Odd.

For the first time in I'm not sure how many years, I'm anticipating a birthday celebration of some variety, but am unsure as to exactly what I'm going to get.

With my parents, I was always an integral part of the planning. I had a vague idea as to what gifts I would receive: lots of books. I'd thrown out clues as to what I'd wanted; I maintained a list of things I was wishing to have so that I'd never again have a year as disappointing as the one where I'd gotten nothing that I'd wished to have.

Here?

Votania's got something up her sleeve. I just don't know what. Adam's plotting something. Gods know what Darkside's up to.

Everything turns different when you've lived in close quarters with your family for years, then suddenly leave to strangers.


Eeek. 22.

Morning

Wound up making fruit smoothies last night. Mmm blender. Every time I get a new kitchen appliance, I get silly with it for a while. Evidently one of the ways to make good Sex On The Beach in smoothie form is with strawberries, pineapple, peaches, lemon juice, sugar, ice, and vodka.

One of our neighbors came over, and there was heavy conversation about local politics. Mean people suck, and not in the good way.

Stayed up way too late. When I get too tired, I get claustrophobic and panicky.

Woke up semi-early this morning (utilized snooze feature) but got to school by 6:30 or so. Darkside was there, of course. Told him that today was my birthday; wondered aloud if this year he'd actually even so much as say "Happy Birthday". He didn't catch the "hint".

Test today in A+ ++. Brought own pencil.

Copy/paste; edit of a comment: Why LJ?

I started my LJ because Dennis K, the best friend of my friend Darkside, had one, and at the time I was trying to flirt with him. (Didn't work out.) He dropped his; by then I'd already gotten addicted.

I started journaling when I was in the 5th grade when the Gulf War started, so my children would know what I was thinking during an important point in history. (I'd been reading Rilla of Ingleside too much.) My handwriting then was abysmal.

I continued journaling to keep track of memories and dreams, and then to track the changes in my personality. Fascinating, really, especially for abnormal psychologists...

I like LJ because I like stripping in public. I like the thought of my thoughts and words being made available to a wide audience; I like the idea of being able to choose who sees which entries.

I don't use the friends protection very often; I rarely use the private protection for things other than marking my place in my current online reading material (if catching up on an archived webcomic, very necessary, but not really of interest to LJ readers) and writing drafts of posts (no need to flood several progressively better versions of the same thought out). Occasionally there will be personal information stored in my journal, such as my customer information for Dell (no need to make this public) or contact information of friends, especially temporary information. This logs when it was that I got it, as well as keeping it available to me for the duration that I need it. Every now and then I put in something that a friend's told me in confidence; the fact that it's in there on private will be reminder to me that this should be kept to myself and myself alone.

Friends filtered posts are interesting as well. When certain former friends were on my friends list, I locked them out of certain posts. More specific filters get made for different subjects. If talking about a potentially squickful subject that's really personal, I do filter when locking, often. I also filter for private discussion between just two or three people, where we can take off our online identities and talk person to person. More immediate and casual than e-mail, I find.

I had plans to publish my paper journal after my death, once upon a time. I should perhaps type up the back entries and archive them here. Conveniently, the earliest date that LJ accepts is 1980; that's when I was born. I can choose which entries to make public.

I find for the long entries that I wish to keep private, I still use pen and paper. Habit, I suppose. I've only showed my paper journals to a select few people. My high school best friend Shawn was one of them; Darkside, another.

Morning: lab.

Darkside wanted to know if the next entry in my journal would be about him and our assorted daily mock-violence, in this case him holding up his recent print job to my defenceless throat. Told him that this was now routine rather than remarkable.

Men.

...Evidently he did say "Happy Birthday" ... I was just asleep when he said it.

Poll: Do I write like I talk?

[Poll #38161]

We got the action, we got the motion

...but the person who I should talk to about apartment complex issues is still cleaning up after the second Stress Week school barbecue.

Decent hamburgers, though, if slightly scorched.

Oh, and?

Guess what week it is? That's right, Bitchy Witchy Week.

"Am I good or what?"

Votania put, on her birthday cake for me, the eight-pointed star.

Awww.

What a great family I have!

Cake. Candle.

Time for the ritual!

It's a question mark candle right in the middle of the eight-pointed star. Yep. That's me.