I'm back baby!! And I'm ready to TILT.

Free Book(s) - I have a new job working for an independent rare book seller. I found it randomly on Craig's List. It's been a great job and I'm enjoying it. We just got a big collection of 5,000 books from some estate, and as a perk our boss is letting us pick three free books each. It's hard, but I picked my first one this week. It's a 1958 copy of Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. It's not especially valuable but it's illustrated, with some lovely color drawings of each character. I love it. (I took the pictures quickly myself, so forgive the poor quality.)

Finding Friends From Forever Ago - We're talking my best friend from 1st grade. My mom said we did everything together as kids, but we moved the next year and I haven't spoken to her since. But this past week she found me on Facebook. How crazy is that? I know social networking can get irritating, but it can be pretty damn cool too. It's early on but I am excited about reconnecting with her.

Discovering a CD you want exists the day before it's released - Virtually no waiting! I LOVE the song "Falling Slowly" from the movied Once. The movie was decent, but the soundtrack is one of my all-time favorites. I love the style and the voices of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. I swear I've searched for more by them before with no success. Then through Pandora I happened upon them. They've formed themselves into a group called The Swell Season, and they released a new CD, Strict Joy, Tuesday. I found this out Monday. So I only had to wait half a day to buy it. The CD is a little different than I was hoping, but it's still good.

Friendly encouragement - I wrote that last blog post mostly to explain my absence in Cyber-land. I wasn't really going for pity or sympathy. But I got it. All the comments I got were so sweet. And yes, I may be more dependent on comments than I should be, but don't feel like you have to comment on my blog. It's cool. Thanks again everyone.

Upcoming theatre fun! - Next Tuesday I am going to see White Christmas with my dad, and then Saturday the 14th I am meeting my BEDA buddy Becky in Des Moines to see Rent. Everyone knows how big a Broadway musical geek I am and I can't wait because I've never seen either show live. Woot!

That's it for this week folks. Thanks for playing.

So this is my new blog site. Welcome.

I found a great free background this morning and I really LOVE how it looks. Though I do miss the three-column format of my old blog. Oh well, small price to pay for something that really feels like me.

I was really touched by all the responses I received to my blog post yesterday. You're all wonderful. It is nice to know that I am not the only one who feels like that about blogging sometimes.

And despite how pitiable I may have sounded in that post, I am doing well. I love my new job and that makes working at Chili's easier. I plan on staying in Omaha through the winter; I am NOT moving in December AGAIN. And in the spring I get to decide where I want to go from here. I just had a wonderful vacation to PA and NYC last month where I got to see two of my most favorite people plus Ingrid Michaelson, and indulge in passion/obsession for Broadway musicals. AND as I am writing this I am listening to Rockapella sing "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" Life doesn't get much better than that.

I hope to write again soon.

I promise. I really am. I was doing so well blogging for a while there, and I was enjoying the Things I Love Thursday tradition I had going with my BEDA buddies. But a couple of things happened.

First of all, I did get a new, better second job that I will talk about at a different point. So I have been busier, but happier.

Second, I felt like I had run out of things to say. Whenever I live in Omaha, I essentially turn into a reclusive hermit who only leaves the house to work. I have never maintained any friendships in Omaha, and every time I live here I always have the mindset that it is temporary so why bother making new friends. I am friendly with a lot of people I work with, but I have never tried to take it outside of work. I am trying to do better, I went out with my high school best friend a couple of weeks ago and I am hoping we will continue to spend time together. I have a couple other friendships I am cultivating too. It is hard with my schedule because most people work days and I work six nights a week. But the point is that I don't really do anything outside of work anymore but read and watch Netflix. I really don't think that would make for an interesting blog.

And the other thing is I got into a mind frame that nobody cared. Other than my BEDA buddies, I didn't feel like anyone read my blog, or my Facebook or my Tweets. Not to belittle my BEDA buddies because I love them, but it was hard to think that no one who I'd actually met cared to follow up on me. I don't know if it's actually true, but it was how I was feeling. To a degree, it's still how I feel.

So I stopped, but I really miss blogging. Maybe I am just writing for me and a following of three, but I can handle a small but wonderful audience. The point is, I am trying to get out of that technology funk, and I am working my way back into the blog world.

It's interesting though, how sometimes all the technology that is supposed to keep us connected to everyone around us, can make us feel more alone than ever.