25 Random Things About Me

1. I have an out of control shoe addiction.

2. I have a general weakness for really good chocolate.

3. I dread doing my taxes.

4. I hate clipping my dogs toenails.

5. I have a proclivity towards staying in bed reading a good book - no matter the weather.

6. When I'm not reading a book I am listening to one on my iPod.

7. I LOVE sour patch kids.

8. I love to shop. I just haven't figured out how to make a six figure income doing it.

9. I laugh really loud. I've tried to change that but I can't. Love me or leave me.

10. I see the world in terms of good user interface and bad user interface. There is no in between.

11. I haven't painted my toenails since the finale of Project Runway Season 5.

12. My family drives me batshit crazy. But I still go home for Christmas.

13. I've always secretly wanted to be a stylist. I'm *so* much better than Rachel Zoe and can do it far cheaper than she.

14. I am in love with and drool over really bitchin' muscle cars from the 60's.

15. I secretly wish that we all had to wear "Hello... my name is" tags for our relationship status. It would make dating ever so much easier. You could just walk down the street and immediately know whether or not that hot guy walking towards you is single and looking.

16. I fully intend to spend my retirement in Spain in a little adobe hut with my dogs and shoes and books.

17. I never really got over my high school crush.

18. I can talk just like Sarah Palin. I can't, however, see Russia from my house.

19. Believe it or not, I have a hard time making new friends.

20. I call things like I see them and have a hard time understanding why everyone else doesn't.

21. I am a beauty product whore. I have so many suitcases and boxes of cosmetics, hair potions and styling aids that could keep a small third world country smelling sweet and lookin' fine.

22. I understand Quantum Physics. And actually like it.

23. I hated the 80's. Especially the clothes. [Shudder... Jesus, the clothes...]

24. I don't have a green thumb. I kill fake plants somehow.

25. I really hate trying to come up with a list of 25 random things about me or anyone else. Why do we care?

I just don't understand...

So I have this friend who had a one night stand with this guy last, like, May or June... they only slept together once and after that when they saw each other (frequently because of the circles they move in) it was not a comfortable situation.

Long story short, it was more to her than to him and she had a hard time coming to that conclusion. She still hasn't. In fact, as I type this I can hear her on the phone with another friend bitching about and rehashing/reanalyzing and reliving all of the conversations they ever had (which were about 5 total). This is nearly 9 months later. The dude has a serious girlfriend now. And yet she can't let go and constantly harps and bitches and postulates about this guy she fucked ONCE.

I just don't get it. I don't get women like that. She constantly refers to him like he's someone who completely broke her heart (and for the past 8 months I've seen this is true) and *might* have been the love of her life.

Um, newsflash? You fucked once and he started dating someone else. Nothing to see here folks - move along. But why is she still harping about it? I just want to slap her every time she says his name. Seriously.

One night stand = one night stand. Let it go. Go fuck someone else. PUHLEEEEASE! For the love of God shut the fuck up about it already.

What a tumultuous year...

My life has run the gamut over the past 12 months and just when it seems to have evened out I find myself in a roommate situation with a dear friend who is some sort of weird combination of all of the bad/crazy ways my mom and dad have been. I mean, let me preface this by saying I love her to death -- she's been there for me in ways not even my own blood has been, she's the only person who can crack me up so hard my stomach hurts in seconds and she's just a really genuine, generous and great friend to me.

That said, there are also things about her that are just now surfacing that make me question the wisdom of continuing to be roommates with her and maintain my newfound sanity and peace. For starters, she's an angry (very angry), bitter, caustic and borderline narcissistic person. After what I went through with my friendship with Alisha, I just can't get close to anyone who makes it all about them all of the time. My friend doesn't -- not to that level, anyway -- but there are times when I'm like "Hi! Other people have feelings and a heartbeat too, okay?".

I'd say 90% of the time I find myself ducking her sour mood (not *always* sour - just completely unpredictable and it seems to change frequently. Going from 0 - 60 in seconds.) and walking around on eggshells. She's really demanding. She "asks" you to do some chore around the house but then totally tells you how and when to actually do it. (Remniscent of my father, there.) And then at some point in the future when she's on the warpath about something, tells you how you did it wrong or, more likely, not enough of it.

She's extremely needy and lonely and if I'm at home and just chilling in my room with the door shut, she'll come knock and it and ask if I want to watch TV. Or complain about something that happened to her in the course of her day. Which is fine - and I don't mind that - unless I'm trying to dodge her dark, angry moods because they suck the happiness out of me.

And let's say I do go out and watch TV with her... I have to be careful not to let the dogs cuddle with me because they might make too much noise licking their paws or I might block her line of vision bending over to snuggle Nichi quietly. It's always something. Always.

And frankly, I've been pussyfooting around all of this for so long that I've become some other person when I'm at home. Which explains why I've increasingly tried to find more and more excuses to get out of the house and away from all of that tension and drama. I drag my feet coming home after work -- something I haven't done to this extent since my marriage started to go south. Explain that, Dr. Freud.