First of all, let me start off by saying thank you to everyone who left a comment on my previous entry. I'm extremely flattered. Writing isn't just a hobby of mine, it's a part of who I am. I've always written to express myself in one way or another. I honestly can't imagine my life without it. Seeing my words and my inner most thoughts touch people in a way that made them want to reach out to me and share their thoughts in return is an amazing feeling. So thank you. 

Yesterday before I went to sleep, I wrote that blog and submitted it to the site to be featured, but I never thought it'd actually be chosen out of the countless entries I'm sure Xanga receives. I was very surprised when I woke up later, checked my email, and saw that I had countless friend requests from various strangers. That's when I knew that my blog must have been chosen. It was cool when I got online and saw myself on the main page of Xanga. Finally, I had arrived!

Naturally my friends want to know what the confession is. Who would have thought that staying quiet on a blog is what it'd take to get people to read the thing? lol Some people already know the secret. Some don't. When and if I decide to tell the ones who don't, it won't be on a website where only I get the microphone and the spotlight while they're forced to blend in with a crowd of strangers who learn the truth at the same time as they do. This isn't a talk show, people!

I imagine that when the time comes, I'll tell my friends in person - treating them with all the love and respect that I could give to people who I'm lucky enough to be able to call my friends. That's the only way I see fit, so that is how it'll be. I love my friends. I have great friends. The friends who know about my Xanga are all very happy for me. They know how much recognition means to me when it comes to writing and expressing myself. I'm lucky to have them in my life.

My best friend asked how I planned to top my last blog entry. lol We agreed that it would need to be a very epic and controversial post. I don't think this is what either of us had in mind, but this is how I'm feeling. When I think about the last 24 hours, my favorite part about this whole experience is reading everyone's comments. Everyone has such different opinions and brings a new element to the discussion. I think that's really cool. Those differences are so beautiful to me.

When people thanked me for blogging about the thing they had been afraid and unable to say, that was like a wake up call to me. It solidified my desire to connect with people through forms of expression such as writing. People shouldn't be thanking me. I should be thanking them. It's weird that all of this happened because I sleepily wrote a blog about keeping a confession to myself. In keeping quiet I was rewarded with communication. Funny how life works sometimes.
 
PS: Sorry if this blog disappoints. It's all I got in me at the moment. I'll reply to several of the comments later.

Movies

Sex and the City
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Mamma Mia
The Ruins
The Strangers
Saw 5
Step Brothers
Role Models

TV

Gossip Girl
One Tree Hill
Lipstick Jungle
Privileged
Desperate Housewives
America’s Funniest Videos
Wife Swap
Family Guy

CDs

Sex And The City: Music From the Original Motion Picture
Madonna – Hard Candy
Britney Spears – Circus
Pussycat Dolls – Doll Domination
Janet Jackson – Discipline
Mariah Carey – E = MC2
Katy Perry - One of the Boys
Alanis Morissette - Flavors Of Entanglement

Singles

Fergie – Labels or Love
Beyonce – Single Ladies
Madonna – Give It 2 Me
Paula Abdul – Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow
Britney Spears – Circus
Michelle Williams – Break The Dawn
Jason Mraz – I’m Yours
Katy Perry – Hot N Cold

Websites

Perez Hilton
D Listed
Xanga
Mad-Eyes
Imdb
Amazon
Corbin Fisher
High Def Digest

Highlights

Going to New York for the first time
Discovering Christian Universalism
Seeing Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet tour
Seeing the Spice Girls’ Return of the Spice Girls reunion tour
Spending Thanksgiving in Illinois with my family
The birth of my niece, Ava
Getting a new SUV
Getting closer to my long distance friends (Dan, Jim, Josh, Stephanie, Todd, Tom)

Hobbies

Talk on the phone
Writing / journaling
Browse the Internet
Play video games
Watch a Blu-ray
Go shopping
Dancing / exercising
Get stoned / drink

Lowlights

Religious uncertainty / defending my beliefs
Fighting with people that I love / being mistreated
Not getting to go back to New York as planned (May, November, December)
Janet Jackson canceling 2 different shows I had tickets for (PA, NC)
Having to miss my trip to Philadelphia and New Jersey due to sickness
Being forced to sell and unable to sell my 5^th row tickets to see Madonna
Going to the hospital for mysterious headaches last April
Letting go of people I really care about (Garret, Josh, Kevin, Mike, Nate, Sarah)

For those of you who read my previous post, you know that the day after Christmas didn't begin so well. I stayed up all night feeling sorry for myself and focusing on a lot of bad stuff. Fortunately, I got the chance to chat with Jim and we cleared up a lot of stuff that was going on in my head. It was nice to have someone to talk to and it really helped me to feel better. By the time we finished talking, it was around 7 or 8am and we both needed to get to sleep.

I didn't end up falling asleep until almost 9am, which made me very anxious because I had a big day ahead of me that I couldn't wait to start. I woke up several hours later around 1pm, which was fine because I was way too excited to sleep. All year long I'd been looking forward to the day after Christmas more than Christmas itself. This was my day to take advantage of after Christmas sales and to return some stuff that people got for me that I didn't want.

Normally, I'm not a return whore. I usually keep whatever people give me with the idea that I'll get what I really want the week after. This Christmas was different. I wanted to be responsible and save my money. So instead of getting things I wanted in addition to getting things I didn't want, I just decided to exchange those unwanted gifts and save my money for something more important like school tuition or my March visit to New York for my 26th birthday.

In the process of making those returns and exchanges, I had a really fun day. The lack of sleep caught up with me from time to time, but I didn't let it stop me. I shopped from about 2pm until about 8pm. It was incredible. lol I got so much stuff and it cost me nothing. I should be a professional shopper. lol In all seriousness, I feel like I did a really smart thing. I got exactly what I wanted, spent nothing, and I finally have some money saved away for the future.

Now there's a Christmas miracle. lol

Unfortunately, there weren't very many after Christmas savings; however, I did manage to find a few bargains, but only because I'm amazing, not because they were easy to find. lol I didn't see any major sales, which was pretty disappointing. I saw a lot of things marked down, but most of it was either still too overpriced or junk. Tomorrow, I might go into more detail about Christmas and the day after. As of right now, I'm extremely tired and I'm going to sleep.