How? HOW?

I don't just go around handing out my e-mail address. I give it out when I see a little box saying, "We will not use your e-mail address for third-parties blah blah blah," or if the store or person I'm giving it to has a genuine reputation or reason for needing it.


And yet, STILL, I'm getting junk mail. WHERE HAVE I GONE WRONG? One of these websites/stores is lying, clearly, and giving out e-mail addresses to whoever asks willy-nilly. How can we trust the world in these troubled times? I just deleted a bunch of e-mails from my Junk Mail folder in my inbox: Fucbook, ROLEX GIVEAWAYS FREE GET IT NOW, Enlarge Your P*N*S...and some girl keeps e-mailing me, asking where I've been and didn't I like her anymore. 


LADY, I DON'T KNOW YOU, STOP E-MAILING ME ABOUT SOME NON-EXISTENT NIGHT WE SPENT TOGETHER.


I'm resorting to writing out letters now. It's fun, if a bit of a pain for my hands. Ah, how we have evolved, if we (or maybe just I) find holding an actual pen tedious. I wrote to Niki while she was away at college this past year, and I enjoyed knowing she was receiving them. It felt nice - almost like a blast to the past, to the old days when our parents wrote letters because e-mails didn't exist.


Woah. A world without e-mails. Almost unthinkable to us now, isn't it? T'was called Snail Mail for a reason. No immediate way of contacting someone with official details and files attached. Of course, junk mail has existed since then too. No doubt our parents were getting fliers about brothels downtown, or the newest supermarket sales (sans coupons, the bastards).


Obviously, I'm not really resorting to hand-written letters all the time. Like I said, it's a pain. Also, e-mails are free, and I'm frugal/stingy. 


Ja ne.

Laying Ghosts To Rest

A couple of days ago, it occurred to me that there were people that I weren't on the best of terms with, but that I still had the temerity to call my friends. Some I hadn't spoken to in years, some, months, and all for different reasons.

I also realized that I would like to be a proper friend. I do remember having arguments with a few, but they were so long ago now that it seems silly to hold a grudge. And I don't even want to have grudges against anyone, truthfully. I wanted to just let go of any animosity, move on, and be happy with my life.

So in my head, I made a list of five people that I should contact and make amends with. The idea to write to them and offer my apologies for anything that went wrong came to me in the middle of the night, so I felt quite blasé about it all. It didn't seem like a big deal to just suck it up and step forward first.

The following morning, though, when I was actually faced with having to write out the words, it didn't seem like that great an idea. I thought, what if I'm just obsessing over these things and they don't even care? Or, why should I have to apologize for things that were both our faults? Or even, in one case, why should I have to be the person to take the first step in this?

They were all excuses, though. I wanted to do this because I wanted to be a better person, and over-analyzing every little thing wasn't likely to help. 

So I did it. I sent out my e-mails/messages to all five of the people, explaining what I thought had gone wrong and saying that I was sorry if there was a sorry to be said.

Two of them have gotten back to me, of the five. And even if the other three never reply, I'm still glad that I made the attempt, and can think of myself as a better person for it.

Most people would choose to forget about it and move on and if you do, that's up to you. I'd encourage facing up to it, though. Honestly, I cannot tell you how very light I feel. 

Getting into contact with five people I thought I should re-establish friendships with was actually one of my resolutions for this year, and it's only March! It'll feel good to tick it off the list. I've printed out the list and put it up on my wall, so hopefully everything'll be done.

Happy End of March, everyone.