With the help of my good compadre Jay (the jay half of stephnjay) I realized what ETS means. The name of my department stands for:

Eat Talk & Schmooze!

I work in a department full of YENTAS! I HAVE FOUND MY CALLING!

Yes… it’s true. Pop is here to stay (at least for a while… ’till the next Cobain comes along). I know a lot of people pray everyday that they’ll wake up and all of those pop icons that we love to hate will have disappeared from the face of the music industry. UNFORTUNATELY IT’S NOT GONNA HAPPEN! Yes Ladies & Germs.. Britney is here and we can’t get rid of her. At least not for a little while. As a group, we humans are fickle… and I’m sure Britney and Christina will wear out their welcome. I just wish that it happened a couple of days ago. The thing that has really gotten my goat lately is the astounding combination of Overproduction and Underdirection. These groups tend to spend a lot of time whining about not getting respect (N’Sync is notorious for this and I’m sure O-Town will join their whiny ranks soon), but how are you going to get any respect if you have no hand in the production and direction of your music and careers? This is the future of these little pop groups and solo acts as I see it: — N’Sync will continue to have classic pop songs written for them and they won’t pick up a damned pen or an instrument to help the cause. They will continue to complain about not getting any respect for what they do even though they haven’t done anything but sing how they’re told and dance how they’re told and wear what they’re told. They will forever be stained because of their lack of involvement and control on their albums. — Backstreet will continue to write more and more of their albums. As they do this they will gain credibility as writers and artists (they do play their own instruments Ladies and Gents), and as they do this, their sales will drop incredibly because their songs aren’t being written by the men with the golden touch (Max Martin, etc..). They will then either split up and go solo (and probably make much more money as solo artists while working half as hard), or retire before they become the next NKOTB or Monkees. — Britney Spears will do the solo version of what N’Sync is doing and eventually fade into obscurity or turn her focus to acting (thus pulling a ‘Mark’ Walberg) if she’s smart. Let’s face it.. she’s cute and she seems to have a personality but she can’t sing for shit. Sorry Britney. — Christina Aguilera is destined for the land of DIVA because she REALLY does have a GREAT voice and an amazing range. Hopefully she will pull an Aretha Franklin and take the proverbial pen from the pop psychologists that craft her music and write a gritty album that chronicles her life and gain some credibility as an ‘artist.’ — O-Town and Eden’s Crush were planned on paper (or perhaps with Microsoft Powerpoint) and they will NEVER EVER get any respect in the music industry. They are the Monkees of today (without the capacity to play any instruments). — Destiny’s Child… All I have to say is this: We saw what happened to The Supremes. They’re doomed. In all honesty I only have respect for Backstreet & Christina. I know it’s kinda sad to say that… but out of all the groups in our faces today, they’re the only ones that seem to have either natural talent or the urge to take some control of their careers. When it comes down to it.. this urge to take control will most likely cost them their limo rides and free Armani outfits.

Ladies and gentlemen… this is the most exciting news that I’ve had all year. NETSCAPE IS GONNA CALL IT QUITS! YAY FOR OUR TEAM! Once Netscape bows out, then I can REALLY make use of my CSS book for sure!

I am finding out slowly that in my old age (i’m 24 now for those of you who have been living in a bucket) I am becoming less tolerant of certain things. One of my biggest pet peeves is manipulation.

Benjy would say that because I am female I am a natural manipulator. I would argue that though I have the capacity and perhaps the propensity to manipulate people, I do my best to avoid that route with people. It’s a very unbecoming trait… and it’s downright horrible to be known as a manipulator so I try my best not to do it to my friends and loved ones. Now… when people try to manipulate me or manipulate my friends they’re playing with fire because as a natural manipulator not only can I play the game but I can call other people’s games too. There are just certain things in life that I will not tolerate and this is one of them.

Secondly, don’t EVER play the ultimatum game with me or with my friends. When I was younger I admit I played this one a lot, but unfortunately sometimes it’s the only way to get people to do something.. sometimes for their own benefit (in very serious situations where they wouldn’t listen to you otherwise). It still doesn’t mean it should be one of the cards you play all the time. That’s downright stupid. Don’t tell my friend “Either you do this or I won’t talk to you again.” At this point, when you play this particular game, you’ve earned my (our) ire and you’ve earned it HARDCORE. What right do you have to tell someone else how to live their lives? This is part of the reason that I am pro choice. I don’t advocate Abortion by any means, but what gives a legislator the right to tell me how to manage my body? It’s as simple as that. If you think someone has a serious problem that needs attending to… tell them that… don’t play fucking mind games and power games with them. And if they’re smart, they’ll still tell you to go fuck yourself because you have no right to impose your opinions on them. We were all given the power of higher thought to think for ourselves not to think for others.

Finally, the other thing that pisses me off a lot lately is when people lie. Don’t tell me X, tell my brother Y and expect us not to figure out that we’re not on the same letter of the alphabet. That should be common sense. Don’t assume that I’m not going to confer with my friends on a quasi-regular basis about you. If you assume that we’re not talking about you (good or bad) you’re dead wrong. When shit hits the fan, everyone’s getting splattered. Remember that.

You’d think that as we get older we’d have the decency to think a little about how our actions effect the people around us. I have come to learn that not everyone takes the time out to think about this and it saddens me deeply. The one thing I DO know is that I don’t trust anyone I don’t consider a real friend as far as I can throw them.

Why is it that people who have the least to say spend the most time talking? I was just thinking about this and I find it really amusing. The most shallow individuals I know spend the most time talking about the most inane shit. It’s really true… think about it. Imagine the most shallow person you know and really think about the amount of time they spend talking. Now you should be thoroughly amused but scared at the same time. I think if these shallow people who babble bullshit all the time would spend more time with their traps shut… we could reverse global warming. That’s just my spin on it.

I’m now in my “Mid” Twenties. ACK!

As you get older, birthdays don’t mean as much. I think that’s both a good and bad thing.

The Good:

1. Do you really want to draw attention to the fact that you’re getting older?
2. After you hit 21, there are no more true milestones till 25.. and then all you get to do is rent a damned car.
3. Do you really want to think that hard about the future? Marriage… jobs… houses… cars… etc… PRESSURE!
4. No more birthday punches.

The Bad:

1. Birthday parties and exorbitant presents were pretty fucking cool.
2. It’s nice to be spoiled and pampered for 24 hours straight… especially when your birthday is nowhere near Christmas season… where you can also potentially get pampered.
3. Birthday Rights: “We’re gonna do it MY way cause it’s my BIRTHDAY!”
4. Birthday punches (for the punch-ers… not the punch-ees)… nothing like a quasi-formal reason to wail on your friend for all the little things they did to piss you the hell off.

**SIGH**

So glad it’s over. Gotta go take my Geritol. G’nite.

Ok it’s been almost a record breaking three weeks that Elise has had this cold. But in defense of my immune system, I do believe that I’ve actually had two different colds. The first one was completely in my chest, and shortly after that left (i had like a 1 day break.. probably more like a couple of hours) I got quite the head cold. I took some Sinutab and let me tell you that it really does dry out your sinuses and breathing passages… so much so you feel like your mouth and throat is a desert of sorts. So now I feel REALLY good but my throat is kinda raw and dry. I s’pose that I can’t win. I just really want to be better for my birthday.