and some more links

Ladies and Gentlemen: I’ve finished my laundry.

This is a major accomplishment. It really, really is. It takes all of the strength I have in my body to pile my clothes up, put them in my car and then wash them. I get so frustrated that I start hating other people, clothing, places, events, nouns. I just want to go buy new clothes and throw my old ones over a bridge.

Another major accomplishment: I actually folded my clothes at the laundromat. AND I sorted my socks. But the biggest achievement? I threw out old pairs of underwear. I’m pretty sure I tossed a pair of panties I’ve had since I was fifteen years old. It was time. It was time for them to go. Sure, they’re period panties, but even those look tired after a decade of service.

Y’all know we have the period panties, right? Those are for days we’re pretty sure we’re going to do some spotting, and we’re pretty sure we’re not going to let you see us without any clothes on, and we’re very careful that you never see these underwear because often they’ve already lost battles for us in the past. They’re nasty and scary and we keep them only so the cute underwear we woo you with remains pristine. Don’t judge us.

Now I just have to put the clothes away. I need to finish the other giant hurdle of the day: I need to clean this house. I’m leaving tomorrow. Y’all, I’m going to see Radiohead! I couldn’t be happier about it. I’m in love with the world and everything will be okay when Thom starts singing to me.

I’ve never seen Radiohead before. I’ve been listening since Pablo Honey came out. That’s a very long time to be a Radiohead fan.

Since I won’t be able to update again until maybe Tuesday night, I’ll leave you with other things to read. My second Making the Band recap is up and it makes me giggle. Also, there’s a recap of the MTV Movie Awards. Find out what I’m typing when I’m not typing here.

Tomorrow Squishy turns three years old. I can’t believe I’ve been writing here for three years. I was thinking about that today while I folded laundry. I was thinking about all of the people in my life because of this little electronic newspaper. And the strangest thing about it is that so many things happen because of this site that have nothing to do with me. I get email from those of you who have met your best friend on the forum. You met the love of your life. You did something you didn’t think you could do. You finished a goal. You changed yourself for the better. You were inspired by the stories of other people on the forum or by something I wrote and you changed something about your life and you’re proud of yourself. That’s when I’m so proud of this site. It started as a little thing I was trying to do to work on HTML and keep myself busy at work and now it’s this community of people that are funny, smart, silly and fun. There’s a group of people from around the world that meet here and share their lives with each other. That’s amazing. Some of you wear t-shirts with my name on them. That’s fascinating. I’ve met so many people and experienced things I’d never thought I’d experience just because of this webpage. Three years ago I had no idea how I was going to become a freelance writer. It was just something I wanted to do. And now here I am with three years worth of stories shared on the net and I have a portfolio of work and a group of indispensable friends and memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

And when I make you feel something- when you write to say that you cried or you laughed or I made a shitty day seem livable- that’s the most rewarding thing. I know that you know much more about me than I know about you. You have an idea of who I am and what I look like and you might know that we’d be the best of friends if we ever met, but many of you are completely invisible to me. I don’t know just how many people out there I actually do know. People that I’ve known in my past or who know a friend of mine. I don’t know just how many of you there are out there that have met me before. And for those of you who I’ve never met at all, I find you even more fascinating. I find it fascinating that there’s something I do or something about me that keeps you coming back here every day to find out what I’m going to do next. Or to find out what’s going on in the forum. That sort of pull that Squishy has to keep people reading about me. That’s amazing to me. Thanks for being a part of this. Thanks for making me proud of my work.