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Office Cake!

Office Cake!

Originally uploaded by Buffawhat. Taken 12 Jan ‘07, 4.23pm AST PST.

It’s VCM Amy’s Birthday Sunday at the agency. So like all good interofficers, we eat cake. Actually, its a lot of staff’s birthdays here in January, like mine. However, I will be calling in very sick Tuesday (I get Monday off!) because I’ll still be in Bradford.

Give a Mug, Get a Mug!

I’m participating in my first blog-by-mail event at C.A.C. We’re doing a mug swap, and I was tipped to this fabulous coffee receptacle sharing celebration by the loverly Jennifer.

I’m sending a mug to a California blogger, and receiving one from far away but beautiful New Zealand. I haven’t been in contact with a New Zealander since I was running my old design forum and had a rambunctious geeky gal on my team with the curious handle of PastyWhiteBoy. She used to tease us with pictures of the beach and her backyard. Ahh, the connections we can make…

Letter from great aunt

Letter from great aunt

Originally uploaded by Buffawhat. Taken 6 Jan ‘07, 9.51pm AST PST.

I got a letter from my great aunt Delores today! Im soon discovering how important family is… especially your extended one… I never really knew my grandmother… she died a long time ago… but Aunt Delores has done a great job of filling in and spoiling me. I think I’ll handwrite her back.

2006 - A year for growing.

My New Years celebration was spent working at Marcellas (3pm Sunday-9am Monday… I was just a little bit tired). Amidst the crazy drunks, dozens of beer runs, light boards crashing, and confetti cannons, I actually managed to have a decent time; then I cut my hand on a broken champagne glass (it was stealthily hidden amongst a pile of plastic glasses).

Looking back at this past year, I’m actually proud at how far I came:

• January - OMG 20! I escaped my teens and the countdown to 21 commenced. I was still living with Jamie in our next to last apartment on Norwood/Auburn. I loved that apartment. It actually had rooms, instead of the studio/lofts we previously and futurely occupied. My first semester of Buff State had ended, and I was in rough shape. School/Work/Jamie was a major conflict for months to come.
• February - I can’t remember too much of February except that I started my internship at the agency I work at now. Valentine’s Day escapes my memory, which is a good clue to how my relationship with Jamie was headed.
• March - School almost crashes on top of me… and later does. I believe this was the time that we moved once again (Jamie’s solution to bills? Don’t pay them and run! it was my fault as well, I never assumed any major responsibilities… just surrendered my paychecks every week) to delightful Elmwood. I did not sign the lease. This turned out to be a good thing. Utilities, however, were in my name. This turned out to be a bad thing.The buffawhat.com domain was bought at the same time I erased razyr.com. I can’t believe I just tossed away such a priceless blog/network and all my readers.
• April - I get hired at my agency and fall in love with my new career! My relationship with Jamie continues to plummet as the work/school/Jamie conflict escalates. I start to realize that I had poured my entire life into Jamie. He controlled everything. I let it happen; that was my greatest mistake.
• May - It was the beginning of the end. After about 20 breakups followed by some sap letter or something else that kept us together… Jamie began to ask me if I was living with him out of neccessity. I couldn’t answer that. I loved him, and like a good southern housewife I was willing to put up with everything to make it work. I had never truly lived on my own before; I knew I could do it, but I was so used to co-dependance.
• June - Pride 2006, my first pride event. I was gussied up in pink with Jamie and the rest of the Buffalo Bears on our “Friends of Dorothy” float. We strutted down Elmwood right in front of the catholic protesters, collected our first place float trophy… then headed to one of the bear’s house for a party. That night a misunderstanding prompted Jamie to leave me at the party. The following fight was a doozy… and I got into my first physical fight with a loved one. It was the end. I was tired of Jamie being an alcoholic, tired of him controlling my life, and tired of the bullshit that I let him get away with. The fight was more of a drunken stumble match… with gravity overcoming us both… but Jamie to this day will tell you that I tore his sternum and cracked three ribs. My dad picked my up that night and took me back to Bradford. I was in Buffalo by the end of the week (The fight was on a Sunday) signing the lease on my new diggs, the first all on my own, on the corner of Elmwood and North. I tried to come to terms with Jamie, but things just got worse.
• July - I’ve learned one thing well, and that’s moving on from a bad situation. I got over Jamie fast, maybe too fast. His obsession with personal life made things hectic for a while, especially at work. I still loved him, and even still do; it was so hard to watch him fall apart and do the things he did that month and the few to come.
• August - I started blogging again; buffawhat.com had launched. I reconnected with a friend and we started collaborating on some artsy stuff… I started dating again… the boy queue had commenced. Jamie’s attacks got more interesting, I started to fear for Brent’s tires (which oddly got slashed after a threat from Jamie).
• September - More boys to date and Jamie finally let go. Work took over my life and I was getting to be happy. I was also getting to be lonely. I quit smoking, too (that lasted for a few months).
• October - My boy queue was dwindling down and not much luck for a winner. I started gogo dancing at Marcellas and the club began to suck me in. It wasn’t so much the scene as it was getting behind the scenes and having something to do on the weekends. The storm prompted everyone in Buffalo to look for beer. My friend Brent was holed in with me (I think more out of desire than neccesity) and I got really sick from trudging around in the snow. The end of October brought a certain individual into my affections as my summer of power dating had left me jaded and tired of all the typical Buffalo queers.
• November - I went home for Thanksgiving and got sucked into MacHeist, despite the laptop biting the dust. I shed the single status for something slightly more attached as the bf (sorry, he refuses to let me mention his name again on the blog, out of fear that people find out that he’s really a sweet guy and in a relationship again… silly ole grumpy bear!) and I start a very interesting journey together.
• December - I seemed to acquire a new job with the new relationship, and I become the next light technician and barback at Marcellas. Christmas underwhelms me, and the bar scene gains my distaste as my weekends are consumed with getting people drunk for the holidays. I bump into Jamie at Cathode… we don’t speak and he promptly leaves with his date. I get my credit card in order.. and my plans to get out of debt have begun… The year ends with a bit of respect for myself on overcoming my biggest hurdle: trusting myself and believing that I can take care of myself.

2007 is going to be a big year for me. I really want to extend massive gratitude to the few people that read this blog and the friends I’ve made because of it.

Note: it seems that Jamie was mentioned a lot in the review… well he was a big part of last year… and yes I do admit he was psycho and our relationship was a total mess, but I also know that a lot of it was my fault. So I share the blame, and if you read this Jamie… thanks for whatever we had… I never would have been able to make it this far without you.

Saddam Will Not See 2007

Saddam should be arranging his last meal soon, as Iraqi officials are planning his death by Saturday. No longer in the control of the US, Saddam’s Execution date was quickly set.

“All the measures have been done, there is no reason for delays.” Says Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld Hussein’s death sentence.

The Americans plan to keep Saddam in custody until just before the execution is to undergo.

What a great way to end the year…. drop the ball on Hussein! Now that’s something to toast to.

Source = AP - via Yahoo News

The Gender Genie - How Butch is Your Blog?

A little bit of fun from Bookblog.net… Drop in some text copied from one of your blog posts (500 words or more helps out), and the Gender Genie will predict if the author is male or female.

Bad Bad Blogger

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