I don't have much of note to talk about today, so in usual form I thought I'd instead just string together some of the notes I've been taking on my Treo this week. Enjoy, and I'll speak with you again tomorrow.

--Hey, who wants to go to a Maxim party tonight? I'm serious, man - through some circumstances I won't go into, I actually find myself on the guest list for some big free party in the Chicago Loop tonight, being sponsored by Maxim magazine; but unfortunately, single men have to bring three women with them (or "hot girls," as the invite puts it) to gain admittance. And I really want to go, because I think it'll make for just one of the more hilarious journal entries I've written here in awhile, so now I'm on the lookout for any local women who might be interested in attending such a travesty with me as well. I actually sent out an email about this to all the Chicago women in my address book yesterday, and one of them has already expressed an interest, so technically I only need two more women at this point instead of three; if you're interested yourself, please make sure to drop me a line as quickly as you can to ilikejason at hotmail dot com. Free drinks (maybe)! Free food (maybe)! Free pot (definitely)! Lots and lots and lots of drunk frat guys for you to make fun of! Me in my new leather jacket! How can you go wrong, people!?

--Man, is anyone else getting as confused as me these days whenever they see someone use the term "Web 2.0?" It was my understanding, see, that that term referred to a very specific project - that "Semantic Web" thing Tim Berners-Lee is working on, who of course is the same guy who invented the web in the first place. But a lot of times when I see blogs actually using the term, it seems that they're not talking about this project at all, but rather simply referring to the entire internet post Dot-Com Bust (i.e. "Only in the Web 2.0 would Yahoo consider purchasing del.icio.us"). But then some people seem to be kinda referencing Berners-Lee's project when using the term, but widening its definition - that is, using the term "Web 2.0" to refer to any project devoted to semantic markup, like Technorati or Flickr or the aforementioned del.icio.us. But then other people seem to be using the term according to its strict definition, and like me are seem to be getting frustrated with the term's definition more and more becoming "Anything on the internet that was invented after 2001." No big point here; it's just confusing to me, that's all, and makes me wish that humans sometimes didn't have such an obsessive desire to invent buzz words all the fucking time.

--My next book? Jason Pettus Nation: One pervert's journey through a Puritan America...and what you can do about it. Thanks, Greg, for the great party game!

--So I was at Dollop Coffeehouse in my neighborhood (Uptown) the other day, and on the coffeetable by my chair there was one of those huge-ass astrology books (this one in particular being The Secret Language of Relationships), just one of those mammoth 400-page things where they break the year down by week and give multi-page, extremely detailed personality analyses of those born in that week. And I'm not usually a big follower of astrology, of course, because I'm an atheist and tend not to believe in anything supernatural; but I gotta admit, their personality analysis of me was spookily accurate, so much so that I decided to reprint some of it here for you as well. Anyway, here's what the book has to say about all us "Pisces 2"s, or those born between March 3rd and 10th (or "The Week of the Loner," according to the book):

"Pisces 2s tend to live in a private world of their own.... Less balanced individuals born this week may choose to isolate themselves more than is good for them."

"Pisces 2s generally have an instinctive dislike of superficiality. ...For them, the way a thing is done is often more important than what that thing is, and the end therefore rarely justifies the means. Grace, honesty and an unassailable moral code prevent them from acting underhandedly.... On the other hand, Pisces 2s may express their dislike of society's mores through blatantly antisocial deeds - acting, as it were, in defense of their own right to individual expression."

"Those born in this week are great admirers of sensuous beauty, particularly in people.... [but] they generally believe that life is not just there to be enjoyed, and that one must in some way pay one's dues with a certain amount of suffering before obtaining any real benefit."

"Pisces 2s see a distinct difference between being lonely (which they rarely are) and being alone (which they are often)...they are capable of spending hours and days alone with a good book, or with their work, without needing to talk to anyone. In the workplace they do well as freelancers, operating outside the office..."

"Dangerous areas for the Pisces 2 personality include anything with a strong...addictive quality - drugs, drink, sex. Pisces 2s often crave peak [emotional] experiences.... If the Pisces 2 remains free to move on, such experiences will leave them greatly enriched in their personal development. On the other hand, should they be unfortunate enough to get hooked on their own personal suffering...they may wallow in such states for alarmingly long periods of time."

"Generally speaking, Pisces 2s ask only one thing from the world, and that is to be accepted as they simply are. That the world often cannot grant their wish becomes the cross they have to bear. To comfort themselves, they may...retreat to a fantasy-filled interior life, often devoted to beauty and imagination."

"Those born in the Week of the Loner usually have few friends, but those they have are often close and loyal. Many born in this week do not like large social events; intimacy is really their thing, and sharing intimacy with others...is perhaps their most cherished activity. Highly personal interaction is their forte..."

"In love - perhaps because Pisces 2s have a greater ability to enjoy such things than others do, or perhaps their resistance to physical pleasure is lower - they are more prone than others to be snagged by a pretty face, sensuous voice or alluring body. They will run the gamut of painful emotions [with a romantic partner], from jealousy to hatred, yet if they decide [to break up] they will feel powerful separation anxiety. Friends of a practical nature tend to bring them back down to earth."

Man, talk about seven years of this journal wrapped up all nice and neat for you.

--A thought I've had before, but have never shared here: the Christmas season really is designed for couples and families, not for single people whatsoever. I mean, let's face it, I'm one of those annoying fucks who absolutely loves the holiday season, loves everything about it, and even loves that it lasts an entire month here in the US - I was one of those kids who used to watch every single Christmas special, would get all excited about going to get the tree and trimming the house, who would even look forward to opening the windows on our Advent calendar each day, and nothing about that has changed. But what's the point of getting a tree and decorating your apartment, if you know that no one will actually be visiting you in December to see it? And visiting Marshall Field's to look at the window displays by yourself isn't any fun at all (in fact, it's quite depressing), nor is ice-skating by yourself at Millennium Park. And what's the point of watching Christmas specials as an adult, unless you're doing it with a kid at the same time? Sigh. I can honestly say that celebrating the holidays is one of the few things I miss about not having a family, and one of the few things that makes me want to have a family when I'm older (or at least a significant other); and I can also honestly say that when you're single, Christmas turns out mostly to be about grey snow, all your favorite TV shows getting pre-empted, and millions of tourists on the sidewalk who won't get the fuck out of your way. Happy holidays!

--Look out - it's more geeky thoughts about the "Getting Things Done" time-management system! I came acrosss a blog entry this week, in fact, by Matthew Cornell, that talks about something called "transitioning," which I thought fellow GTDers might enjoy spending some time contemplating as well. See, for those who don't know, GTD is fundamentally based on a series of lists you maintain; some are for more long-term ideas, like "Things I might want to do during my mid-life crisis twenty years from now," which you might not look over very often, while others are for much more immediate concerns, like "Things to pick up at the grocery store," a list you might interact with all the time. And then the GTD system itself is this remarkably efficient series of steps for actually determining which of these lists would be most helpful for you, creating these lists, maintaining them, and making sure that every single thought you have in a day eventually makes it to one of these lists or another, before you forget about it again.

One of the challenges of GTD, then, as regular practitioners can tell you, is simply remembering that these lists exist, and actually checking them before doing whatever activity that list is dedicated to; like not spending an afternoon running errands, for example, without first checking your "Things to do while running erands" list. Anyway, in that blog post Mr. Cornell talks about GTDers training themselves to better recognize the "transitional" periods in any given day - the moment, for example, between getting done with a bunch of phone calls, and turning to the computer to get a bunch of emails done. The more you can get your brain to automatically recognize these transition points we all have in a typical day, Mr. Cornell argues, the easier it'll be to remember to check your list for that new activity as well; combine this with your usual daily review and weekly review, he opines, and you will be on your way to a much more efficient GTD implementation. Anyway, definitely some food for thought, and I encourage fellow GTDers to check out the original post.

--The New Pornographers: great in the middle of the summer, great in the middle of the winter, great in America, great in Germany. They're great everywhere! Goddamn! The band and their music seem to cheer me up every damn time I pop them in my Walkman and crank it up, on a train ride while feeling a little sad for myself. How bad of a life could I have, anyway, if I'm allowed to experience music like this? I live in the city I've wanted to live in since I was a kid, and it is just as fucking great as I ever imagined it would be. I'm surrounded by gorgeous, intelligent, smartass women every second of the day. And I get to listen to The New Pornographers whenever I want, have them cheer me up so profoundly in the middle of a train ride that I want to stand up, throw my hands in the air and shout, "Hallelujah!" What the fuck am I feeling so sad about, anyway?