Yes, I know I bastardized a Pink Floyd lyric. So shoot me.

It's amazing how just a few little things can turn my day around. Like hearing from some old friends out of the blue who I didn't know are living in the same city as me but they are and they want to see me, and I'm going out with one of them tonight. And she called. We talked for more than half an hour.

I may be exhausted and poor, but I'm suddenly happy again.

In addition to all the other crap that's been raining down on me from my personal life this week, I found out today that my boss is trying to weasel out of giving me my promised raise, which I was supposed to get at my annual review and is not only much needed because they're paying me next to nothing, but also very much deserved because I got a big promotion and I'm doing three people's jobs right now.

I need a liter of vodka, a good screw and about 12 hours' uninterrupted sleep. Stat.

Things I actually overheard tonight at the Paloalto/Supergrass show:

- "I was laughing so hard, I almost popped my spleen."
- "It was like liquid sex. You know, except without the messiness."
- "I got her a box of cigars for Valentine's Day. She's a Democrat, you think she'll get it?"
- "I like him and he's a good kisser, but he's got that mole that just freaks me out. Every time I see it, I feel like doing what Mike Myers did in Goldmember and just yell out, 'Moley moley moley moley!'"
- "My roommate was laughing so hard when he saw that guy pissing on his bed in The Bachelorette because he was so drunk. Then I reminded him that he did that after the last party we went to. That shut him up pretty quickly."
- "Man, I could really go for some olives right now."
- "My boyfriend mentioned something about a pearl necklace. I can't figure out if he's giving me the real kind or the porn kind."
- "You think the band would be pissed if I yelled out 'It's Freedom Rock, turn it up, man!'?"

And somehow, glitter became affixed to my forehead during the course of the night. Magical pixies must've showered me with their dust while I was watching the show.

The rain & grey outside, while comforting in that it's a difference from the sunny-and-75-degrees, is not doing much to help my mood. Quite frankly, the malaise of not wanting to do anything except stay in bed, watch movies and order in pizza is threatening to overwhelm me. It's not helped by the fact that the woman I was interested in -- the one who abruptly told me on Sunday she wasn't comfortable with the whole online thing -- has failed to respond to the e-mail I sent today, and I fear her token "I'll call you" may have been token and not actually meant.

However, I'm dragging my ass out to the Roxy tonight (out on the world-famous Sunset Strip in fabulous Hollywood, for those of you keeping score at home) to see Paloalto (a band I like) and Supergrass. I have a plus-1 available to me, though I have no plus-1 to go with me. The trouble with getting free tickets at the last minute is trying at 5pm on a weekday to find someone to accompany you that night.

Too much to do, not enough sleep. Isn't that always the story of life?

I woke up to the sound of pouring rain outside -- which is a comforting thing, and not many residents of Los Angeles will admit that or realize that -- and wanted instantly to declare a small holiday for myself given the events of the past few days and the fact that I worked until midnight last night. Mental Health Day. Sleep late, watch big dumb movies, order a pizza to be delivered, stay in the t-shirt & flannel pants I sleep in all day long, lie in bed for most of the afternoon, maybe read a book or finish a magazine, sleep some more.

The problem is that Mental Health Days are not covered under my company's medical insurance plan, and I also have an eye doctor's appointment scheduled conveniently at 10am -- and one of my co-workers has an appointment at the same eye doctor at 9:30, so she'll know that I'm not sick if I call in sick.

There's this radio station that we covered in my newspaper that came up with a couple different holidays, and Mental Health Day is one of them. Of course, this is the same station that proposed that since Valentine's Day is mostly oriented towards women, men should get their own holiday: Steak and Blowjob Day.

UPDATE: My eye doctor's office called three minutes after I'd already left the apartment and ventured out into the rain -- the doctor had an "emergency due to the rain" and would not be able to make my appointment this morning and could I reschedule for another day? What do you think the chances are he woke up, heard the rain and decided to take a Mental Health Day?

I'm going back to bed. Wake me when it's March.

I love the smell of the outdoors after it rains. Everything smells fresh and clean and new. You can actually smell the green in the air. My grandmother used to say that rain is good luck. Eve has been telling me that rain is good because it cleans things up.

So, I broke things off with static-cling-girl. I felt horrible doing it. But I'm glad I did it now rather than later because I was starting to collapse under the guilt of quasi-leading her on, and I was having flashbacks to the end of a past relationship -- she was acting the same way as one of my exes had acted, and I was reacting similarly to the way I reacted back then, and I know how that situation ended so I didn't want to go through the motions all over again. I guess it really is true that you learn from past relationships.

As it turns out, she had been talking to her ex-fiance anyways, and he was coming out in a few weeks to see her. So I don't feel entirely too bad about the situation. However, I probably could've handled things with her a lot better, and I do feel awful about that.

So, I'm a free agent again, and my plans for this coming Friday are broken. Now if only I can get past the whole thing of being shut down this past weekend...

(By the way, special thanks to Eve. Not only has she been working all day on my blog, she's also patiently been reassuring me each and every time I've asked her whether I've done the right thing. Eve kicks some serious ass.)

It's raining outside. Since I've been in L.A., it's rained maybe five times. I welcome the change because -- even though many told me it would happen and I didn't believe them initially -- sunny & 70 degrees does get a little monotonous after a while.

As of a week from Friday, I will have been in Los Angeles for an entire year. It's a little hard to believe given the fact that I hadn't actually ever considered the option of living here until probably about six or nine months before I moved here. It's a little hard to believe that in the space of only a few days, I -- someone who my close friends and relatives never believed would leave the Northeast because they told me I was a person who was resistant to making drastic changes in my life -- packed up everything and moved 3000 miles away from everyone and everything I knew to start a new life. I'm told that Los Angeles is the place where people go to start over, so here I am, I guess.

I still remember coming into town that Thursday night. I had been on the road for hours because I'd begun the day in New Mexico, I was tired and I was on the 10 Freeway because I didn't know any better, so I was sitting in traffic. The world-famous KROQ was blasting through my speakers, and I was inching along as thoughts shot through my head at warp speed about starting my new job, resuming my old career, finding a place to live, meeting people, building a new life. I almost felt nauseous in that excited/scared-halfway-to-death kind of way.

So, here I am. Two separate people who also moved here from Boston independently told me that the first year in Los Angeles is the hardest year to get through, and I am thankful that I had it very easy. I've met some great people (and still continue to do so), I like my job and I'm having fun going and enjoying what L.A. has to offer. Hard to believe that I've come this far in only a year. My friends don't believe it, and I almost don't either.

Come to California
Baby, let it all hang out
Come to California
Tell us what it's all about...
-- Matthew Sweet, "Come to California"

Many people think that the lyric "the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire" comes from the Bloodhound Gang song. Rock Master Scott and the Dynamic Three did it first many years ago. Check the rhythm of the rhyme I wrote, yo.

I have seen the 9th sign of the apocalypse, which I thoroughly believe is nigh.

Ethel Merman's disco album is being re-released. God help us all.

There's a well-documented link between the timetables of my cleaning and my stress levels as pertaining to women. I have no idea why. But when I was in college and just starting to date someone (who would later become my girlfriend) and she was also dating a couple of other guys and my status in her universe was uncertain, my roommates said our suite was the cleanest they'd ever seen it. Given the revelation I received on the phone this morning, it's no wonder I found myself dusting and vacuuming the entire apartment this afternoon.

So. Mayhem and disappointment ensues at Remix Central as we deal with the events and ramifications of the past 48 hours, and especially the last few minutes.

I'm currently involved with a woman who I don't think I want to be involved with over the long-term, and I feel guilty because in some ways, I feel I'm leading her on and I don't want to "break her heart" (not that I'm saying I would -- but I feel like she's invested herself in this budding relationship while I'm not too into it at the moment) by breaking things off and I don't think it's possible to let things just dwindle. While I probably have the opportunity to tell her I met someone else and it would make things easier for me because I have a plausible excuse, I feel like she deserves the truth, and I don't know how to justify the fact that I continued things this long while I was considering pulling away from her.

On the other hand, I'd met someone through JDate who I really liked, who I thought "got it" (like she understood what I'm about and has a similar sense of humor and personality as I do and likes the same things as I did) and who I actually had people in common with thanks to the six degrees of Jewish separation. I'd gotten a stellar recommendation on her from my roommate's girlfriend, we'd corresponded on e-mail and on the phone to the point where I was really looking forward to any communication with her. And we were supposed to get together today. Then she called this morning and cancelled, saying that because of the online thing, she didn't feel comfortable meeting me. She was a bit weirded out and didn't want to get together -- she couldn't explain exactly how she was feeling, but she said that she felt she owed it to me to tell me the truth -- and she felt things were strange with all the e-mailing we'd been doing. So things are "on hold" with her, as she put it, and she said she'd call me, but I wonder if I'll ever hear from her. And I'm really disappointed, because I was really looking forward to getting to know her.

Why do things have to be so difficult? And why does this all have to happen while I'm watching High Fidelity, so as to make me feel more disappointed?

Sorry folks, I'm a bit worn out at the moment. I was out every night this week and have had minimal sleep, plus I was running around Chinatown with Inkgrrl all afternoon today. So I'm taking a bit of a night off, just chilling out and watching TV and doing laundry.

Many many thanks to Eve, who is an incredibly kick-ass person and is working behind the scenes to bring you all a new look to the site.

Okay, I'm officially in love now.

I saw Evanescence perform tonight at the Whisky. Their lead singer is the most amazing female rock vocalist I've ever heard, and you know I have a particular weakness for amazing female rock vocalists. She's incredible. And she's gorgeous. And she's down to earth, which I found out when I had the brief opportunity to meet her at the afterparty.

If you haven't heard their song "Bring Me To Life" (which you really should've since it's all over the place by now), then check out their site and listen to the stream of it.

Pardon me while I go sit in the corner and pine.

Okay, so I hate to reprint great things here that other people said because I like being funny and insightful on my own. But seeing Arianna Huffington on "The Daily Show" makes me hate her even more, and I'm so glad that he took her down a peg or two, especially since his debate with her made it obvious that she was regurgitating the same few lines over and over again and that she has no thoughts in her head besides the tired old mantras she came up with.

Arianna says that we need to take back America and care about our environment and read her book in order to get mad and motivate ourselves into acting towards saving the Earth. So Jon says, "Yes, but to print and sell every additional copy of your book, they had to cut down another part of the rainforest."

Even if I wanted to defend her, I have absolutely no comeback for that. Possibly because I was laughing too hard in an in-your-face-Arianna kind of way.