New column today--one in which I really get on a pedastal. It's also longer than usual...but at least I feel strongly about something. The forum posts ought to be real good. :)
"24" SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!
Well, I'm crushed. Damned "24" writers basically killed off my favorite character, Tony Almeida. Stunned me, because they threw it at the end. Dude got shot in the freakin' neck, which is not automatically fatal, of course, but it basically takes him out of this season--he's done. You don't recover from a neck shot in 21 hours. And the worst thing is, I have no other real "allegiances" in this show as strong as I did with Tony. He was my favorite character, bar none. If the show were more popular, I'd have been him for Halloween. Alas, he's gone.
Went to Hawkeye's with Luis yesterday and updated him on my life--I've neglected him, and I apologized for it too. He said it was no big deal and that he's been busier too because of actually having a job and stuff. So he understood. And that's great.
He was happily telling me how much I've seemed to have changed in the past six months. How better my life seems to be than what it had been--that I'm not lazy about things like my appearance or anything else. That I look better and dress better than I ever had before. I think it's for a number of reasons, including change of scenery, new friends, and overall improved and proactive living conditions.
I also think that people "think" I've improved because I look different--new hairstyle(s) and clean-shaven. And I'm probably smiling a lot more. :) And when they come to my apartment, they see all the "stuff" that I have--dining room set, kitchen utensils and cookware and such--and they're surprised that I have that stuff. But I've had it since living in Missouri. I just never used it in The Brook. That's because, even though I stayed there three years, I always viewed it as a temporary stop--so I never fully unpacked. I view this new place differently, and I have enough room for all this "stuff" that I have.
But I told Luis, I've not changed. I'm no different a person than I was before. No one is making me do these things or teaching me how to be a better person. At least not without my permission. That person always was inside me, I just never needed to let it out before. I may not be the most stylish person in the world, but I CAN be. I may not have been the cleanest person in the world in Bolingbrook, but I am now, now that I have to keep things clean and in order because i have a roommate and we have visitors more often than I ever did in The Brook. I've always desired "decorations" on my walls and in my living space, and I never, ever said I couldn't appreciate ANY art...I just never had an outlet to display those things. Now I do.
Luis understood what I was saying, for once...and he agreed. I also said, that doesn't mean that I don't need advice picking out clothes and things, or decorations or whatever...I'm not that wise to that stuff. I'll go shopping with people and have them point out stuff they like, and I might buy it. I'll take fashion advice from folks, or entertaining advice from folks (such as, you need a bowl, or this kind of glassware or whatever) any time. I'm not well-versed on that stuff, per se, but I do know a few things and my tastes, though people do tease me about it sometimes, are not as faulty as some think. :) As one dear friend told another about me, I'm "rough around the edges." ;) But I am willing to learn, always. And that's the key. Finding people who enjoy helping me with that stuff and do have some sort of good taste. :)
