Status Check

This is how I feel right now:

(My first embedded video and it’s just an audio.  Sorry!  But it’s the version I wanted.)

My new virtual friend…

So recently, I have started to re-engage in the social scene in this town.  It’s been over a year since I decided to leave town, quit drinking, change my life, etc.  Well, I didn’t leave town.  At least not physically.  But I did retract completely from my social world, and now I’m feeling my way back in, slowly.

I’ve been trying to get out at least one night a week–play trivia, go to a performance, volunteer, something… Last night I even hung out at my old bar for several hours to celebrate an old friend’s birthday, a first for me since I quit drinking.  I’ve been in bars, but I haven’t just camped out for an evening without something specific to do there.  All is going well and I feel like I’m finding a balance I’ve needed for so long.

But I’ve also recently developed another social scene.  I’ve discovered the wonders of Facebook, and the never-ending labyrinth of things to do there.  And, I’ve been spending a lot of my time engaged in chats with one particular guy.  M. and I went to college together, but we were never extremely close.  I remember him as a nice, funny, party boy, but that’s about all…  So I was very surprised the first time he contacted me through chat, but I was even more surprised by how interesting our weird online chat fests could be.  Better than a lot of conversations I’ve had in the past year.

So now I feel like I am having this new sort of relationship that I can’t figure out.  I’m much more open with him than I expect to be.  I look forward to communicating with him, and I like that it’s not just fluff.  We discuss everything.  Can I really be attracted to someone I haven’t laid eyes on in 10 years?

Now I just need a way to explain to everyone why I look like I’ve been on a bender even though I don’t drink.  I’ve been up all night on Facebook!

Favorite Videos at this Very Moment:

1. Old Gregg, from The Mighty Boosh
2. Craig Ferguson on Democracy and Duty – He is becoming one of my favorite people on the planet.  (He first impressed me with this monologue, which I found to be well-crafted and truly moving.)
3. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin – Brilliant!
4. Well, this is a really old one, but I can’t do a list of videos without the Betty Glover Library Workout Tape.
5. Jon Stewart on Republican Hypocrisy – Sure to be a classic!

Random Thoughts After 3 Days in Peace & Quiet:

• Cupcakes are awesome.  Yummier than cake and half the guilt!
• Catch and Release is not a great movie, but I loved it for the scenery.  Made me want to be in Montana NOW.
• A clean house is overrated.
• Sailing in Gustav is overrated.  But sailing will still be fun when I go next weekend, since I wimped out on this weekend.
• It’s a shame that Lauryn Hill has become whatever it is she has become, because The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill really is a great album.  I pulled it back out this weekend, along with 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of… (also one of the greats!), and I cannot stop dancing around my house.
• I still need to lose 5 to 10 pounds.  I think I want to buy a jump rope, because walking the puppy isn’t doing it for me.  She gets easily distracted, so we never get very far.
• I wonder if there are Latin ballroom classes anywhere in town?
• Facebook is crack.  Crack is whack.  Therefore, I am whack.
• Finally watched Black Snake Moan from start to finish.  Wow.  That’s all I’ve got to say about that for the time being.
• Um.  I cannot possibly keep up with all of the Palin pregnancy drama if it keeps up at this rate.  Too bad Palin opposed Sex Ed.
• Kinda loving Emiliana Torrini right now.
• I’ve invited a guy I barely knew in college to stay here for Homecoming.  Uh, what?!
• Found out today that another friend from college is in rehab for the second time this summer.  I can barely wrap my head around that, and then I start thinking about her poor son.  I cannot imagine what his life has been like so far.
• Played some crap poker this weekend, but at least I won.  Maybe I need to go to poker bootcamp.
• Talked to the crush for the first time in about a year.  Might see him next weekend.  He sounds miserable, so I’m not so sure I’m in the mood for that.
• Life isn’t all bad.  I’m very lucky.