that title is actually a bold-faced lie. i’m sittin’ on empty. the gas light came on last night. i think i can get twenty miles out of it after the light comes on. if you haven’t noticed, most of my blog titles (maybe all of them) come from some song or another. that one’s “Not For All the Love in the World” by The Thrills. i haven’t actually heard that song recently, but it has been running through my mind since last night.

so, i know that you real people out there can’t comment. i know that the spammers out there can. how is this fair? well, i know that it’s not. and i don’t known why it suddenly happened that way, because i haven’t touched anything on my server in a very long time. i don’t really intend to fix it so much as i intend to install another blogging system altogether. so, there’s that.

as for a life-update and all that, i’m sitting here at 9:06 AM drinking coffee that’s a tad bit burnt and that’s sweetened and creamed with Reddi-whip (because we have no milk). i’ve got nothing to do today, until about 2:00, save for sitting here listening to the technicians outside try to fix the phone lines. i’ve been ultimately lazy lately, as i have no work and no classes to attend. just an entire Animal Crossing village waiting for me to catch fish.

am i ready for Christmas? nah. but my family isn’t really doing so much for Christmas this year. we didn’t even buy a tree. since last year, dad’s set up a Linux machine in the living room, in the Christmas Tree corner of the room. i think a Linux machine makes a much nicer Christmas centerpiece than a tree any old day. not that i don’t love Christmas trees; i adore them. but they’re a lot of trouble, and we never put them up until Christmas Eve anyway, or take them down until February. a Linux machine requires none of this trouble or maintenance, and it can be a centerpiece for the holidays year-round. we’ll leave it up for New Year’s, and Valentine’s Day. we might put a green desktop on it for St. Patty’s Day, and maybe put some of that plasticy green grass on it for Easter. it will last throughout the year. and i’m not opposed to putting presents under the Linux machine. in fact, the family considered giving presents to the Linux machine this year. it would make more sense, really. it’s an easy computer to shop for. Amy and i aren’t getting anything for each other this year. when we’re tight for cash, we make the no-gift pact. if the whole family made such a pact, then we could throw our pennies together and buy some more ram, or a new hard drive for the Machine. it would like that.

i would ask if anyone knows of any good blogging utilities out there, except you can’t comment if you do. unless you’re the owner of a p*ker website, or you’re marketing some prescripti*n drugs over the internet. if you happen to know of something great, and you don’t have the privilege of being one of those elite few who can get into my comment system, please do drop me an email. cause i’d like to know.

oh, and Merry Christmas!

This is a post that I wrote at Lander sometime last month. I forgot about it then, but I’m posting it now. Sorry about that. It’s interesting to me, though, how my capitalization habits change from post to post. I wonder why that is. Anyway, here you have it. A blog out of order.

Due to my financial situation as of late (the situation being that I’m penniless and destitute), I’ve had to cut back on eating my typical five-minute Taco Bell or Subway lunches. This has meant frequent visits to Bi-Lo from my house, or to Food Lion near Lander and Hopewood. Having to make five dollars cover a week’s worth of lunches is a difficult task, and it’s one that requires a lot of scouting for those little yellow “sale” stickers.

Box of Food Lion Fruit-Loops: $1.29, lunch for two days.
Bowl of Asian Rice Noodles (just add water): $0.50, closeout price.
Butterfinger Crisp Candy Bars: 4/$1.00, all eaten on the way back to work.

After all of these trips to Food Lion, buying nothing that didn’t have an MVP sale sticker on it, the Express Lane cashier was getting tired of having to pull out her MVP card to save me a few dollars. Yesterday, she told me for the fifth time that I could register for my own MVP card at the Customer Service counter. I didn’t have to be at work for twenty minutes, so I filled out the form, punched out my golden “Food Lion MVP Customer” card and keyfob, saved 1.78, and left the store. Knowing how long it takes me to find any kind of card in my wallet, I slipped the keyfob onto my keys on the way back to the car.

Now, I know this shouldn’t be such a big deal. I know I shouldn’t be nearly as ridiculous as I am. But when I woke up this morning, and saw my keys lying in the middle of the floor, with a plastic grocery savings tag, I suddenly realized: I have grown-up keys.

Grown-up keys.

Even after I tried so hard, with the tie-dyed house key, the dangly purple butterfly, the bright red belt-clip, the USB key, and of course, the shiny red “Get Equipped With Atomic Fire” keychain, my keys will never be cool again. Because I chose to save money. To be a smart shopper. To release all of my personally indentifiable information to Food Lion, who probably now knows more about myself than I do.

I don’t know what to think of myself anymore.