I've been thinking vaguely about updating this blog for a while, now, but I kept putting it off. Partially because of the massive amounts of DON'T CARE emanating from nutang recently. I get much better feedback and support on the little tidbits I post on Facebook. And it makes me sad. Speaking of Facebook, I think a lot of my fuel for blogging in the first place was needing a place to tell stories and express myself a bit, but instead of making long posts with random minutia of my life, I just make short little posts on Facebook. Funny stories, reflections, that sort of thing. There's nothing really left for me to post here except stuff that I'm struggling with or working through, and frankly I'd just rather not. I have people in my life that I can talk to consistently to help me deal with that sort of thing, bringing it up here seems worse than useless.

Still, this serves as a decent way to keep track of my life (though I'm less and less inclined to actually trawl through my old posts) so I'll make a bit of effort.

France was amazing. I learned a few things.
# I hate French. Seriously. Plus I'm so friggin' tired of everyone asking me if I learned French. No. I learned enough to ask politely if someone speaks English. If I'm going to burn brain power learning a second language, I'm going to finish Spanish.
# The French seem more health-conscious, but everybody and his/her mother smokes constantly. Interesting trade-off
# Here in the USA, lots of people are religious, or at least spiritual, and willing to talk about it. But not many people are willing to challenge themselves and turn to follow God. Over in France, (and I suspect most of Europe,) people can be religious but in general people are extremely suspicious and protective of their religious or non-religious choices. However, from the people who do speak to us, more of them are earnest in getting right with God. Overall I ended up talking to roughly the same number of open people as I would have here. The difference was less wasted time talking to people who say they follow God but are stuck in their own ways. Refreshing.
# Pulp is actually not bad in soda.
# Dating can be difficult (I already knew this, but I learned it more intimately)
# I've got the best girlfriend ever.
# Hospitality from strangers is one of the greatest things ever. I met so many awesome people.
# Parks in the Southeast US need to step up their game.

In other news, I have a new, cheaper apartment. And two new roommates. It promises to be a grand time, now that we've finally settled into things.

I've been learning and growing quite a lot through my relationship with homegirl. A lot of it has to do with how to take care of her emotionally and spiritually. And the rest is mostly me facing up to my weaknesses and trying to be a better guy for her. We've sort of gotten past the "fun and games" stage (if such a thing exists) and hard questions are being asked. For example, I probably won't be staying in Atlanta much longer. I need to be thinking about where I go and how that affects us. Will she follow me? Can I make a choice that benefits both of us? So much pressureeee

Plus people keep asking about marriage and honestly I don't know at all how to take that. We haven't been dating THAT long, guys. It'll be eight months soon. Time flies I guess.

I'm thinking about a second tattoo. It has lots of circles. We'll see.

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I was in a totally happy, albeit bored, mood. And I wanted to take a picture outside. But I can't plug in the flood lights because Mom thinks that somehow I'll kill myself through electrocution.

It DID rain earlier today, (it's not anymore,) but think about this. The lights are going to be wet. OK. The outlet is dry. Both ends of the extension cord are dry. Doesn't it make sense that I can plug in the wet side first, then plug in the dry side?

Doesn't it make sense that electricity doesn't "short circuit" unless the new circuit is actually SHORTER? It's not going to bypass those nice metal contacts just because the plastic is wet.

I had a whole plan set up to get some pictures (I don't feel like explaining now), and I'd changed out of my normal clothes and everything, and she just says NO. wtf. If I'd said it was for homework, she'd let me climb out on the roof again. But NO, it's something I WANT to do instead of being TOLD to do it, and that's not a good enough reason.

That's why she never sees the product. If the effort isn't appreciated, then what's the point?

This reminds me of the time when I was doing this project at school. I ended up doing most of the work on the power point, and when I was showing it to her, she kept complaining that another boy's name came before mine on the title slide. Right off the bat, "Change the order, blah blah." I said no mostly because there's a difference between passive dislike and actively saying, "Hey, I think you're a jerk." It's called politics. Changing the name isn't a big deal, but we'd set them in alphabetical order to be fair. I'M not going to go behind someone's back. JERK!

I did doing most of it because I HAD FUN doing it, and she just won't take no for an answer. I ended up just shutting off the show, taking my flash drive, and going upstairs before the thing was even near half over. I don't think she would've gotten the point otherwise.

That was only a week ago. Apparently she's already forgotten.

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I've gotten back into the Super Smash Bros. craze, just in time for the third installment, BRAWL. I've got Melee on the GameCube, which I've moved to an upstairs TV (if I want, I can play them downstairs on the Wii.)

I want someone to play with, but my brother is far too good. Plus, everyone wants to play Call Of Duty 4 on the 360 downstairs. I'm all alone!

I'm going to go on an adding spree with my Sansa. You can't go wrong with Ratatat.

CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK

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My mom FORCED me to walk the dog because she thinks I need the exercise. Dude. Walking is not exercise. It doesn't get my heart pumping. It doesn't even make my calves burn. And she won't let me walk out of the neighborhood I've lived in for fifteen years! I am bored out of my skull. And it's a colossal waste of my time.

So you know what I did? I went for a 15-20 minute walk with the dog, turned off my phone, and came back an hour and a half later.

You probably think that's the dumbest thing ever. And it might be. But it was worth it to know that she went out looking for me and was freaking out.

I should've snuck in when she wasn't looking. But instead I called her like a normal concerned person who came into their house to find everyone missing.

I don't think she thinks before she responds to me. She just says no, like always.

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