I’m sure you can tell by the title, this weekend was very active!  I think I did everything BUT sleep!  LOL!!!  As a matter of fact, I had to get up earlier this weekend than I do on weekdays!  Saturday I got up and got all cleaned up and put on my black button-up shirt with black tie and black khakis and headed for the grand reopening of BLVD Music looking like Johnny Cash.  Trevor had said that he had a surprise for me since I had been waiting on a new bass for like four months (being a lefty bassist is not easy!).

I got there early and the crowd was already growing.  I kept trying to get Trevor’s attention to find out what the surprise was but he was genuinely busy with all that was going on and I was glad to see that it was going to be a success BEFORE I even went on the air!  I finally was able to catch him for a few minutes so we could do the first on air break together and afterward he unveiled my surprise: a lefty Traben Chaos Obsession which had been custom ordered by THE AUTUMN OFFERING bassist Ritchie Williams who had ordered two but only kept one!  I was told that I was so excited I was shaking!  I didn’t notice because all my attention was on my new toy!

After all the excitement, I had the somber duty of paying my last respects to Mattman’s father, Phil Harris a.k.a. Diddy.  Even Matt got up and spoke during the eulogy without the help of anything written and he didn’t miss a beat.  He and his father were close and I honestly wish I had got to know Diddy better.  I would run into him from time to time while working in my office on the weekends and he was a true delight.  Seeing Phil made me not dread working on the weekends so much when I saw him.  He was truly a great man and I don’t say that just because he is no longer with us as many people do once someone has passed on.

After leaving the funeral service, I called Rebecca and we went back to Spartanburg so she could show some apartments.  Since we were in Spartanburg, we decided to head back to BLVD Music and partake in the reopening after-party.  Rebecca decided to be designated driver so I could have a drink to take a bit of the edge off from a fairly long day.  I had what they call a loaded Corona with Jose Cuervo Tequila mixed in.  Lemme go ahead and say I’m not a big fan but, as nasty as it was, its effect was more than satisfactory as one was all I needed!

Rebecca and I then headed home stopping by Blockbuster so I could use one of my Total Access trade-ins and picked up You Don’t Mess with the Zohan on DVD.  I saw it in the theater but Becca hadn’t seen it and we both were in the mood for a good ridiculous comedy and Zohan delivered!  Highly recommended!

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan  \m/  \m/  \m/

I am very excited being it is the first day of October, my favorite month of the year!  And it happens to come the day after a very eventful day being yesterday was both the day that Iron Man dropped on DVD and the day of Planet Birthday Bash XII!

I left my apartment yesterday morning and went straight to Best Buy to pick up a copy of their Iron Man Limited Edition DVD Gift Set which came with a collectible bust.  I then got to my office to open my new toy only to find that the bust was busted!  Iron Man lost his head!  Literally!  So I got back into my car, went and found some gas (which is a scarce commodity these days!) and went and exchanged my gift set.  I am proud to say Iron Man is now sitting on my desk with his head intact!

After work, Rebecca and I had to haul ass down to Clemson for our twelfth birthday bash with BUCKCHERRY, SHINEDOWN, SAVING ABEL and local favorites PARMALEE.  Unfortunately, I missed PARMALEE’s set but, thankfully, they are local and they frequent shows in town so I’ll have to make a rain check date!  I made it just in time to catch SAVING ABEL put on a great set followed by SHINEDOWN who has never disappointed me!

Turtle and I had the honor of going onstage to make the last announcements of the evening before BUCKCHERRY took the stage.  It was my first time seeing them so I guess you could say that BUCKCHERRY broke my cherry!  LOL!!!

We actually managed to make it home before midnight (well I did; Rebecca still had to pick up her car and head home from my apartment!) and I anxiously ran in to watch some special features (deleted/extended scenes mostly) on my Iron Man DVD and a few minutes of the movie before having to throw in the towel and hit the sack out of pure exhaustion!  Oh well, there’s still tonight!  It’s not like I haven’t seen the movie all the way through three times already!  Remember, I gave it a perfect score of five rockers!  In case you forgot, here it is again:

Iron Man  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

So much happened this weekend so it’s no wonder why it flew by so quickly!  Friday night I went out to The Real Gypsy to see my best friend Kenny’s band MARTIANS SEE RED play since they were in town from Atlanta.  These guys get better every time I see them and this time was no exception by any means.  I was especially floored by their cover of METALLICA’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” - especially considering we used to butcher the song over ten years ago when we were both starting out in our ‘garage’ band FEAR THE GHOST and I was attempting lead vocals!  I have video evidence of this abomination!

After the show, a bunch of us went to seek food at 3 a.m. and ending up at the Waffle House on Roper Mountain Rd just a mile or so down from my apartment.  Kenny and his drummer Troy (who was a roommate of mine for a few years before relocating to Atlanta) both decided to crash at my place since it was so close by.  We got in a little after 4 a.m. and Kenny took the couch while Troy took the futon in the spare bedroom.

We all slept in until well after noon and then they took off for Atlanta since Kenny had to work the next morning.  I pretty much laid low for the rest of the day until Rebecca came over and brought her new rescued dog, a black Great Pyrenees named Atticus.  Yeah, she really is dog crazy!  I was amazed at how well behaved the dog is!  I wish my dog Molly would be!

We put Molly out on my balcony and left Atticus in the living room as we ran to Lowe’s so I could get some carpet to cover the balcony before I get new neighbors downstairs so Molly’s pee doesn’t end up raining down on them!  That may not go over too well with the front office!  We then had some dinner at Red Robin’s and got back in time to catch Turtle usher in the Planet’s new metal show Planet X! 

The show kicked off with some FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH with “The Bleeding” then went into the new MUDVAYNE track followed by some “Cowboys From Hell” by PANTERA!  He also spun some of my old school favorites like “Peace Sells” by MEGADETH, “Dead Skin Mask” by SLAYER and “Madhouse” by ANTHRAX!  Of course, there was also a healthy dose of new metal such as “Forever” by IN THIS MOMENT, “Hearts Burst Into Fire” by BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and “Two Weeks” by ALL THAT REMAINS!

I had a hard time going straight to bed afterwards since the metal got my blood pumping but I managed to crash within an hour.  I got up at 7:45 a.m. which is extremely early for me being an afternoon DJ and all!  I caught the 8:30 service at church so I could meet my mom and aunt at 10 for our trip to Chimney Rock, NC.  We stopped and got some late breakfast and got to Chimney Rock right around noon and spent a few hours taking in the view….and the gift shops!

On the way back, we stopped at Grandad’s Apples to visit the llama (yes, they have a llama!) and get some homemade jams and jellies.  I picked up a jar of apple jelly and a jar of blueberry jam which is flippin’ awesome!  PB&J’s anyone?

Well, now the weekend is pretty much over as I will be taking to the airwaves tonight at 11 for Upstate Unsigned with Donnie from WHISKEY MOUNTAIN MACHINE in studio!  See ya there!

Monday marked the first day of autumn, my favorite time of the year!  Today marks the first day I’ve had a minute to write about it!  LOL!!!

The weather has been so awesome the past couple of weeks with cooling temperatures that I wish I could broadcast my show is some outdoor studio!  I admit I’m not usually much of the outdoor type - until this time of year, that is, due to the moderate climate conditions.  I’m even arranging a short trip this Sunday to Chimney Rock, NC with my mom, my aunt, my dog Molly and possibly Rebecca.

Let’s not forget another reason I love this time of year:  the holidays!  It’s a three month onslaught of indulgence with Halloween (CANDY CANDY CANDY!!!) in October, Thanksgiving (FOOD FOOD FOOD!!!) in November and, of course, Christmas (GIFTS GIFTS GIFTS!!!) in December!  Granted, Christmas is technically in winter but, let’s face it, winter doesn’t usually get sucky around here until January and February which, in contrast, are my least favorite months of the year!  Not that I try to dread any part of the year, but those months are just so dismal!  I guess after a three month high (not that kind of high!  Drugs are bad, mmm-kay?!) I go into a bit of a new year low.

Anyways, I’m already looking past my favorite time of year, what the hell is wrong with me?  Autumn is falling and the holidays will soon be upon us!  And, for those of you who don’t already know, this will only be my second holiday season not working in retail!  Last year was a great holiday relief for me!  I’m sure this year will only be better!

Wow!  I was soooo busy yesterday I didn’t have time to blog about my mini vacation to Atlanta!  I went down Wednesday night after work and stayed with my friends Kenny and Troy (gotta love sleeper sofas!).  When I got there around ten, Troy was already passed out from a hard day (pansy!) and Kenny and I went out to a couple of sports bars where he proceeded to have a few too many beers.  Needless to say, getting home was fun being I had no idea where in the hell we were!  Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, drunk driving’s bad mm-kay!

Since we got home at, like, four in the morning, Kenny was a little difficult waking up later that morning so we could go to the Georgia Aquarium.  I convinced Troy to come along although I still ended up driving, but at least I had a coherent navigator as we made our trek into downtown ATL.  The aquarium was really nice, but we were able to cover the whole place and get some overpriced food in about an hour and a half.  Not quite worth the nearly $30 admission price, but I’m glad I went anyways.  Overpriced but enjoyable if you have the dough to blow!

I took it easy the rest of the day, but spent the day with our mutual friend Paul on Friday while Kenny and Troy were at work.  We grabbed some lunch at the Golden Corral in Alpharetta then went to Best Buy so Paul could pick up the new METALLICA cd.  While we were there, someone tipped us off that Hot Topic was selling it for only five bucks that day only.  Needless to say, we ended up at the North Point Mall to pick up the new cd and take care of some other shopping since we were conveniently at the mall anyways.

We got out to Paul’s car (no, I didn’t have to drive this time!) and popped the new METALLICA disc in at a good, full volume!  Wow!  It’s the first time I’ve wanted to crank a new METALLICA cd in 20 years!  It’s still not quite what they used to be in some ways, but, I gotta say, Lars has really outdone himself with his drumming which is a relief considering the YouTube clip where he can barely keep up the double bass in “One”!  The whole album is so much better than “The Day That Never Comes” which I consider to be the weakest track on the album.  I will further dissect the new METALLICA in the next issue of The Village Idiot where I now do CD reviews each month (and which would explain why I haven’t done any in a while here in my Twisted Thoughts!).  Make sure you grab a copy!  It’s FREE!!!!

METALLICA  Death Magnetic  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

That night Kenny, Troy and I went to a surprise birthday party for their bandmate Justin.  Kenny, surprisingly, stayed sober that night so I didn’t have to drive!  I did, however, do some really crappy driving in the Wii version of MarioKart.  The party was held at their friend Andy’s house and he was a wizard at the game taunting his opponents as he whipped our asses.

After the party, Kenny and I met up with a few other friends from the party at the Oasis, a fun little ‘gentleman’s club’ as they like to call them.  I still had money left over being I was shacking up at Kenny and Troy’s which was bad because that left me with money for dances.  In the words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I got to say about that”!

I was invited to go to a college football party at Kenny and Troy’s other bandmate Gerr’s house to watch Georgia take on South Carolina.  I was already planning on heading to the Mall of Georgia that day while on my way home so I regretfully declined because they were gonna have some good eatin’!  I proceeded to head home and stopped by the mall and pretty much spent the rest of my paycheck (which was cool since yesterday was payday!).  I picked up a new pair of Chucks, a couple of shirts and a new coffee table book (I’ve been obsessed with those lately!) on roller coasters.

I got home, unpacked and unwound and prepared for my usual Sunday ritual of going to church, visiting my mom and aunt and working on Upstate Unsigned.  And, of course, I got my own copy of the new METALLICA disc yesterday so I can fine tune my review!

Labor Day weekend was just that: laborous!  So, when I wasn’t working, I was out trying to blow my paycheck!  Hey, what’s the point in working relelentlessly if I don’t take some time to go out and enjoy it?!  Friday I met up with Rebecca after work.  Yes, we are on speaking terms again and trying to somehow sort out our differences in some way whether it leads to us seeing each other again or not.  She brought me her latest dog rescuee being she is like the crazy cat lady only with a crapload of dogs instead of cats!  I think she knew I’d be interested in this one being the dog is a Boston terrier and border collie mix and I have always wanted a Boston terrier.  So she brought Molly (the name she gave her being she is fond of giving dogs people names - as for me, I still want a male Boston terrier and name him Vader!) to the apartment and we went to Target to pick up some stuff for the dog (leash, toys, bowls, etc.) and then went to Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner.

Saturday I did little more than do my on-air shift and the same could be said for most of Sunday.  My mom and Aunt Pat came over to see the new addition to the Twisted family and we walked her out to the small man-made lake out by my apartment complex.

Monday, when I wasn’t on the air (again!), Rebecca and I managed to take in a movie: the new comedy spoof Tropic Thunder starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr.  Of the three lead characters, Downey clearly made his mark portraying “the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude”.  I mean his character stayed in character until the end of the movie!  “I stay in character until I finish the DVD commentary!” I believe he said….and he wasn’t kidding!

And let’s not forget the A-list supporting cast of Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey and, oh yes, Tom “Damn, my ass is crazy!” Cruise!  I really enjoyed the film as it was a breath of fresh air from other crappy spoof movies such as the ridiculous Scary Movie saga that has bled over into the even more preposterous Epic Movie, Disaster Movie and all the other ”Fill in the Flippin’ Blank” movies!

And it really pisses me off that everyone is all up in arms about their references to mentally handicapped people as ‘retards’.  I admit it’s in rather poor taste, but isn’t comedy supposed to be unapologetically irreverent?  I mean I just watched the new Harold & Kumar flick on DVD and it’s remorselessly racist!  Being a Christian, I constantly see shows like South Park or especially Moral Orel that make a mockery of my beliefs.  Yes, it offends me, but I simply choose not to watch it if it gets too offensive which I did stop watching the latter of the two shows because it honestly made me feel like a heathen….or worse!  LOL!!!

Tropic Thunder   \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

And here’s a few of the DVDs I’ve watched recently now that I have a steady supply of rentals with Blockbuster Total Access:

I just mentioned how racist Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay was, but don’t get me wrong, it was a riot!  If you liked their first adventure getting to White Castle, you’ll caertainly enjoy this!

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay   \m/  \m/  \m/  \

I pretty much got what I expected out of Prom Night and maybe a little more since it was more bloody and violent than what I would expect from a PG-13 rated slasher flick.  Granted it is painfully obvious that it is not a remake of the Jamie Lee Curtis horror film of the same name.  The character names are different as well as the overall plot of the movie save for the fact that both films occur on (big surprise here!) high school prom nights.

Prom Night  \m/  \m/  \

When Grandma’s Boy first came out, I thought it would be a big piece of crap trying to capitalize on Adam Sandler’s success by throwing a comedy together using a cast full of his supporting cast regulars - but no Sandler.  It turned out being one of my favorite comedies in recent years so I had high hopes for Happy Madison’s latest DVD release Strange Wilderness.  I have to say I was somewhat disappointed.  Don’t get me wrong, it had some rather hilarious moments, but just didn’t deliver a comedy I’d really want to watch again.

Strange Wilderness   \m/  \m/  \n

That’s it!  I’m done and heading home to take care of Molly!

I recently got into a discussion with Mark Dennis, our web assistant, about space travel and how the thought of being stuck in a relatively limited space attached to many tons of highly explosive fuel and being projected into an infinite, frigid environment with no oxygen or life to speak of really doesn’t set well with me.  Well he has been bugging me ever since to blog about my fear of space travel.  So, here it goes:

First off, I am rather claustrophobic.  I do not like being in confined places.  Let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t plan on excavating any mines or caves anytime soon!

Secondly, I am apparently thanatophobic meaning I am afraid of dying (thanks phobialist.com!).  Call me crazy, but there’s just something about dying I am not in a hurry to experience!

And lastly, I suppose I have a touch of astrophobia which is a fear of stars or celestial space.  Granted, I am fascinated by the cosmos, but, at the same time, I am terrified of what lies out there.  I don’t mean hostile aliens or anything, but rather very realistic threats such as comets, meteors and other celestial phenomena that could obliterate life as we know it on Earth.

So, I am content keeping my twisted ass earthbound leaving things beyond our atmosphere alone and hoping like hell they do the same!  Ok, Mark, I hope you’re happy and you had better be the first to leave a comment!

And, no, this is NOT about my trip to the dentist Tuesday! 

I recently signed up for Blockbuster Total Access which is basically the Blockbuster version of Netflix only, with their version, you can trade out DVDs with local Blockbuster stores which is totally sweet!  I got my first three DVDs this week and went back and watched Batman Begins for the first time since I saw it in the theater.  I wasn’t a big fan of the grittier, more realistic feel to the new Batman franchise (I believe I mentioned that in my review of The Dark Knight), but since seeing the new film, I wanted to give the first another shot and I am glad I did!

I also got the new horror flick Teeth which I watched last night.  As if I needed another reason to swear women off, I had to sit and watch a film about an extremely chaste teenage girl dealing with her budding sexuality - and the mythical phenomenon known as vagina dentata meaning she has razor-sharp teeth embedded in her womanhood!  Jess Weixler did a great job portraying the homely yet oddly attractive lead character Dawn who is very innocent yet curious about her newfound sexual urges.  She discovers her malicious deformity when she is assaulted sexually by her love interest Tobey.

She then makes the next obvious move and goes to see a gynecologist with more tragic results.  She then seeks solace in the arms of another male admirer only to be taken advantage of by him which, of course, turns out to be a bad move on his ‘part’ (pardon the pun)!  After all this, and a devastating family tragedy, she ‘evolves’ from a sweet, innocent symbol of purity to a vengeful vixen complete with fangs in her nether regions!  I think I’m gonna abstain myself until they invent chain mail condoms!  LOL!!!

Teeth  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

This weekend it became painfully clear to me that I am losing touch with the outside world.  Not with what’s going on in the world, but with people in general.  All my life I have always been someone of a loner.  No, I wasn’t the quiet kid everyone was afraid was going to just snap and go on a shooting rampage (remember I went to school before Columbine and related incidents).  I have always been rather outgoing associating with many but getting close to very few.  Even my best friend I am not very close with being he lives in Atlanta and we both lead very busy lives.

Since college, I have really only been close with someone if I was in a (romantic) relationship.  Having just come out of a year-long relationship back in May, I have, until recently, maintained a close friendship with my ex Rebecca.  Now that we are no longer on speaking terms, I feel very isolated from other people.  I even had a lady friend stay with me most of the weekend after meeting up with her and some friends at the PARMALEE show at the Handlebar Friday night.  At first it was great having some female companionship, but, on Saturday, I started withdrawing inward into my own twisted little world.

Yesterday, I went and had lunch with my mom and aunt (yes, the infamous Aunt Pat!) as I do nearly every Sunday, but it was rather short as I went to meet my friend Robbie at Guitar Center.  I grabbed a couple of guitar stands for ten bucks and we rode over to Jack in the Box so he could grab something to eat and we could catch up being he has been spending a lot of time at home with his wife and kids.  We sat and talked and even in that brief amount of time I started to feel alienated.  I’m not sure what it is exactly.  I think part of it has to do with the fact that I can’t identify with his lifestyle as a family man.  Not that there is anything wrong with it, I just can’t identify with it.  Even my cousin Ray, with whom I have been fairly close with all of our lives, is now married and expecting his firstborn son in less than a month.

I have always made the lighthearted observation that I am like the Muppets character Gonzo in that you really don’t know what he is being he is just some oddball character who loves putting on a show.  Of course, you would later find out he is really an alien in Muppets From Space.  Many people think I am just like Animal with my crazy red hair and even crazier spastic persona, but the truth is that Gonzo truly is the one I relate to the most with my sense of (no pun intended) alienation.

Maybe I just need to continue to draw inward and attempt to really discover myself and keep my public and private self as two different entities.  However, I will not hide my private self because I don’t believe in hiding anything.  Which is why I am writing this.  I am labelling this as another chapter of ‘Words of Twisdom’ even though there really aren’t any words of wisdom here, just an educated observation of myself.  Which is what further confuses me about my lifelong isolation.  I am one of the most open, honest people you will ever meet which are qualities you would think people would flock to.  But, then again, a lot of people can’t handle honesty.  To quote good ol’ Jack Nicholson, “You can’t handle the truth!”  Plus, I do have to be guarded because I meet some ‘interesting’ people being I am broadcasted almost daily over open airwaves with the push of nearly 100,000 watts.  Sadly, as I result, I end up avoiding some potentially valuable relationships.

However, for the time being, I am going to continue my routine of getting the job done then rewarding myself by making time for myself.  And now I have a new incentive to do so being I just got my Marvel and DC Comics encyclopedias from Amazon.com on Friday.  There’s a reason they put a big smile on their boxes!  And they should keep me preoccupied until something else comes along!

Ideally, relationships are meant to bring the best out of two people.  However, in many cases, the opposite is true.  Most, if not all, of us at one point or another, meet someone that brings the worst out of us.  Many of us meet several in our lifetimes.  I am certainly no exception.

In college, I met a girl from Florida named Elena whose parents were from Puerto Rico.  We hit it off immediately and got along great…..for a whole weekend.  She being a college freshman (I being a sophomore at the time) she wanted to date around which was understandable - except for the fact she kept going after my friends and then ran back to me after getting shot down.  This went on for a whole semester with her last pursuit being my first cousin and bandmate Ray.  This was too much for me to handle but still I wanted her.

Christmas break came and we went back home - me to Greenville and Elena to Florida.  She began writing me like every other day (this was just before the internet and email took off) and she’d ask about Ray.  At this time was when Ray and his now wife Erin began dating.  Needless to say Elena was crushed, but bounced back by claiming to have ‘come to her senses’ and realizing that she only wanted me.  Of course, to me at that time, this was wonderful news!

So, when we returned to Winthrop the next semester, we began our hot ‘n’ heavy relationship with the both of us quickly losing our virginities (yes, I was a virgin until I was 19).  However, it wasn’t just our passion that was hot ‘n’ heavy - our fighting became quite notorious as we would sometimes fight clear across campus.  That woman pulled elements out of me that no other woman ever has (and hopefully never will).

After dating for three semesters (roughly a year and a half), Elena broke up with me during summer break while she was taking summer classes at Winthrop to, again, pursue other relationships.  So our relationship had come full circle and my heart was severely broken.  Was she worth my time in the first place?  Surely not, but that didn’t matter because my heart often overrides the functions of my brain.  That and my libido!

The only other person to have ever caused as much grief and heartache would be my most recent ex-girlfriend Rebecca.  When I first met her, she was living in Savannah so I kept my distance because I’ve had enough bad experiences with long distance relationships.  We kept in touch through MySpace although she dodged any proposal of meeting up.  Finally one day she actually called me and we began talking and I learned that she was moving back to Greenville.

She was in town for a couple of weeks prior to her actual move and we went out and hit it off…..for about a month.  Hey, I admit, that was longer than Elena!  We started dating officially after only a week and then she was back in Savannah.  Almost immediately after our first date, her ‘best friend’ which also happened to be her ex-boyfriend, started in trying to sabotage the relationship by pulling various stunts.  Rebecca, of course, just tried to dismiss his actions because she valued him as a friend even to the point of it jeopardizing our relationship.

At first, I rolled with it as best I could because I really felt Rebecca and I had real potential.  However, their relationship obviously made me very insecure in our relationship and, after about a month, it started to take its toll.  Over the next six months, she broke up with me at least half a dozen times.

To make matters worse, when she returned to Greenville and bought her first house, I would drop by to see her to find her ex there - and sometimes at late hours!  I would walk in and nothing would be going on, but Rebecca would be visibly startled to see me and then be quick to get defensive when I made my accusatory conclusions.  Do I think there was anything going on?  Actually no, I really do believe that Rebecca is just too nice a person to see the harm in certain things and certain people.  To this day I don’t believe she sees her ex for who he really is.

Late last year, I did some probing and found some inappropriate things, not necessarily physical, about their relationship and brought it to her attention.  That encounter did not go well at all, but I think it actually sobered the girl up just a bit.  Over the holidays we slowly patched things up and took our last run of the relationship after the new year.  She put her friendship with her ex aside and we had a fairly decent run for a few months.

Back in March, we took our first (and consequently only) vacation together as we went to Savannah for St. Patty’s Day weekend and then went down to Orlando.  During that time, it became painfully obvious to me that I was growing tired of the relationship largely due to our lack of communication.  I still loved her very much, but, despite all the time we were spending together, we never really talked.  Obviously I am open about EVERYTHING!  Rebecca, on the other hand, is not.  She is content with letting things slide instead of addressing them.  I am much more confrontational.  I love to talk.  She prefers to just sit quietly with her significant other and say very little.

Granted, there is nothing wrong with either trait, but those traits make our personalities almost irreversibly incompatible.  So, at Spring Fling this year, we had our final fight as a couple.  She had a friend pick her up in Spartanburg and we officially ended the relationship that night.  After being together off and on for right at a year, neither of us wanted to just say goodbye.  Of course, Rebecca is obviously used to being friends with her exes in the first place.

So, we tried seeing each other as friends.  Well, I probably wouldn’t be writing this blog right now had that plan worked out.  As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure Rebecca is not going to be happy that this blog is being written as I am sure she will be reading it.  However, I am actually not doing this for the sheer intent of upsetting her in any way though I’d be lying if I said I had not the slightest bit of ill will.

The fact is that Rebecca has a good heart and I truly believe that.  However, my friend Mikey summed it very well in saying that she has her priorities straight when it comes to her job and finances but tends to let her friends come at a distant second.  This consequently makes her somewhat unreliable as she rarely does what she says she will do - well at least in the time frame she says she will.  Me, I am punctual and prompt in nearly every way - at least when it counts considering I am late to the office almost every day but, hey, I get the job done!

Again, this difference in traits has made it virtually impossible for us to coexist as friends.  At least as close as we had been until recently.  Her inability to do as she promises to had finally reached the breaking point for me.  So I demanded the key to my apartment back after telling her off.

Instead of giving it to me in person, she took it upon herself to enter my apartment yesterday while I was making my weekly visit to see my mom and aunt, took her bridesmaid dress she had left after a wedding and slid the key back under the door after locking up.  Needless to say, I was furious when I got home at the fact that she had entered my apartment after I had told her to return my key.  Being an assistant manager at an apartment community, she knew that there was nothing I could do legally, but how does reflect upon her especially considering her profession?

I am honestly baffled by her recent actions as they do not seem to come from the same person I have cared about for so long.  Ultimately, that is the inspiration for writing this blog as it makes me reflect upon not only this relationship which was doomed from the beginning, but all of my doomed relationships in the past, only one of which I spotlighted for relevance.  It is also the reason I have made a new blog category called “Words of Twisdom” as I am hoping to share the lessons I have learned in the past.  Hell, who am I kidding, I just hope I learn from my past mistakes!  If you gained any insight from this or have something to share yourself, feel free to leave your own thoughts - granted they’re not as ‘twisted’ as mine!

And since I’m talking about doomed relationships, you can see just how ‘bad’ your girlfriend is by taking the “Bad Girlfriend” survey here.