Are you blogging?

If you are blogging, I'd like to know about it.  Because if you are reading this than it is very likely that we know each other and I would be interested in what you have to say in your blog.
And, by the way, thanks for reading.

I have been inconsistent, at best, but I've missed it.
I rarely "tweet" and I quit Facebooking.  I manage to stay in touch via those old stand-bys like phone calls, text and email.  I know.  I'm so old fashioned.
But even with the occasional touches that phones (of whatever variety) and email I still feel like I am somehow "off the map" and while I am personally ok with that, I worry that my friends think I am out of touch.
That is not the case.  I still want to be friends, and be in touch, and get together, and hear how you're doing.
I just resent that we all seem to think that Facebook is the only way to do that.

I can be a responsible, caring, loving friend without the crutch of hourly status updates.
And it is our jobs, as friends, to reach out.  Friendship requires effort.  You have to pick up the phone, share your news, put out the energy to stay friends.  You have to be a friend.
You don't need Facebook to be friends.  It's a mirage, people.  You only talk on Facebook?  You hadn't talked in 20 years but now you're BFFs on Facebook?
No, you're not.

I made some connections on FB that I missed and that I have since maintained and enjoyed.

I stayed in touch with a ton of my local friends through Facebook, keeping up with where and what was up.  Somehow, though, I still know what's happening, where, and with whom.  And what I don't know, I don't miss.
And I managed to throw together a pretty fabulous holiday party with most of them (sans Facebook) via text message.  I didn't even have a MacBook to email with at that point. (She's home now, all recovered, poor baby girl.)  As much as I loathe the telephone, sometimes I have to use it and I don't usually regret it when I hang up, smiling, after a conversation with my friend.

I made some connections on Facebook that allowed for closure that I didn't need or want to pursue further.

I made some that were people I genuinely cared for and was thrilled to reconnect with.  But without Facebook we will go our separate ways again.  But that's ok.  It's ok to think fondly about an old friend, workmate or acquaintance from your past.  That's what your past is for.  You're not supposed to collect every single person you ever knew - liked or disliked - in one room.
People come and go in life.  Everyone leaves their mark.  Appreciate it.
Then, when you run into them at Olive Garden one crazy, cold, wet afternoon and you both look like shit and you're hungry and grumpy and you have a "20 minute" wait for a table then you can go on and on about each other, then you can tell each other how awesome you look, how much fun you used to have, how happy you are to be together and then  you can go sit and enjoy your endless salad, breadsticks and chardonnay with a pleasant smile and a peaceful memory.  That's how it's meant to go.  You're not supposed to hear about every time their new baby shits or their spouse gets the flu or their boss is a donkey.

I do not miss Facebook.  Sometimes, I miss the connections here and there.  But honestly, if our paths are meant to cross again, they will and in the meantime, we will all go on with our lives and smile fondly when a great memory passes by our conscious.

*********

Have you read any good books lately?
I have been on an Autobiography kick for a while now.  Maybe I have always liked them.  I am a nosy girl.  But it seems they have become more popular to write so they are more available and I am more aware of them.
Rob Lowe's book was great.
There is a lot more to him than hotness and that was nice to learn.  I said it then (or I tweeted it) and I will say it again - if Charlie Sheen writes a tell-all, I will be in line to read it.
They grew up together and there were a lot of stories that involved both Charlie and Emilio and their dad, Martin Sheen.  It was not a name-droppy kind of book.  The fact is that Rob Lowe grew up with a lot of the guys we watched him star in movies with.  That was his life.
If I was rich and famous and wrote a book I would have lots of people to tell you about, too and if they were rich and famous I might sound name-droppy...  but they're not, and I'm not, so I won't bother. 
(Hi, Katie & Melissa!)  xo
Anyway....
I read Smashed and really enjoyed it, though my husband thought it was pretentious and aggravating.
And a few months after that, I stumbled upon Loose Girl in a Borders that was closing so I picked that up for about $2.  (btw, did you know that Borders was originally a little book shop started up by 2 brothers?  How very You've Got Mail!)  It was good, in the same way that the drunk book was good. 
I could totally relate to both vices but I was never that drunk or that slutty, so my arms length judgement was intact.

Right now I am reading Ellen's latest book, which is her third I've learned since opening it.   Seriously, it's awful.
I like her.  I like her show.  I would be interested in hearing her story of being a woman in comedy, a woman in business, a lesbian, a cat lover, a fake blonde...  any of that.  I like her.  But this book is not more than schtick and the only reason I haven't quit it is that Jay bought it for me and I don't want to hurt his feelings.
I am also reading a little Nora Roberts on the side.  That takes the edge off.
Chelsea Handler, Jenny McCarthy - both female comedians, both wrote at least 3 books (that I read, anyway) - both managed to keep it real and interesting and hilariously funny.
Sorry for expecting more than blank pages of "meditation" and some coloring pages.

I read the first of the 4 stories in Stephen King's latest (?) and while it was a very good story, very King-y and scary and gross and creepy it was also very scary, gross and creepy which, I realized as I wrapped it up, just is not my thing anymore.
I know that at least one of the next 3 stories involves rape and torture and I can't imagine there's another Shawshank or Stand By Me in one of the other 2 so I shelved that one.

My mom is reading Regis' latest and Jay is almost done with Jim Breuer so I look forward to both of those in the upcoming months.

*******

Winter is upon us.
Christmas is all but over. 
New Year's Eve is tomorrow.
I enjoy the peaceful hibernation.
We'll celebrate Abby's birthday quietly - a Ballerina Dance Party for her little friends and maybe a nice restaurant dinner for the little princess ...  nothing major, no house party, no pinatas.
We'll head south in February for a break from the cruel, cruel world.  Snow & Ice be damned, we'll be in the pool, strolling along the beach and screaming through Space Mountain!
And we'll carry on with Kindergarten, Pre-K and the day-to-day of our lives while Jay travels to the icy mid-west and we all wait for Spring and summer to return.

Life is Good.
And it's good to be back.

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