how not to vote:

Today Now!: How To Pretend You Give A Shit About The Election

Options.

I need your input.
Here are my current options:
1) Move into a dirty shoebox 2 bed/1 bath apartment a little further South than I'd like to be, but that has great closets and a huge bedroom with a teeny livingroom/dining/kitchen area and it's only $750, OR
2) Stay in the darling apartment I am in for another month, help out with rent for my friend who's letting me stay here while she's out of town for the next month and hope and pray that I find a job that will afford me another place to live and find an adequate roommate by the end of next month (this costs $850 plus $50 a month for storage), OR
3) Move temporarily into the cheap place, get settled and hold out for a good roommate and good job indefinitely.
There are a lot of people who will be moving next month (so I hear) and I did find quite a few nice, spacious apartments with double masters for $900 each...So far, most people have said to hold out for a great job to know what area I should live in, but I suspect that- even if the job is in Downtown, I will still want to live in Santa Monica/The West Side.
I don't know.
Help.
Where do I go from here?

Touch Me.

I understand that most people who send mass emails, holiday texts, and fwds are usually annoying with good intentions. Primarily, the intention is purely to make contact and remind you that you're on their mind. Second to that is the message itself. I do what I can to have patience with these methods, and I am appreciative of the message itself (if it's in regards to something relevant, like a friend's birthday party or upcoming event they want me to attend). E-Communication has become little more than mass-communication, but the intention is the same: it's making contact.

What baffles me is that e-communication rarely achieves the desired effect. Do you ever feel special when you get a mass text? Email? Posting on your Facebook/MySpace wall? Maybe a fleeting moment...but what happens on Friday night, when you're ready to go out? Or Sunday morning, when you're ready to talk about your weekend? Who is really there for you? What kind of difference does it make when one of your 400 MySpace friends actually picks up the phone to ask the simple question: "How are you?"

The reality is that a simple question in person has the power to pull you in from a distant e-friendship to a real, live relationship.

In a world full of mass activities with the chaos of strangers or near-friends, clubs with hundreds of sweaty bodies, too loud and crowded to hear a name, and nightly opportunities for dessert-parties, game nights, and FHEs, how much more does it mean when someone takes the time to reach out and spend five minutes- FIVE MINUTES- hearing your opinion on the latest film, or asking about your latest adventure.

And then, when we move into the realm of relationships, how much more meaningful has it become to be with someone who won't simply text you goodnight, but will actually make their way over to your house to give you a proper send-off to sleep (or maybe wear you out a little so sleep comes a bit better). Time after time I hear stories of confusion or complaint because someone texted someone and didn't hear back or the ball got dropped somewhere along the e-line and now...no one knows where they stand or what they should do. Dear man-reader, I am going to give you a tip: Women LOVE real contact. They salivate for it. And particularly at a time when our world is inundated with e-messages, the man who takes the time to make a phone call, cross the room, or look us in the eye for longer than 5 minutes is considered a higher class of being. By demonstrating real effort to make real contact, you are, essentially, a Real Man.

For all the fantasies that are out there, every woman would rather have a real man to hold over one who is merely dropping by a, "Whatz up 2nite?" weak-@$$ text.

I love you.

How can it be so easy to feel and so hard to say? I'd like to know who's fault it is so I have someone to blame.
This band is fantastic.

Stomach Contents.

I ran around all day and here are the stomach contents:

7am- no time for breakfast.

12pm- on the way to job interview3pm- no time to stop for lunch. Random twinkie on counter.6pm- running back and forth- best to at least eat SOMETHING rather than self-cannibalize. It wasn't even as good as it looks (and it looks bad). Plus, I ate it in the car, so most of it ended up on my white button down "interview" shirt.

8pm- hanging with a friend- random twinkie on counter. x2. A few leftover chips and a couple pieces of candy left over from a party.

10pm- a perfect way to end the night. I did end up in Pasadena first, but that seems typical when I'm looking for a concert in Silverlake. Go figgure. I don't drink alcohol, so here's what was left at the bar-12midnight. Too late to eat anything reasonable. Tomorrow will just have to be a better day.

The Hunt.

Thanks goes out to Kory; while she did not inspire this post, the timing of her 1996 reprisal as the Dancing Banana comes in a timely moment.Looking for a job is a lot like dating. There are three basic approaches to either:

You do your research based on your prior experiences and desire for the future to seek out the best possible match and then hope and pray they look your way. You submit your resume of interest and wait. You know you're qualified. You know they'll want you, if only they'd just look your way! There's not much more you can do without inspiring a restraining order if you're really trying to go for it. There may be back-door entries such as mailing your resume via FedEx so you can be sure the one you want gets the message and it's not thrown out by a jealous or territorial "assistant." Perhaps lurking outside the parking lot during lunch and hoping your qualified decision-maker-paramour might recognize you without looking like a stalker.You ask friends about connections, opportunities to network or job fair parties where you might come across "The One." And still, the most you can do is remind them about who you are and that you're still interested if there's ever a place for you in their company.

Another approach is to seek anything anywhere- you throw your nets out with maybe a few desired requirements, but let's be honest: You're desperate and you'll settle for anything short of donating your own bodily fluids. It may just be a "for now" to get you by while you keep an eye out for something better, or you may go into that retail shop full-well knowing you're planning to bounce the second a pharmaceutical job returns your call, but either way, you'll pretend it's enough to satisfy you. Just for now. This is how we all end up working dead-end temp jobs that become permanent- sometimes it's just enough to get by on and that can be comfort enough. Just don't lose sight of your end goal, or you'll turn around in 5 years wondering how the hell this loser wasted the best years of your life.

Finally, there's the hardest way. You know exactly what you want and what it will take to get it. You need to make some deep considerations on if this is what's best for you and have to consider the costs of putting it all on the line- mind, heart, body and soul. It may take humility, it may take more than 80 hours a week of invested time, but the passion and desire for this means you will sacrifice whatever it takes to get whatever experience you may need to be ready and qualified when the right spot opens up for you. You are preparing and keeping yourself ready and worthy to move up to the next level by doing everything you can right now so that, when the time is right, you can move forward with the utmost confidence and satisfaction in knowing that this is what you've always wanted.

Either way, all choices require that you consider what it is that YOU want. Sure, any job can approach you first- it happens to me every time I go shopping. The question is not so much if they want you, but if you want them. So prepare yourself, take inventory of who you are, what you have to offer and what your end goal is, so when The One comes along, not only will they want you, but you'll be ready for them.