IJMC - The International Junk Mail Clearinhouse Returns
Wow, it almost sounds official and whatnot. For those of you who have
noticed (and those who haven't, so, for everyone...) the IJMC has been
off the air so to speak. The last post went out almost exactly a month
ago. Some of you have asked why, and I thank you for it. Jason, Bela,
Jennielf, Aaron, Barbara, Maggie, Patrick, Flip, Michael (Ivey, da
Founder Extrodinaire), Thomas (no, not you Flip, I already said you),
Betsy, cmestra, Jennie, Brandon, Bret, and Stephanie, thanks.
So what's been up? Why has the IJMC been so quiet? It started with just
taking a night off and thinking I'd get the post out in the morning. Then
I didn't send one out in the morning. And everything blossomed from that
into this. Which tells you the what, as I find myself procrastinating on
the why.
To continue the procrastination for a moment, I'm jumping ahead to
mention something that has come out of this past few weeks. I've come to
the realization that I'm tired of running the International Junk Mail
Clearinghouse to meet everyone else's expectations. Which means this: the
IJMC will continue, one-a-day or 365-a-year as I see fit by my schedule.
I'll usually warn you about more than one-a-day or my disappearing for
trips and whatnot. But there's more.
I'm going to keep out the more adult stuff, but adult themes will still
show up every once in a while. Basically, I'd rate the IJMC as PG-13, or
ok for anyone who's older than 13 (for those who don't know the American
rating system). Also, I'm dropping the facade, the IJMC is my little
blurb with a joke attached. I'll say what I want in my blurb and that's
just how it is, regardless of my mood at the time. I've been told
recently that I've been "a little out there." It's how it will be at
times, and that's part of what the IJMC is.
For those of you who don't know, a little history on the IJMC. It started
out as a distribution list to send funny stuff and keep friends up on
what was going on. That was Michael Ivey's list. I had one too, and with
permission I started sending mine under the name of IJMC(2). Then we
consolidated and I ended up with one list with half my friends and half
people I didn't (or hardly) knew. Since then the IJMC's grown
tremendously. But I'm not happy treating it as anything else. I don't
make a profit (not a dime, actually) off of this, I do it cause I want to
for various reasons.
Ok, far too much procrastinating. I hope everyone continues to enjoy the
IJMC, whether for my blurbs or the jokes or perhaps for the combination of
the two. Now, on with why the IJMC disappeared.
Basically, as I said, I dropped one night and it continued from there.
The last few weeks have been very stressful for me and I've managed it
somewhat. I don't think I've done badly, but I think I could have done
better. Why so much stress? I've been pulling fifty hour weeks at work
and until last week I was still behind in my tasks. I took 12 hours of
classes this quarter and was cramming to finish out the quarter well
(finals were last week). I'm supposed to graduate (2-year degree, nothing
big) this quarter but there has been a monkey wrench in those works. I've
worked on two different fronts to fix that, but one of them included
fitting studying for an entire quarter's worth of work in about two
weeks. That ended last week as well.
All said and done. It's nothing new, I've been doing classes and work for
over two years straight now. And this has been a good year, too. I quit
lying to my friends and family about my situation with very positive
results. I'm getting back into shape as most of you know (btw, the weight
is up, but I've exercised 11 out of the past 14 days -- trying to check
the body fat compisition next week to check the weight gain...).
Other things are good as well. I'm in a job where I garner a lot of
respect, including a raise from my boss last week when the money was
already good. I have this list and a lot of people that I can call friend.
I'm ready to move out of the house I've been in for over two years but I
have a great potential roommate. I'm going to Key West in a few weeks. My
friends are doing well, two getting married next month, one next year,
several finishing some good professional certifications, and another well on
his way to his doctorate. So that's not it.
What do you do when you find you've been in love with someone for seven
years and they're moving to a different corner of the country you live
in. Me, I get stressed out and mourn. And try to spend as much time with
the person as I can. Next week, she's gone, leaving possibly for good.
I'm going to deal with it, and things will be fine, but I feel like a
large part of me is leaving with her. I always thought she'd be around,
that there was plenty of time to build a relationship. I never pushed
things and just let them play their own course. I suspect I was always
afriad she wouldn't respond if I tried for more than the friendship we
had. I think I was a fool.
I'm twenty-four years old, and I've had a seven year old crush that's
finally flattened me. I've learned from it but I'm definately saddenned.
I hope things will work out if given time, and I know the adages. There's
always someone else. Time heals all wounds. Whatever you live through
makes you stronger. Well, I don't feel so strong right now, I haven't had
time to heal anything, and I don't want anyone else. There's only been
one other person who meant anything like this to me and it was while I
was dating her that this one came into my life.
Maybe distance won't matter. If I believed that I wouldn't be in the
state I am right now. I know I'm taking this as more of a catastrophe
than it is, but for once in my life I'm feeling things strongly instead
of simply alongside reason and thought. Until now the only emotion I've
ever felt this much has been anger, and I don't feel like restraining
this like I do with my anger.
That's my sob story, take it as it is. Care, don't care, skip on and
wonder where the joke is, it doesn't matter to me. I wanted to get it
out, and you are here to read it. Life will move on, and the next IJMC
(going out in a few moments after this) will have a joke attached.
And I was wrong, it does matter some to me. I thank you for reading this
far, for whatever reason, and with whatever feeling you have. If it
didn't matter to me, I wouldn't have written. Thanks.
With no futher ado, and a lot less melodrama, Let The IJMC Recommence!
Sincerely,
dave
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| dave@ijmc.com ( O O )
|-------------------------------------------------oOOo--U--oOOo-|
| David P. Thompson "Could you come up with something better?" | TANSTAAFL
| Volunteer NASA relief shuttle pilot, available on 1 hr notice | Coke is it
|
