."
Nadine: "What, is he the Pokemon Champion of the World?"

Make dating fun for everyone.

Everyone knows dating sucks. So why is it that we have to do it? Can't we just skip that step? (Cartoon from a blog called I could take over the world.)

Googling the words "dating sucks" randomly (I get frustrated, okay?!) will get you this strange Craig's List entry, which I edited and will post for you now:

How to [Screw] with First Dates

• (For men) Tag on real sardonic "for a girl" to all your compliments, as in, "That skirt looks really nice on you... for a girl."
• Constantly hint that you are an alien, as in "Oh, that reminds me of Zorkog 4... uh... I mean Venice."
• Greet date with gifts:
  
• a) a stack of wrestling magazines
• b) your dirty laundry
• c) black orchids--the flower of death
• d) a bag of marbles.
• Refuse to veer conversation away from Tom Cruise.
• Excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, come back sopping wet, offer no explanation. Periodically squeeze your clothes out as the date continues.
  
• Eat only the parsley at dinner, lament the wasteful excessive meat and potatoes garnish.
• Fill pants with mulch, let a little fall out from time to time, whisper, "Oh no, it's happening again." Crying is optional.
  
• Upon meeting her, scrape finger across her shoulder, taste it and say, "You'll do."
• Wear a Members Only jacket, jams, and a Spuds MacKenzie hat. Make references to '80's culture as if it were topical, e.g. "Have you seen that new 'Pretty in Pink' movie?"
• Greet date with the classic "Give me five, up high, down low, you're too slow." Shooting her the double finger-guns is optional.
  
• Repeatedly use the word "milkweed" as an adjective, as in "This has been really milkweed."
• Boast about your ligament strength.
• Give her fake but believable information like:
• a) Paul Newman has a clubfoot,
• b) Frank Lloyd Wright designed this restaurant,
• c) Baboons are the only other species that engages in oral sex.
• Rub hands together and smile fiendishly as you talk.
• Two words: male perm.
• Four words: wear a name tag.
• Put parmesan cheese in your coffee. Complain to the waiter/waitress that your coffee "tastes a little cheesy". Repeat when fresh coffee is brought to you.
  
• When reviewing check, using your fingers to count, calculate with deadpan concentration.
• Every time your date begins to speak,
• a) open up a book
• b) yawn
• c) vomit.
• In an accusing tone, constantly compare your date unfavorably to Gollum, as in, "Gollum didn't smoke."
• If he/she leaves for the bathroom, switch
  
• a) tables
• b) clothes
• c) hairstyle
• d) gender.
• Attempt to do napkin origami. Fail. Be ruthlessly hard on yourself with "I suck"s and "I'm such a loser!"s.
• When he/she orders, shake head and smirk. If they inquire what the problem is, just laugh an intensely sarcastic, "No, good choice. Really."
• Speak all your statements with an interrogative inflection?
• Respond at entirely inappropriate times with "Is that a threat or an invitation?" or "Do the math."
• After successfully cutting meat, exclaim proudly, "I am the sh*t." Do that "raise the roof" gesture.

I KNEW IT. My dates have been memorizing this list! Those bastards.

Ahem. For my designer friends, check out: The Patron Saints of Graphic Design... very cute. And TechTales: a site about the idiots that call in to tech support.

I was going to write about emotional abuse, but who wants to hear about that? (Wait, wasn't that going to be my whole point anyway?)

Disclaimer: do not read.

10:59 AM nadine: YOU ARE STILL ALWAYS KEEPING ON WITH THE MOVING THING WITHOUT TELLING ME FIRST [refering to me switching gmail accounts back and forth]

jen: i'm blogging, i gotta be on my jenomaha gmail account.

jen: you weren't talking anyway.
jen: whiner

nadine: OH WELL THEN, FINE

nadine: YEA WELL YOU ARE A WEINER

11:00 AM nadine: BEAT IT

jen: nadine, you are a sick woman.

jen: don't make me blog this.

nadine: HEY AT LEAST YOU TOLD ME THIS TIME [oops, i forgot to ask her last time i blogged our chatlog]

jen: oh wahh, it wasn't that bad was it?

11:03 AM nadine: NO

jen: i censored out the parts where you talked about murdering bunnies

nadine: YOU ARE insane

jen: naw i'm kiddin, i know you love bunnies

jen: BUNNIIIIIIIESSSSS

jen: that's what you say

nadine: I KNOW

jen: squealingly, nadine.

nadine: I HAVE TO PEE SO DONT TALK TILL I COME BACK

33 minutes

11:38 AM nadine: YELLOW

11:39 AM jen: hi, be funny so i can blog it

jen: you should really be funny on command.

nadine: YOURE FUNNY
jen: dude, i am only funny with you

jen: otherwise: unfunnyland

11:40 AM nadine: YOU SHOULD MAKE A BLOG AND LIKE ADD STUFF EVERY WEEK

jen: uhm.

jen: I DO.jen: thanks for visiting.

nadine: I MEAN, A BLOG WHERE YOU SAVE ALL THE FUNNY SHORT CONVO'S OR FUNNY THINGS WE ALL SAYnadine: YOU COULD POST THAT BETTY AND BOB CRAP MY ASS THING

nadine: AND THEN YOU ARE ALL LIKE WTF AND EVERYTHING

jen: that because it's CHAP MY ASS

nadine: OK THAT WAS ME BUSTING OUT LAUGHING ONCE AGAIN

nadine: IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE CRAP MY ASSnadine: STILL LAUGHING

11:42 AM jen: oops.

jen: just tell your coworkers you have tourette's

nadine: I'LL JUST TELL THEM YOU DO AND THEN THEY WILL THINK MORE OF ME

jen: "oh, that's so sweet of Nadine to be friends with the tard"

nadine: IT WOULD BE FUNNY IF SOMEONE HAD IM [instant message] TOURETTES

jen: brb, boss here

11:43 AM nadine: OK F*** IT ALL
jen: backnadine: OH YOURE BACK SUCKIT B****

jen: yeah, IM tourettes would be sweet HOT DAMN F**** as hell

nadine: OH MY GOD

nadine: I WAS STOMPING MY FOOT ON THE GROUND

nadine: NOW EVERYONE KNOWS I AM INSANE nadine: THANKS

jen: Nadine, I think we're going to hell SH** F*** DAMN for talking like this

nadine: I KNOW, BUT WE WERE ALREADY GOIN THERE. nadine: HOT F*** IT SUCK A** B**** DAMN

nadine: A**.

jen: SLUT HELL

11:45 AM nadine: OK GOD. YOU CAN'T KEEP DOING THAT

jen: doing what?

jen: FISH GUTS F***.

nadine: TOURETTING

jen: Oh.

nadine: STOP TOURETTING, I CAN'T KEEP LAUGHING OUT LOUD, PEOPLE WILL WONDER EVEN MORE

11:46 AM jen: Too late, Nadine, accept your fate.

After doing some censoring/editing to make it blog-ready...

11 minutes

12:16 PM jen: dude this is seriously offensive to people with tourette's
jen: and also anyone with feelings nadine: JUST PUT A DISCLAIMER

12:17 PM jen: WARNING: There are bitches instant messaging in this entry.

12:18 PM nadine: SOUNDS GOOD

nadine: PUT A WARNING THAT SAYS "'BIOHAZARDOUS' MAY BE CONTAGIOUS"

jen: sweet. disclaimers rule.

12:20 PM nadine: YES THEY DO

Yet another random update.

Happy Saturday, people.

I hope you've all noticed the new list of links (Go Here Too!) that I've added to the side bar right thurr. It's some good stuff, I tell ya.

Also, I've signed up at Vox to check out their blog services. Vox is invitation-only (kinda like how gmail is) and provides over 150 different templates (and growing)!! That means I would never get tired of the appearance of my blog, and I don't have to put forth any effort designing anything myself. But that's all I know about them so far. It could very well be that is all they have to offer, which would suck.

I'm starting a different kind of blog at Vox in order to test out their services. It's just gonna be about clothes/shoes/junk that I buy or have (so basically, not of interest to anyone but me). Kind of a shopping blog. I'm not saying I'm going to switch from Blogger, because gawd knows I love Google. But I am definitely going to be doing some research, and I'll let you know if I make any changes. I might even post the link here after I get established, but I highly doubt it's going to be interesting, so perhaps not.

Not much else to report... I'm quite bored and/or boring.

Updates from the Beta Blogger Buzz:

Two major bugs: Blogger users unable to comment on beta blogs and beta users unable to comment on Blogger blogs... have been well and truly keelhauled.

— Pete [09/19/2006 07:39 PM]

This is really good news because I'm sick of viewing an awesome blog and being unable to comment. I could leave anonymous comments, but often times people restrict you from being anon. So, yeah, this is really great news! I can finally say 'hi'.

In other news, online dating sucks. But check out this hilarious blog... I found this blog via Nate is a blog's favorite links (Nate is also a riot, check this out... and that's not all folks). Anyway, back to online dating: check out the Dating Profile of the Day. Every day it features an eligible bachelor's quote or profile highlights from online dating sites, plus the extremely witty commentary from the blog's writer, Mimi. She keeps her entries short and sweet (unlike me) and so it's a breeze (and a joy) to read through her entire blog in one sitting. I'd say this one is my favorite so far (original link here):

Bachelor #74 Mr. Hy-Gene

"I wear deoderant every day, whether I need to or not."

Now, don't write and tell me
I took this out of context.

What context could this possibly belong in?!

I even tried to take it out of context and it kept falling right back into the paragraph with the rest, which, trust me - you don't want to hear.

43 Things is not right for me.

Before I started this blog, I had signed up at 43 Things. I swear, I'm just asking for trouble. After I started the blog, I kinda forgot about my account there. Like, I went back yesterday for the first time a month and there were cobwebs everywhere.

In case you're curious, 43 Things is an online community of goals/dreams/hopes. You make a list of "things you want to do", others can "cheer you" in your efforts, you can write entries about your progress or failures, and then you can mark them off when you complete your task.

Here's the list that I have completely abandoned:

• Do Tae Bo everyday for a month (I have nightmares about this.)
  
• Be less shy (wtf, this will never happen.)
  
• Buy a Nintendo Wii (the only realistic goal on this list. wiiiii.)
  
• Learn how to cook more vegetarian recipes and to generally become a better vegetarian (Cooking? Change to: "marry a vegetarian chef" or even "learn how not to burn things in the microwave")
  
• Get involved with animal rights (Where do I start?!)
  
• Go from vegetarian to vegan (Yeah, when I can afford it.)
  
• Fall in love (This one's a toughie.)
  
• Plan my wedding (Okay, might have to fall in love first. And I don't mean with the freakin dress.)
  
• Never get divorced (I could actually accomplish this one! Because if you never get to get married... you never get divorced!)
  
• Get a bachelor's degree (I'll be able to afford the vegan lifestyle before I can afford this.)
  
• Own a Mac (Next big purchase after the Wii. Likely: 8 years from now.)
  
• Get a tattoo (Next time you see me I'll have a turtle in sunglasses and red high-tops shooting double finger-guns tattooed on my forehead.)
  
• Build an online portfolio (Like: Flashbunny or Dave Warnke or Rob Dobi or PressTube or Andreas Gysin or even Invasion Creations.)
  
• Make a difference (LAME.)
  
• Read every book I own (Change to: "Get rid of some freaking books")
  
• Take more pictures (Even more possible blackmail? No thanks.)
  
• Wake up when my alarm clock goes off (FAIL.)
  
• Have Strong Bad answer my email (I'm not worthy!)
  
• Identify 100 things that make me happy besides money (half of my list involves things I need to buy... WITH MONEY.)
  

Anyway, that's my mostly unrealistic 43things.com list. I highly recommend this site if you are the type who likes to set goals and then abandon them. Oh, I'm sure there's lots of people on there that enjoy it too. They accomplish things and are dedicated and junk... hell maybe they even try. Who knows what sort of crazy people there are in this world? Tsk tsk, always making plans and then actually following through... wtf? Sheesh.

Melodramatic fools.

2:29 PM nadine: HEY! make me feel better darnit. gees

jen: huh? what's wrong?

2:34 PM nadine: just gees you know

nadine: joe [nadine's boyfriend] got flirted with by hot girls, i even saw them.nadine: and i only get flirted with by losers and people with missing teeth and the like. its a BUNCH OF BULLLLLLLLLLLLL

2:35 PM jen: hot girls? yeah right. he's lying.

nadine: didn't you read what i wrote, i saw them

nadine: you didn't read what i wrote

nadine: i want somethin good to eatnadine: don't make me eat your face.

2:37 PM jen: those sluts

2:39 PM nadine: you made me bust out laughing

nadine: you can't do that nadine: i am in a cubicle

jen: oh crap

jen: now YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS

nadine: i open the window and then all i see is
nadine: 'those sluts'

jen: you need to brand Joe somehow.

jen: ON HIS FOREHEAD

2:42 PM nadine: OR JUST HIS WRISTS AND MINE TOO

nadine: I'LL JUST TOW HIM AROUND EVERYWHERE AND WATCH HIM LIKE A WEIRDO

jen: i'll buy you one of those baby-leashes

And then later on...

jen: www.wtf.com

3:16 PM nadine: I CAN'T GO ANYWERE NOW, I AM AT WORK

jen: lol. no i meant www. WTF .com

jen: nevermind. i'm not funny apparently.

nadine: YOU MEAN WWW.WTF.COM

nadine: OR WWW.WTF.COMEONNOW.COM

jen: wtfdude.com/illkickyourbitchass.htm

3:18 PM nadine: WWW.GOAHEADTHEN.GOV/SUCKIT/JENASS.JPG

3:19 PM nadine: BEAT THAT

jen: jenass.jpg?! who sent you that?

3:21 PM nadine: HA HA HA

nadine: MELODRAMATIC FOOLS

jen: uhm

3:22 PM jen: nadine, you're not Green Day

15 minutes

3:38 PM nadine: YOU ARE NOT THEM

nadine: YOU CAN'T JUST SWITCH LIKE THAT [referring to me switching from one to gmail account to another and back again multiple times]

jen: WATCH ME

nadine: YOU WILL WATCH YOURSELF IF YOU DO IT AGAIN

jen: hahaha

3:40 PM jen: i just did it again, tar

nadine: DOOOOOOO EEEEEEET AGAAAAIIIINNNNN

jen: uhm, no.

nadine: I KNEW IT

jen: what?

3:41 PM nadine: YOU THINK I AM FAT

jen: wtf?!

jen: nadine you are doing drugs today? no more cubicle crack.

nadine: NO. ARE YOU

jen: don't make me make you laugh out loud uncontrollably and embarrass yourself in front of all your new co-workers

3:43 PM

nadine: YOU ARE A NEW COWORKER

jen: uhm. jen: actually i'm not.

I think that guy just got dumped.

I drove to Papillion/LaVista/Whatever to the Baker's there to get those Hinder tickets (sold out), and I get out of my car and hear that "Calling all angels" song by Train blaring from the car parked right next to mine. I glance into the car and have to do a double take. There is a guy, about 18 or 19, sitting in the driver's seat holding a spoon, and he's digging into this gallon bucket of mint chocolate chip ice cream that is sitting in his lap, while Train is crooning over his car stereo. Wtf? So, I came back out after not getting the concert tickets, and the guy is still there eating ice cream, and now the song has changed to Michelle Branch. People are too strange sometimes.

So, I tell Jesse about this and I joke, "I should have asked him if he was on his period" and to this he replies, "That's not funny, maybe he has cancer." Wtf, okay way to shut me up.

I don't really have any interesting news other than that (yes, the thing about the boy eating a gallon of ice cream in his car was my interesting news). It's been a long week so far and it's only Wednesday.

So, I'm gonna ramble a little.

Echo randomly got me these cute socks, along with another cute pair that is black with white skulls on it. Also, I got these totally sweet new shoes for only $12 at Wal-Mart. Yes, the shoes are cheaply made and will probably crap out on me in a couple months, but just look at them. They are so tacky! I love it! I was showing them off to my boss Tom and he was like, "Are those Vans?" Tsk. You fool, Vans are way cuter than this and also much better quality. But these Wal-Mart shoes are 100% Man-Made Materials, which has sometimes been difficult for me to find in cute shoes without paying a fortune for them. Well, except at Wal-Mart, since most of the shoes there are cheaply made.

Which brings me to another point. Why is leather so expensive compared to synthetic materials, whereas a pound of hamburger is 3 to 4 times cheaper than a box of 4 soy burger patties. I guess there is plenty of meat to go around, and not enough hide. Supply and demand is retarded.

After over 3 years of not wearing my most favorite shoes (they just sit and take up space in my closet), I'm finally ready to donate all of my Vans and other non-synthetic shoes to the thrift store. I have to say, it's been really hard for me to choose between my love of animals and my love of shoes. I haven't been wearing them, but I also haven't been able to give them away until now. On this site, I found a handful of shoe styles that Vans makes that are cruelty-free and also not ugly, so I think I'll get myself a pair or two for my birthday. (Pictured left are some vegetarian Vans that are pretty freakin sweet.)

(Boring) Blog-related updates: I've been using SiteMeter since September 1st and have had 284 visitors since. Except it doesn't tell me how many are repeat visitors I'm getting and often times it doesn't count the visit duration at all. (I've tested this myself.) Not to mention, I get strange location info about each visitor that I am not sure is even remotely correct. So, maybe people are coming here, but are they actually reading? And are they coming back?

So I found this Bravenet counter that is also free (now at the bottom of this page), but which appears to be more accurate (so far). It tells me about returning visitors and it's very customizable. Until I choose which counter is best for my needs, I'm keeping them both on here.

Also, I've been reading a lot of really great blogs lately, so I'm gonna post some of my favorites in a new links column on the right there sometime later today when I have time to do it (ohhh the oh-so-difficult task of cut-and-paste). That way if you get bored with me, you can go see people that are actually interesting.

Moving on... I am craving Olive Garden salad, damnit. Someone please go with me for the love of gawd. :D I could very possibly cry if I don't get to go. Or at least I may buy a gallon of ice cream and eat it in my car in the parking lot of Baker's. Friends don't let friends eat right out of the gallon while sitting in their car. Oh, so sad.

This has been perhaps the most boring entry to date. Thanks for skimming!

You can have your Mario and eat it too.

I really want this wedding cake that I saw today at the Wonderland blog. (they post original link there; if you want it you have to go there.)

Yes, that is Mario and Princess Peach on top the cake there. Sweet.

I should use this image as an effective dating tool. After dating a guy for a couple weeks, I immediately show him this photo and say: "If you ever want to marry me (someday), this will have to be our wedding cake." That way, I weed out all the guys that:

• A. do not want to get married (someday),
• B. aren't capable of putting up with my extreme nerdiness, and
• C. can't take a damn joke.
  

Three birds with one stone, people! That is how you do it. Ladies, pay attention.

No, I really am not that bad. But if it were made of legos... OH MAN, look out.

These are such small pics, but the full-size photos are the best. Such detail! Click on the pictures to view the full-sized images in all their glory. And seriously, check out how smug Mario is... he's such a pimp.

I decided to finally try out Second Life after hearing about it off and on at the Wonderland blog. Then I saw this site about all the design, shopping, and fashion involved and I just had to sign up. It is "a 3D online digital world imagined, created, and owned by its residents" according to the Second Life official website.

I'm not sure that I need yet another internet-based addiction, but what the hell it's free membership (with limitations?). I'll decide later if I want to pay for it to own land and whatever else it restricts you from for being a cheap bastard. From what I've read, it is kinda like The Sims except way better. I've also heard that the community thus far is mostly female, since it has so many chick-friendly aspects to the game. Like, for example, you can shop and buy things and get cute outfits and junk! Like, totally, for sure.

I'm thinking there's more to the game than just shopping though. It's the design and 3D modelling aspects I'm most interested in. You can create all your own items, clothes, etc. I'm not sure how and at what price though. It seems there ought to be a catch somewhere that says I need to first pay 8 thousand dollars. I'll let you know how it goes.

On another note, I'm going to buy tickets to Hinder for Echo and I after I get off work today. Money is very tight but it doesn't stop me from having fun. I'm probably a glutton for punishment.

I have some good financial news for a change though: I'm two payments away from paying off my back surgery bills. Yes, just two payments. I still can't believe it's been well over 2 years. Now if only my student loans could get paid off that quickly!

I blame the rum and coke.

Jen: WHAT ARE YOU DOING
Jen: SHUT IT
Jen: hi
Jen: i'm very drunk
Jen: hi
Jen: WHERE ARE YOU
Jen: hell0o
Jen: hi? call me my phone is downstrairs
Jen: don' do it
Jen: hello'?
Jen: ok
Jen: ok bye!
Jen: hat is cute but no
Jen: okay echo is here but she hates it but i like it PIMP HAT yo wiki wiki wild wild west don't hate me bye bye okok we went to shark club and i had lilke 7 rum and cokes CALL ME DAMNIT ###-#### damnit

Okay. Apparently drinking 7 rum and coke's and 3-4 Miller Lites makes me want to instant message at 1:25 AM and be embarrassingly obnoxious and retarded. Meanwhile, Echo is standing behind me laughing because it takes me multiple tries to type each letter.

Dear readers, just be thankful I didn't decide to blog instead.

U.S. Launch for Nintendo Wii.

The excruciatingly long wait has ended: The Nintendo Wii will be released in the U.S. for $249.99 on November 19th, 2006.

This announcement is a few days old since I'm lazy. I learned this from checking the WiiReleaseDate.com countdown multiple times a week, but mainly from the breaking news at Nintendorks.

You can also check out the hilarious tongue-in-cheek "Wii Fact Sheet" from Nintendorks. It's purposely unhelpful and more than likely purposely funny. Nintendorks updates promptly whenever it's necessary (translation: infrequently). They truly are the best source for half-serious Nintendo news out there. In the same vein, here's a list of the Wii's potential launch titles, cut-and-pasted lovingly (see also: stolen) straight from Nintendorks.com:


First Party (* denotes temporary name)

• Battalion Wars II
• Big Brain Academy*
• Excite Truck
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (alternate title: File Can't Be Found)
• Super Mario Galaxy*
• WarioWare: Smooth Moves (alternate title: Uncomfortable Touching)
• Wii Sports

Third Party

• Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Disney's Chicken Little: Ace in Action
• Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi 2 (alternate title: Do You Still Care About DBZ?)
• Madden NFL 07
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (alternate title: Post-Penultimate Confederacy)
• Rayman Raving Rabbids (alternate title: Everybody Loves Rayman)
• Red Steel
• Sonic and the Secret Rings (alternate title: Sonic and His Three Wives)
• Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz
• Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (alternate title: Tony Hawk's Obligatory Wii Game)
• Elebits
• Trauma Center Second Opinion (alternate title: Yes, You Do Have a Brain Hemorrhage)

I was seriously hoping that Nintendo would rush to put Animal Crossing Wii through as a launch title, like as a lovely little surprise bonus for the AC fans out there, but alas it is still scheduled for a 2007 release in Japan, and I can't seem to even find a US date.

More Nintendo updates if and when I feel like it!