I'm having sudden reservations about this. As usual I'll plow ahead anyway.

The crux of it is, I made y'all a (e:valentine) mix CD. I can't help it, it's just something I do. I made one for my ex the first year we were together and again the first year we were apart. It's like the freakin' salmon swimming upstream, I have no control over it.

Besides, is it my fault 96.3%* of all song lyrics are related to love? Love gone right, love gone wrong, unrequited love, forbidden love, etc., etc. Anyone who's recently fallen in or out of love knows what I'm talking about. So vday is the perfect opportunity to unabashedly mine that motherlode for all it's worth.

So that's all fine and good, and fits in with my newfound policy of: if you're inspired to do something that has the potential to bring happiness, just do it for god's sake, don't overthink it! Still, this could backfire horribly. But whatever, my intentions are good.

If you want to give it a shot, download the zip file here. But I have to warn you it's probably going to take 30 minutes. I know, I know - I started out making an iMix, but iTunes only had 11 of the 16 songs so that's no good! Sure, maybe I could bittorrent it. But somehow I don't think my vday mix is going to warrant the same demand as Best of Bootie 2005.

BUT, if you're snowed in on Valentine's Day, happen to have some extra time on your hands, or don't mind a valentine with some assembly required - well, here you go. Download the zip and go open a bottle of wine.

• 87.4% of all statistics cited on the internet are completely fabricated.

p.s. - Don't say I never gave youse anything.

Update -

Hey - I'm glad some of you tried it! What's a little bandwidth among friends? ;-)

I realized I forgot to include the album art in the zip file, so here it is below. Just something I used for an alamedalink promo last v-day. Contrary to popular belief, I don't spend all my time doing this kind of sh!t, only 27.8% haha.

I love going to the hardware store in SF and eavesdropping on conversations. Case in point today -

Hardware guy: "What are you going to use it for?"
Artsy chick: "Well, I'm making a sculpture, and the lightbulb is going to go inside her left nostril..."

and on it continued. I am not making this up.

Seriously, one of these Fridays I'm going to have to hit Discount Builder's local bar at quitting time. I would LOVE to hear these guys tell their stories.

I can totally sympathize with all the new and continuing health club resolutionists. I really just wanted to take my yoga and pilates classes unmolested by a personal trainer, but somehow I ended up with 5 "weight-training" sessions. OMG, don't I know better than this by now?

So at the 4th session she says "we" (and by "we" she means "me") "are going to do three repetitions this time." WTF? If I'd known that I would have skipped the hatha yoga class. Not to mention hand-sawing my freakin' arm off all morning.

Thanks for the BootieSF [inlink]ajay,432[/inlink] link, (e:Ajay). Adrian & the Mysterious D spun the "Somebody Rock Me (The Killers vs. The Clash)" mash-up at the Download Festival at Shoreline last October. (Sorry - got my music festivals mixed up earlier.) It was fun to hear it shortly before the Killers took the stage. They didn't take the opportunity to do a Clash cover however. ;-)

I'll have to check out the monthly mash-up party at the Cherry. (Now Annie's Social Club? When did THAT happen?) I've been to the Cherry a few times to see "E's" friend play. Oh yeah, I reconnected recently with "E" through none other than Myspace. Love it or hate it, if you want to be "listed" on the social circuit, it's almost a requirement. Guess I'm coming out of my semi-reclusion.

I'll be at the Lovemakers show Tuesday at GAMH. They put on a great show, even without the simulated sex onstage since the two leads broke up. It's painful to watch her sing "Set Me Free" now. And this time on Valentine's day. Ouch!

Speaking of which, I'll be going to that show with music buddy Larry and his now ex-girlfriend Britta. They decided to go platonic on New Year's Eve. THAT'S gotta hurt.

Let me just tell you I have no problem being the Valentine's Day consolation prize. I knew from the start Larry and I weren't going to be anything but music buds, and we've been seeing shows together steadily for over a year now. Wouldn't mind finding someone special for me though, and I hope the same for Larry.

Seems like I had a lot more to say but luckily I forgot what it was. Looks like the (e:peepettes) had a fun outing! You go girls.

p.s. - (e:Paul), I LOVE the bonus [prev10] [next10] buttons. Thanks! I hope you recovered enough from the workout and party to go dancing. Good thing coding isn't strenuous. ;-)

Probably my most unconventional V-day was the first one with Mark, because it happened to fall over Presidents' Day weekend so we were at the 24-hour science-fiction movie marathon that night. Might sound a bit premature for a 24-hour public date, but we both had our tickets for the marathon long before our first "regular" date on MLK day. ("Schindler's List" if you must know. Oh yes - it was my choice too. My god, we were doomed from the start.)

Oh, and to top it all off, my ex at the time, Scott, also showed up for the mararthon and decided to sit with us! I had prepared Mark that Scott might be there and he was totally ok with that. Not so ok with him sitting on the other side next to me for 24-fucking hours. I'll never live that one down.

I was thinking about all that recently because it doesn't look like I'll make it for the marathon this year. Oh well.

I'm really not into Valentine's Day at all. Too obligatory. I have a thing against that. At the same time, I do have some very precious memories of V-Day's past, which sadly were documented and almost immediately lost about a year ago. Oh well again. Better to have loved and lost, etc. etc.

My Dad and Jean are off to NZ/Australia today. They thought it would be a good idea to plan their itinerary to include a 6 hour layover in Chicago so my brother could show them around, since he just moved there in August. Then they land in SF for an "equipment change" (not what you're thinking) before continuing on to Sydney. So now my Dad is obsessed with having dinner with me in SF, since he got to have b'fast with my sister before she dropped them off at the airport in Charlotte, a belated birthday lunch with my brother in Chicago, (Dad had the lobster for $17 and my brother had half a lobster stufffed with crabmeat for $10, and naturally couldn't pass up getting the second half for only an additional $4 - my family is obsessed with food bargains), so having dinner the same day with the daughter in SF would be the ultimate hat trick. They even tried to get on an earlier flight to make it happen, but no luck. Sorry Dad! Maybe next time. I'll make sure I'm ready if your equipment change at SFO happens to be delayed though.

Damn, I can't wait to retire. I think my Dad needs a blog.

(e:Decoyisryan) - I've got tix for [inlink]decoyisryan,2[/inlink] Arctic Monkeys next month - I can't wait! Also been listening to Hard-Fi and The Editors. Missed both bands at a small local club [inlink]twisted,59[/inlink] in just the past 2 weeks for very lame reasons. There are so many great small and mid-size venues around here - I've got to get back on the circuit. And a lot of the 80s bands are coming around again too. Just saw Echo & the Bunnymen, and am going to see X again next month. Talk about an interesting musical crossroads...

p.s. - can I just tell you living in the SF rocks? 15 minutes to the Golden Gate bridge, 10 more minutes to the winding coastal curves of Highway 1, and a mere 20 minutes more to [inlink]twisted,8[/inlink] paradise. And the feeling was just as good coming back. I love this place. I feel so much better now.

Peace out all.