Music Shuffle Monday (4.5.10)

Before we begin this week, I thought I'd share that I recently acquired a "new" iPod!

Hubby recently got a Droid that comes with a 16g micro-SD card and didn't see the need for his black 30g video iPod anymore, as he only has about 6g of music and would rotate out his movies on it. I learned he was thinking of selling it to an employee of his for $50 but was like "Wait! I have 6g Mini with a crack in the screen - your 30g is only like 2-3 years old! I have at least 10g's of music... can I have it?" So he said I could.

Using his iPod, we were also able to finally get all my music off my laptop and onto our desktop, so it's all in one place (combined we have almost 18g's of music, which I took the time to go through iTunes and clean it all up).

I'll still be keeping the icon of my classic blue iPod mini for this blog though and since it's so old, we'll probably just pass it onto a future child, as it still works just fine, serves its purpose as a basic mp3 player and I really doubt little kids can fill up a 6g mp3 player!


1. "Tonight" by Staind
To be completely honest, I don't remember this song. It's off Staind's 3rd "major-label" album "14 Shades of Grey" which was a weird album to begin with. I say this, because the first single - Price to Play - was pretty heavy, but the rest of the album was pretty soft and mellow and featured a lot more acoustics that we were used to from their previous albums. Listening to this song though, it's not bad. I recall seeing Staind live once, while promoting this album. Not the best concert I've been to... while they do have some fun "heavy" songs, they paired them with waaaaay too many "slower" songs and the audience kept losing interest. Having 1 song where the audience pulls out the lighters and sways is fine, having 3 in a row... no. You know it's bad when people stop moshing at a rock show and you're more interested in the conversations the people around you are having than the band onstage.

2. "Harry Truman" by Mindless Self Indulgence
As mentioned, I recently got a new iPod and this is one of those songs/albums I put on there that I hadn't really listened to before. I like MSI though - their stuff is upbeat and heavy and sometimes funny.

3. "A New Momentum" by Chevelle
This song is off Chevelle's latest album, "Sci-Fi Crimes." A lot of the songs on this album are completely open to interpretation. When asked what the lead single "Jars" was about, the band honestly had no clue! If you've liked Chevelle's previous albums though you'll probably enjoy this one just as much, as it's just more of the same.

4. "Ex's and Oh's" by Atreyu
Another "later" song by Atreyu. I like that they don't have nearly the same amount of "scream-o" in their songs nowadays that they did when they were first starting out. This song has a little, but you can still understand him and it doesn't really sound like he's puking into the mic so much!

5. "With or Without You" by U2
This is one of those songs that I have loved since who knows when! Really though, who DOESN'T like this song? It's also one of the few songs I can actually play part of the bassline of on my bass. I'll admit, I'm not a HUGE U2 fan, but I do like some of their songs and have a few of their CDs ("The Joshua Tree", "Achtung Baby", "Pop", and "All That You Can't Leave Behind"). I think the album this song is from, The Joshua Tree, is actually one of their best and a must-have for any music collection.

Pee-wee gets an iPad

I found this video online a few weeks ago and had a good laugh about it with my dad (remember in Flashback Friday a few weeks ago, where I mentioned dad used to watch Pee-wee's Playhouse with me every Saturday morning? Anything Pee-wee related I *have* to share with my dad), but since the iPad just came out this past weekend, I thought it was appropriate to share it on here!

In the video, Pee-wee Herman gets an iPad and is showing it off to all his Playhouse friends.

Pee-wee Gets An iPad! from Pee-wee Herman

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!!!

I'm looking forward to getting some hard-boiled eggs, Cadbury chocolate eggs, Starburst jellybeans, and Reese's peanut butter eggs at my parent's house, as they always put together candy baskets for my sister and I each year, and mom makes a couple dozen hard-boiled eggs.

For those not familar with why many celebrate Easter, from a Christian point of view, Easter is a celebration of Jesus rising from the dead after being crucified on the cross and paying for the sins we would commit in our lifetimes.

For those interested in learning more, feel free to read Luke chapters 22, 23, and 24, and I would LOVE to answer any questions you might have.

That is why we, as Christians celebrate Easter. Without the events that occurred, none of us would be able to go to Heaven, as we have all sinned. But God sent His only son, Jesus, to make the ultimate sacrifice and pay for our sins, offering us a new life through Him so that we can join Him in Heaven someday.

So if Easter is really supposed to be about Jesus, then what do eggs, chicks, bunnies, lilies and new clothes have to do with it?

Well that's simple really, as most symbolize new life.

• The hatching of eggs into a chick is a fresh, new life.
• The bunny is a symbol of abundant new life in ancient times, and reminds us of spring and new life.
• The white blossoms of lilies symbolize the purity of Jesus. Lilies, emerging from the earth in the spring, also symbolize new life and the resurrection of Christ.
• Wearing new clothes for Easter symbolizes new life offered through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So there you have it. Unfortunately though, the holiday has gotten quite commercialized and as the years pass, with the focus being more on the Easter Bunny, Easter Egg Hunts, and candy - people tend to forget the actual reason why we celebrate holidays like Easter and Christmas, so it's important to stop and take a moment to really ponder the meaning of why we celebrate a holiday and share with others.

I really don't get why it's so hard for some people to just have faith, believe and give it a chance - why are people so stubborn? 

My friend Nic, over at The Music Plays You, summed up my logic pretty well: "If I believe, and God exists – I’ve lived a good, fulfilling life, and I go to Heaven. If I believe, and God doesn’t exist – I’ve lived a good, fulfilling life, and I die. Now, if I don’t believe, and God doesn’t exist – I’ve lived a good, fulfilling life, and I die. In [those] options, I either go on to Heaven, or my life is over. But… if I don’t believe, and God does exist… well then, even if I lived a good and fulfilling life, I’m still doomed for hell. Even if we take all the finer points of religion out of the equation… I don’t know about you, but I really don’t feel like taking chances."

I just don't understand why some choose to take that risk - it's a risk I certainly wouldn't want to take! And it's sooo easy to make the decision.

True, the Bible can be a bit confusing and there's a lot of debate regarding how some of it relates to things of today, as it was written nearly 2000 years ago but the bottom line is, if you truly repent of your sinful nature, have faith and believe that God sent his only begotton son to die for us on the cross so that we might be with Him in Heaven someday and have eternal life, then we have nothing to fear. We put our trust in Him and spread His message of hope and love to others, living our lives as an example of His love (and not letting our sinful nature get the best of us). Most people in this world try to live good lives regardless - to some degree, most accept and try to live out The Golden Rule of the New Testament - "Do unto others as you'd have done unto you" - why can't you just put your trust, faith and belief in God and have it all? If turns out we were wrong all along, so what? We die, no harm done. At least we lived our lives, trying to follow Christ's example and believing in something that gave us a sense of strength to get through life and inspired us to live better lives.

Maybe it's because it's all I've known since I was really little, but I just really don't get why anyone would want to take their chances when it comes eternity and the afterlife.

I challenge you to pause for just a moment today and ask yourself, 
"Why do I celebrate Easter?"

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!
Don't get too sick from all the food and candy you might be eating today!

Animated Movies from the 80s

Growing up in the 80s, there were all sorts of movies us kids watched! From Animated Features to Family Films to even some more grown up movies that we as kids still loved because most of the adult content went over our heads and we thought the movies were just fun! To keep this post from getting too long, I'll be breaking it into 2-parts, with this week's installment focusing on Animated Features in the 80s.

Three of the most prominent non-Disney animated feature films in the 80s were An American Tail (aka The Fivel Mouse movie), The Land Before Time, and All Dogs go to Heaven - all directed and produced by Don Bluth.

In 1986's An American Tail (which is the first movie I can recall seeing in theaters), we are introduced to the Mousekewitzes, a Russian-Jewish family of mice, who decide to immigrate to America, however on their trip, son Fivel gets separated from his family in a storm and floats into New York on a bottle, where he searches the street for his family. He meets several other ethnic mice, including Irish Bridget and Italian Tony, whose gang are always battling against the cats that terrorize them. Eventually Fivel does find his family and all is good. This movie also spawned  the Grammy-winning hit song, "Somewhere Out There." The movie also spawned a 1991 sequel - Fivel Goes West - as well as a Saturday morning cartoon show based off the 2nd film and  a western attraction at Universal Studios Theme Park.

In 1988, dinosaurs were made popular again with the release of The Land Before Time. In this movie, dinosaurs roam the earth, however there is a great drought so they are in a hurry to find "The Great Valley" where it is believed lush greens and water are. Near the beginning of the film, a great "earthshake" occurs, separating Littlefoot (a baby "longneck") from his grandparents after his mother dies in a battle against Sharptooth - the T-Rex Lillian of the film - saving her young. Following the directions of his dying mother, Littlefoot begins to make the journey alone to The Great Valley, in hopes that he'll find his grandparents there. Along the way, he finds Cera - a bossy triceratops who got separated from her dad during the earthshake,  Ducky - a friendly "swimmer" (parasaurolophus) who is also alone, Petrie - a "flyer" (pterodactyl), and later on, Spike, a stegosaurus who hatches out of an egg and Ducky takes under her wing, deeming him like her brother. While Ducky, Petrie and Spike stay with Littlefoot the whole time, stubborn Cera keeps going off on her own, running into the group several times. They also have a few scary encounters with Sharptooth as they make their way to The Great Valley, having to band together to defeat him and rejoin their families. While this first movie was cute, and the first sequel wasn't too bad, there has been a total of 12 - 12! - sequels to this film. Call me crazy, but I think that's over doing it! I do remember collecting most of the Pizza Hut plastic puppet toys of the characters though - I had Littlefoot, Ducky and I think Petrie.

In 1989, we were given talking dogs in All Dogs go to Heaven. The synopisis from Wiki (which sums up the plot nicely): "Set in 1939, the film tells the story of two dogs, Charlie and his loyal best friend Itchy. Charlie, who is murdered by his gangster business partner Carface, forsakes his place in Heaven to return and take revenge. On his return he frees a young orphan girl, Anne-Marie, who Carface was holding captive because of her ability to talk to and understand animals (giving Carface insider information about whom to bet on in races). At first Charlie and Itchy intend on exploiting Anne-Marie's gift too, but they soon become attached to her and act as her protectors. Charlie learns that he will have to change his ways in order to get back into Heaven." This was a cute film, I loved doggies so naturally I loved this movie, and the little girl was cute too. I recall this one also spawned a sequel and a Happy Meal toy line as well (or was it at Wendy's?). While this one didn't do as well in theaters as Bluth's previous animated films (it opened the same day as Disney's The Little Mermaid - oops!), it did great on home video!

In 1988, Disney decided to get back in the game of animated movies and released Oliver & Company - animal, musical twist on Charles Dicken's classic story of Oliver Twist. Orange kitty Oliver is left alone in the city of New York after all his siblings get adopted but he doesn't. Alone and hungry, he meets a street dog named Dodger, whom he helps get some hotdogs with and follows him back to his hangout and meets the other dogs - Tito, Einstein, Francis and Rita - as well as their owner Fagan, a guy who owes a lot of money to loan shark Sykes, yet has no way to pay him back as the deadline approaches. During an attempt to steal car radios, Oliver gets left behind in a car and found by a rich little girl named Jenny, who's butler Winston takes care of her as her parents are often away on business. She takes Oliver home, where her prissy poodle Georgette gets jealous of all the attention the cat is getting. Thinking Oliver is in trouble, the dogs hatch a plan to get him back, with the help of jealous Georgette. Learning he's been staying with a rich family, Fagen decides to ransom the cat to get money for his debt, but when his plan falls through (Jenny shows up with her piggy bank, as it's all she has), Sykes kidnaps her instead and it's up to Fagen and the gang to get her back! This film had a great cast (Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Cheech Marin, Joey Lawrence) and memorable songs. It marked Disney's comeback and was really groundbreaking for the company.

One of Disney's best known films in the late 80s was 1989's The Little Mermaid. An adaption of the Hans Christian Anderson classic, I loved this one as a kid. We are introduced to 16 year old mermaid princess Ariel and her many sisters, however unlike her sisters, Ariel seeks adventure and is curious about the world up above. After saving a human prince from drowning, Ariel longs to see him again. Having a fallout with her father, the king of the sea who just doesn't understand, she makes a deal with Ursula, the seawitch, who will give her human legs for 3 whole days where in order to keep them, she must get the prince to kiss her with a kiss of true love. Only there's a catch - she will have to trade her voice to the seawitch during her stay up above. And if she doesn't receive the kiss by the end of the 3rd day, she will be enslaved forever to the seawitch. Of course she makes the deal though and begins a brief romance with Prince Eric, the prince she rescued. Truth is, he's in love with her voice, as she sang to him after she rescued him and while he can't remember what she looks like, he remembers her voice. This of course poses a problem, as Ariel no longer has her voice. With the help of her best friend - a fish named Flounder - and her father's aid - a crab named Sebastian - they still try to get Prince Eric to fall in love with her and give her that kiss. Things go fine until Ursula shows up, in a different form and with Ariel's voice, on the third day. I was a crazy Little Mermaid fan, collecting the dolls, tshirts, bedroom sheets, and more! I couldn't get enough of this movie!


In the mid-80s we were also given animated films based off popular toys, such as My Little Pony, Care Bears and Barbie.

In 1985, The Care Bears Movie came out and it was the first feature length movie ever to be based off a toy-line. The Care Bears spend their days in Care-A-Lot, which appears to be up in the clouds, watching down on earth, looking for people who need cheering up. One day, they spy 2 orphaned kids, Jason and Kim who just don't care anymore. Despite the Care Bear's attempts to teach them about friendship and caring, the kids still don't seem phased. Eventually they get the kids to Care-A-Lot and they decide to stay and help out the Bears, as they are working on some invention that can easily teleport a Bear to earth and back. Meanwhile, Tenderheart Bear finds a young lonely magician's apprentice, Nicholas who resides at an amusement park and doesn't have a friend in the world. After finding a mysterious spellbook, Nicholas is befriended by an evil spirit that resides in the book and soon becomes possessed by it. Thanks to all the Bears coming together and the help of Kim and Jason, they are able to break the hold the spirit has on Nicholas. Nicholas becomes friends with the Bears, and Kim and Jason find new parents at the amusement park. At the end, it is implied that Kim and Nicholas also got married later on. This movie was such a hit that it spawned 2 sequels, 1986's The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation, which included the Carebear Cousins, and 1987's The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland, which was a cross between Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.

In 1986, following the trend of movies based on a toy-line, we were given My Little Pony: The Movie. From IMDB: "At Dream Castle, the Little Ponies are preparing a festival to celebrate the first day of Spring. From the Volcano of Gloom, the evil witch Hydia watches the event via her cauldron and, disgusted by the frivolity, tells her daughters that they must ruin it. Hydia's daughters, Draggle and Reeka, are inexperienced at causing mischief and fail utterly at ruining the festival. They return to the Volcano of Gloom in disgrace, where Witch Hydia presents a better plan - they'll make Smooze. The sisters collect a series of disgusting ingredients, but neglect to obtain the Phlume, the prospect of which terrifies them. The spell seems to work regardless, creating a pool of sentient purple lava that gleefully buries Ponyland. It looks like the end of Ponyland, unless all the magical creatures of Dream Valley answer the Ponies' call for help." I remember the witch and her daughters were pretty scary, but for some reason me and my best friend LOVED watching this movie. We loved the ponies and would often use our own My Little Ponies and play along with the movie. This movie also spawned a hit TV series in the 80s as well, which was rerunned on the Disney channel in the early-mid 90s (I remember watching it again with my sister back then!).

Another movie, based off a toy, was 1987's Barbie and the Rockers, which was released with a line of Barbie dolls named also Barbie and the Rockers and was the first Barbie movie. In this movie, Barbie and her band, the Rockers, have just finished a World Tour are invited to do one last show in space to promote World Peace. While the concert in space goes successfully, it appears the band goes through a wormhole and when they land back on earth, they are in 1959, the land of classic Chevy's and malt shops. Adjusting to the time change, Barbie and her band continue to share their music and message of world peace with everyone. Eventually they find a way to get home, but not before one last concert! As a little girl into Barbie dolls, my friends and I loved this movie as well and would sing along with the songs (which included covers of oldies "Do you Wanna Dance?" "Do You Believe in Magic?" and "Catch Me If You Can"). I'll admit, it was this movie that completely confused me when it came to Barbie competitor Jem. For the longest time, thanks to this movie, I thought Barbie and Jem were one and the same, except I couldn't figure out why in Jem movies there was no Ken! There have been plenty of Barbie movies over the years, but this one was the original.

For your viewing pleasure...

Just a few funny videos I found recently that I thought I'd share...

Stacy, over at Stacy Says, posted this hilarious ad (which she found through Amy at Ha ha. Wait. What?).

Ever wonder why girls in ads for feminine hygiene products are always so happy, twirling around and why everything is sooooo darn white?! Yeah me too... and so does this ad!



And Jill, at Life After College, posted this gem of a video!


Love it! Enjoy!

The Guys I Fell For

At work I have a little radio by my desk that I have set up to pick up the local Rock Station in town. Today, while working the song "Mrs. Sullivan" by Caroline's Spine came on and it reminded me of the guy I dated in high school, as that was a song he introduced me to and liked.

I realized, I've been in relationships for over a decade now!

I feel old.

So, I thought today I'd take a trip down memory lane and briefly share about the guys that have been in my love life.

Boyfriend #0 - The Online Guy

Note: So some say this one doesn't count, while others do. I'll leave it up for you to decide - keep in mind though, this was back in the day when sites like eharmony and match.com were non-existent, so the concept of meeting someone online and having a relationship with them was pretty much unheard of back then.

During the summer between Jr. High and High school in 1998 I was spending quite a bit of time "online" as in my house we had a service called Prodigy. I became active on several of the message/bulletin boards and that summer they finally introduced an IM feature similar to that of AOLs. I had a group of "friends" on one of the music BBs and we often posted back and forth, IM'd and sent email to each other. This was how I "met" him. He was closer to my age than some of the others, we had video games and music in common, so that was cool too. I started crushing on him and after doing the whole "I like you, do you like me?" thing we decided to be boyfriend/girlfriend.

Well, see, I was 13 and my parents wouldn't let me date until I was 16. But a lot of my friends and other kids my age had boyfriends... I didn't see any harm in dating a guy online, especially since I lived in Northern Illinois, he lived in St. Louis and neither of us could drive so it's not like we'd be able to see each other in person anyway.

We mostly talked online, but did occasionally chat on the phone - he called me once while I was babysitting my sister and I called him from time to time from a payphone nearby that I'd ride my bike to, or the one at school after school. Yeah, I know, cheesy. He even sent me a handwritten letter once, with a guitar pick necklace that he clipped into the shape of a heart - it was cute! The string he had put it on was a bit flimsy though so I upgrade the charm to a chain instead. I still have it too - it's in my memento jar. It was too cute not to keep!

Well, eventually, after about 8 months or so, my parents found out and weren't happy. First off, I had a boyfriend, at the age of 13/14 and it had been going on for awhile without them knowing and second, they had found some emails Internet BF said where he told me about some "illegal" activity he had did recently (spray painting goal posts or something like that). They were afraid he was either some psycho old guy leading me on and that he'd show up at the house and kill me like some of the internet meet-up horror stories you used to hear about, or that he was just a kid who enjoys taking part in delinquent behavior that they didn't want me being involved with. Regardless, they cut off my internet access and banned me from talking to him. Well I did sneak one last email to him, letting him know what had happened, cuz I figured he at least deserved to know why I suddenly wasn't ever online anymore.

They gave me like a 6 month ban and by then we had both kind of moved on. But we never forgot each other and did occasionally keep in touch via email and then later IM in college. And yes, we did finally meet in person, twice, while in college - he came up to visit me and the college boyfriend one weekend during the end of my 2nd year in college and the boyfriend and I went and visited him for a weekend in St. Louis the following semester while making a trip down there to visit a friend of his. Both times we had fun just hanging out, reminiscing - I finally got to see him play his guitar live with his band, as he would occasionally play me songs over the phone back in the day. We haven't emailed in a few years, but that's partially due to the fact we're both on Facebook and just keep in touch that way now.

I think if my parents met him today, they'd like him. He's really grown up from the days of early high school, spray painting goal posts, lol... He's an avid Bill Reilly fan and Bill even read one of his letters on the air once, and he has a great career too that he got with his college degree. It always makes me smile when I post something on facebook and both him and one of my parents comment on it - my parents don't seem to realize it's him! Mom even commented to me one time, in person, "remember that guy on the internet you were so hung up about? What were you thinking back then..." I think at one point I was like "Yeah... I still talk to him online."

Teenage crushes come and go, but you can't just let go of a friendship with someone you once had a strong bond with and we really did.

Boyfriend #1 - High School Sweetheart, aka "The Good Ex" 

Now this is the one that everyone seems to count as my first boyfriend.

I wasn't looking for a boyfriend when I met him. It was the middle of my sophomore year of high school, I had just gotten over a friend I had been crushing on for months who led me on and then rejected me for some other girl and another friend (hubby to be exact) told me he had moved on and was over me when I had been crushing on him for 2 weeks.

My best friend went to another high school for the first 2 years, and had been telling me how much fun she had at the school dances. Being that I never had a boyfriend, and no guys in my school would give me the time of day, I never bothered going to the few dances my private school actually had. She had a great idea that I should go to a dance at her school, with her, however since I didn't go there, someone from her school would have to ask me to be their date to get me in.

That was when she introduced me to him.

Her and him had a few classes together, most notably Chemistry, and since she sucked at it and he seemed to get it, they were both meeting up at Wednesday night youth group a little before the rest of it so he could sort of tutor her on it. He seemed nice enough and went to our youth group so she explained the situation to him and asked him if he'd be interested in taking me to the dance. He was interested but wanted to get to know me a little better, as we never really talked, so we started hanging out at youth group a bit more. He was also good friend with... hubby (they played church basketball together and were always on the same team).

So obviously he asked me to the dance, much to the dislike of another friend of ours who got it in her head that he was going to ask her to the dance, even though he had been hanging out with me...? Yeah, I don't get the logic either. He actually called me up the week before the dance (which was St. Patrick's Day) and officially asked me to be his girlfriend. We shared our first kiss at the dance, and he even told me he loved me. It was too soon for me to say it back right then and there (and oh what goes on in a teenage girl's head when a guy first tells her those words!) but I did eventually say it back a few weeks later.

We dated for the rest of high school and into our first year of college. Yes, we went to college together, cute, eh? What wasn't so cute though was our 2nd semester when we took several classes together and then broke up 2/3rds through the semester... ooops!

But during the time we dated, we really did have a great time, or at least I did. I had someone to go to all the dances with me, and he would actually dance most of the night too, unlike some guys. I went to as many of his track meets as I could, we hung out most weekends, I have plenty of memories of spending Sunday afternoons watching the Chicago Bears games either in the basement at my parents house with my dad's surround sound set up, or later in his dorm room. I even got him Bears tickets one year for his birthday and he finally got to see a game in person.

So why did we break up?

Well, in short... everyone changes when you go off to college - it's a part of life. There's a transition in your life when you go from high school to college and you want different things in life. He was quite content with hanging out with the guys on his dorm floor, playing video games, while I liked to do things and be social. I enjoyed going out with everyone on the weekends, he would rather sit at his computer. I remember a few times where I'd come over to his dorm room to watch a movie with him and a little while into it, he'd get up "just to check something" on his computer, then next thing you know, he's sitting there with his headset on, yelling commands to people online, and I'd fall asleep. It got annoying. And no, it wasn't Counterstrike, he played Day of Defeat, aka DoD, which is like Counterstrike, but takes place in WWII.

I got tired of it and we broke up shortly after our 3 year anniversary. We still tried to be friendly and were close the last month or so of the semester (it was just too weird not spending time together). When we went home for the summer, we still met up once a week for McDonalds and just to chat, but that didn't last too long. I was honestly ready to get back together again when he dropped a bomb on me. He was confused and needed some time to think things over "I don't know if I ever want to see you again." he told me, and said he was going to visit his mom for the weekend (his parents were divorced) to think things through and would call me when he got back on Sunday night.

That hurt a lot. It hurt so much that I started having negative thoughts I hadn't had in years. No one was home, no one was around to talk to either on the phone or online, so I emailed someone who I thought was a friend (I recently learned they apparently never were) I had become close to, just because I needed someone to talk to. It hurt even more when he didn't call me back that Sunday. Or the next week, or the week after.

I took it that he made up his mind and that I should move on since it didn't seem like he was ever going to call.

Well, he was working for my aunt that summer, doing apartment maintenance work for her with his brother like we had together the summer before. About 2 months after I moved on, she had told my mom that he was feeling all down that I never called him back. What?! Yes, you read that right. Oh, I was pissed! If I knew he had wanted me to call, I would have, but after what he said and the fact that he said he'd call me, well, when he didn't I took that to mean it was over - I didn't want to call and bother him if he had decided he didn't want me anymore. You can bet money that I called him up later that week and was like "Um, hey, what gives? You're upset that I never called you? You're the one said 'I don't know if I ever want to see you again and I'm going to my mom's for the weekend to think things over - I'll call you when I get back.'" You could hear him go silent on the other end, like one of those moments where you realize just how very wrong you were in your thinking. I had to explain that I waited for him to call, but after a few weeks, when he didn't, I gave up and moved on, a friend introduced me to another friend, we hit off and had been dating for a month now. We met one last time, just for closure's sake. He asked for a hug, so I said okay. Then he asked for a goodbye kiss and I had to turn him down, since I was with someone else, who's previous ex had cheated on him.

We had a class that following semester and we tried to chat online, but everytime it turned into a fight over who was at fault for our relationship falling apart. Eventually he blocked me on AIM. For a few years. It didn't help that neither him or my current boyfriend liked each other.

It wasn't until years later when I broke up with the guy after him that we started talking again. My mom had called and told me she read in the newspaper back home that his grandpa had recently passed. I remembered meeting his grandparents on a few occasions - they were nice - and since he unblocked me on AIM by this point, I sent him a simple message, something along the lines of "Hey, my mom read about your grandpa in the paper - I'm so sorry to hear that, I remember he was a really nice guy! My family gives their condolences." We started chatting, civilly, and have gotten along since, having hung out in group settings a handful of times.

I do find it a bit ironic though that now I'm the one that sits around and plays video games, while he's the one going out and being social, lol... oh how the tables have turned!

He really is a nice guy though and deserves a good girl... I have sometimes wondered how things would be if things may have been different. But I guess we'll never know...

Boyfriend #2 - College Boyfriend, aka "The Lazyass"

So this is the boyfriend that a "friend" had introduced me to, that I started dating about a month after that last phone call with my high school boyfriend. Like I mentioned, I was a bit depressed and emailed a "friend" after that conversation with him. Well that friend showed my picture to his friend who thought I was cute. We had a lot of things in common too at the time - same music tastes, liked going to concerts, enjoyed swing dancing (something I had newly picked up that summer), watched anime, enjoyed going out the weekends and having fun... all sorts of stuff. He was also a drummer/percussionist, which I thought was cool - I always wanted to date a musician!

We spent that first summer doing a lot of fun stuff - going to various concerts, mini-putting, hanging out with friends... really fun times.

As I mentioned, his previous ex had cheated him on, so he had some major trust issues and stuff that went along with that. He told me he wasn't used to having someone who actually cared about him and showed it, as I had heard from various people his ex was kind of a bitch, especially once she started doing drugs. When he caught her cheating on him around Christmas, he had a major depression and failed out that Spring semester because of it, so while he was living down at school, he was taking community college classes to get his GPA back up before returning. Well, he checked himself into group therapy that Fall, telling me he just going home for a regular checkup, only to tell me after the fact he was going to be home for a few weeks because of group therapy. I was actually kind hurt that he didn't feel he could tell me the truth about what he was going through, as I had always been nothing but caring. He eventually had a CATscan done too, as the doctors couldn't figure out what his deal was. They eventually labeled it as a chemical imbalance.

He moved back home after that year and finished an AA at the local community college there, but things were still fun. He took a theater class that gave us free tickets to several Broadway shows in Chicago, such as Sweet Charity with Christina Applegate. His parents also took us to see Spamalot and The Lion King in Chicago too.

And then he got a 10day trial to WoW and got hooked. And I got hooked. However he got hooked a lot worse than I did.

He transferred back to my college and moved into an apartment and a friend moved in later and all they did was play WoW. He got put on academic probation because he never went to class and failed again. He retook the same classes that summer and... same thing again, and they kicked him out. He ended up going back to the nearby community college to try and get his GPA up, again. His WoW addiction got so bad that we had to nag him to get out of his chair and go out with us. And it wasn't just me that noticed - we all did, my roommate, his roommate, everyone. And it drove us nuts. I'll never forget the time I switched my schedule around at work just to get the night off to go to a concert in my hometown. I'm getting ready to leave, stop by to get him, and he's in a raid. That's barely begun. He doesn't want to go to the show anymore, he'd rather stay home and play WoW, like he had been 24/7. It wasn't until I mentioned that my friend (hubby) was meeting us there, I didn't have a working cell number for him, so I was going, as it wasn't fair to blow him off like that when he had to travel to get there too. I told him I was leaving in 15 minutes with or without him. I got all the way to atm when he called me, 30 minutes later "Where are you?" Uh, I left, like I said I was... Since I was still in town I swung by to pick him up, but still... I wasn't too happy with him.

We got in some fight the weekend my friend (hubby) came down to visit for his birthday. I don't remember what sparked it, but he basically promised me things would change, as I was getting fed up with his lack of motivation and behavior (he had been telling me and his mom for months he would get a parttime job, but never even filled out a single app). Well, the next morning, October 30 (hubby's bday) the electricity at his place got shut off and it cost at least $1000 for them to turn it back on. He had been subleasing from January-May from a guy I worked with and never bothered to call ComEd to get the bill changed over! And his parents had been giving him money to pay that bill each month, yet now he had nothing to put towards it! I was really pissed now and stormed out, telling my friend (hubby) "Sorry man, by the way, Happy Birthday!" Now the full $1000 wasn't entirely his fault - in his defense, he moved in in January and the bill hadn't been paid since the previous September, so the guy I worked with owed 4 months on it. We tried getting in touch with him several times throughout the month - he originally said he sent in a check, but when we called ComEd a week or so later, they said they never got it and the full $1000+ had to be paid for them to turn it back on.  We tried calling the guy a few more times, but he changed his voicemail message to some nasty message basically telling us to quit harassing him. If I knew he was gonna turn into a jerk, I never would had helped him out with getting his place subleased, as he was given the ultimatum of getting rid of his dog or moving ASAP.

Now this was going into November and it gets a bit cold out here in November, so since one of my roommates was dating my boyfriend's roommate, they both just moved in with us for a few weeks. Boyfriend had promised me it would only be for roughly 2 weeks for them to get it cleared up, but those 2 weeks came and went and it wasn't until after Thanksgiving that they moved back into their place. That month was hell - he refused to tell his parents and ask for help to help speed up the process a bit, and I had ZERO privacy, he was constantly in my space all the time and it drove me nuts. One night I came home from work and HAD to ask him to just leave for like an hour. I needed some time to myself without him in my hair. There just wasn't enough space in our apartment for 5 people (and sometimes 6 when my 3rd roommate's boyfriend would visit on the weekends) staying there at one time.

When they moved back into their place, I needed a break. I told him, 2 weeks, focus on school and make an effort in getting a job or I was done. I was tired of him sitting on his butt at the computer 24/7. He did make a little bit of an effort with the job search, the 2nd week of the break, but still... I had checked out of the relationship months ago - the thing with the electricity really was the last straw.

We broke up for good the night after he finished his finals that semester... and it took longer than it should have because it honestly took me a good 10-15 minutes to get him to leave WoW and his computer so I could have the talk with him. In his apartment. All he kept asking was if there was someone else. Which, I avoided answering at first because if I knew if I told him that yeah, I was kinda interested in someone else, that would be the ONLY part of the conversation he heard and he'd completely ignore all the actual reasons why I was leaving him. He noticed I avoided it though and asked again, so I confessed, yes, I was interested in someone else, but that wasn't why I was leaving him. I was tired of his lack of motivation to do anything but sit at the computer. I was really annoyed and pissed about the whole ComEd situation. And we had always said when we first started dating that it didn't make sense to keep dating someone you couldn't see yourself with for good, and honestly, I couldn't see that anymore. We had talked about getting married, but after 3 and a half years, he couldn't even make the effort to get a job to buy me the ring to make it official. I was tired of waiting for him to grow up, I was moving forward in life and growing up, he wasn't.

We tried to be civil in WoW and in person, since our roommates were dating (and all his friends agreed with me and backed me up on my reasons for leaving him), however once he figured out I was seeing my friend (hubby), "the shit hit the fan" or so they say. He was pissed, he felt betrayed. For some reason he considered my good friend of 9 years to be his best friend, when the only reason my friend hung out with him and put up with him was because of me. Hubby was only nice and friendly towards him because he didn't want me to stop talking to him if he came out and said he thought my boyfriend was a real asshole and jerk and why the heck was I with him? (Which ironically, is a question my parents wondered too!). Eventually he got drunk one night and left me a nasty message ("You and [your friend] can both eat bricks and go die in a f*cking fire!"). Yeah... thanks for lashing out and making me regret the entire 3 and a half years I spent with you!

It always irked me when my roommate would say "well, he's my friend too..." and I'd get excluded from things like her birthday (their birthdays were like the day after each other so we'd often just have one outing for the both of them), yet it was okay from him to crash our parties over here (It drove me nuts how he'd just invite himself over to our parties, and then sit around with my roommate's boyfriend and a few stragglers after she went to bed. I wanted to go to bed too, but wasn't about to leave my ex just hanging out in my apartment unsupervised... ). He used to talk SO much crap about her behind her back... he'd go on to me and people in WoW about how he thought she was a terrible roommate, a terrible girlfriend to his roommate and how he wished his roommate would just dump her already cuz he'd be happier without her... I'd always just be like "dude, she's my roommate, stop." I also remember one time I had suggested the 4 of us just get an apartment together and his response was "there is no way IN HELL I will EVER live with her" which was kind of funny when she mentioned the 3 of them getting a place later on that he claimed to be allergic to her cat and that's why that wouldn't work - he didn't even have the balls to tell her the truth! He wasn't allergic to cats - he had often talked of getting one himself when he moved into his first apartment!

Needless to say, he was lazy and full of crap. And I really wished I hadn't spent nearly the amount of time with him as I did.

I heard recently he quit his job (he had 2 since we broke up), moved back home with is parents, transferred to a store nearby and is still trying to finish college. And he hasn't had a girlfriend since. He'll be 28 this summer.

Looking at him, I feel a lot better about myself and what I've done since the 3+ years that we broke up!

Boyfriend #3 - Mah Hubby

Unless you're new to my blog, you know how hubby and I came to be, so I won't drag this post out any longer. If you don't know though, you can read up on our story here and here.

*note* The images used are not images from my photo collection, they are from Google - I didn't want to use pictures with my ex's for their sake, not to mention the 1 I can't stand and would rather not see for any length of time. While the last one looks nothing like my ex, I think it gets the point across pretty well though... especially you've seen the South Park episode it's from!