Being Amber Rhea

I used to keep a “secret blog,” whose existence was revealed to only a handful of people, wherein I gave everyone pseudonyms and wrote about exciting things like the gory details of my sex life, and boring things like the gory details of job interviews.

The last time I posted to that blog was November 2006. It served its purpose when I needed it. I haven’t deleted it, because who knows, maybe sometime in the future I’ll need it again. But I was going back and looking at some of the old posts, and realizing that they do chronicle a very significant time in my life. This one in particular, I just thought was so sweet that I wanted to post it here.

Fair warning: if you’re going to be weirded out by X-rated language explicitly describing acts of fornication by people you know (read: me and Rusty), and/or if you’re my mom, don’t read below the cut. If either of those descriptions apply to you and you choose to read anyway, well, your reaction is your responsibility, not mine. Don’t act weird.
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Thank you to everyone who came to my birthday party last night! It was great to hang out with everybody and eat Boston Market catering and boob cake. (Thanks, Jen!) I feel weird when I’m the center of attention, so if I acted weird when I was opening the various cards and gifts, that’s why. Thank you to everyone who brought stuff… you certainly did not have to… and I really appreciate all of it. I appreciate everyone being there and helping make my birthday a fun day! Oh and to everyone who stuck around until I got up the nerve to actually do some stuff on the pole, thanks for putting up with my nervousness and not laughing at me. Maybe once I’ve had more practice on that pole/stage, I’ll be less nervous!

October is always my favorite month. I can’t put my finger on exactly why (I swear it’s not just because my birthday is at the end of it), but the weather plays a huge part. October weather in Georgia is just perfect to me. The air gets a certain autumny smell that makes me feel refreshed and generally optimistic.

A lot of shit has gone down over the past month and a half, and a lot of it has been (and currently remains) un-bloggable. It’s certainly not going away with the advent of October, but things are feeling so much better overall. We’re in our new apartment in Decatur, which feels way more like home than the old place ever did, even with furniture positioned haphazardly and boxes still stacked everywhere. Our plan is to stay here for a year, and then buy a place. This is going to be a good year.

And October is going to be a good month! It’ll be a busy month, but busy with good, fun, life-affirming stuff.

Upcoming awesomeness for October:

• Oct. 5: North Fulton Drama Club’s production of Merry Wives of Windsor.
• Oct. 6: Harvest ‘07 Erotic Art Show
• Oct. 12-13: BarCamp Atlanta
• Oct. 14: PoleLaTeaz student showcase - I’m performing!!! :D More details to follow.
• Oct. 18: Sex, Wine and Chocolate. (If you’re planning to come, buy your tickets now; space is limited.)
• Oct. 19-20: ConvergeSouth - I’m leading a session entitled “Podcasting and Beyond.” (Hmm, gotta make some PowerPoint slides this week… but only a few, I promise!)
• Oct. 21: After we leave Greensboro we’ll be visiting the Carolina Raptor Center, and then moseying back toward Atlanta, stopping along the way to photograph various small towns and Southern oddities.
• Oct. 22: Day off work for continued moseying if necessary, or sleep and whatever else.
• Oct. 26: Club 2Risqué new facility opening party.
• Oct. 28: Recording a new episode of the GA Politics Podcast at Manuel’s. (This is the part where I sit around and sip tea while other people talk about politics).
• Oct. 30: My birthday a.k.a. 28 Years of Amber Rhea.

Somewhere in there I’ve gotta find time to do mundane things like renew my driver’s license and upgrade the blog to WordPress 2.3, but that hardly warrants placement on the List of Awesomeness. Oh, and Jenny… are you still coming to visit? :)

I started a new/old job yesterday (if you know me IRL you probably know what I’m talking about), so now I’m busy with that. I’m still maintaining my computer break, but the point is, I don’t think I’d have much time for blogging this week even if I wanted to.

Anyway. Some quick updates. Sunday night’s party was a rousing success, complete with pumpkin carving, silly costumes, free flat beer, and podcasting. Here’s Rusty and me, looking holy:

Here’s what Publix did to my cake (Alyssa fixed it later):

This apparently made some people uncomfortable:

Alyssa carved a Loss Cat jack-o-lantern:

The rest of my photos from the party are on Flickr. Check out Dorie’s, too.

Moving on to Monday night… my Level 1 Pole Dancing graduation went really well! The video turned out less than stellar (that was partially my fault for not putting the camera in a good position), but I might post a short clip later. Photos will be on Flickr once Darcey gets them off her camera. I received a certificate, which I will frame, and a ceremonial white garter. The 6-week refresher course starts Monday, thus preparing me for Level 2 in January (featuring side spins!)

I’m sure there’s something I forgot to mention, but that’s all I have time for now. More coming… eventually!

The 1-year-anniversary edition of the Carnival of Feminists is up at Philobiblon. Check it out! Natalie has done an amazing job keeping the carnival going!

Since my birthday is coming up next Monday, this is probably the appropriate time to announce that I have an Amazon wishlist. I figured, why the hell not. I even added an 80×15 button about it to my sidebar, as if I need more of those.

Must work now. I’ve been reading too many interesting blog posts today and it’s one hell of a distraction.

This is from a spam email I just received:

panic bar dak bungalow carpet bed
thorny-edged corn-fed fat-tailed
high-stepping tooth cough Alpine parnassia
balance piston silver salt window dressing
foot stove still-flowing swift-spoken
Un-semitic self-purifying gold-rush
Wen chang bee milk quasi punishment
broad-spoken servant girl cattle mange

Wow. It’s like a haiku, except… not. Interpretations are welcome and encouraged.

In other news, today is the 26th birthday of the Village Whore Junky Slutbunny, a.k.a. my dear friend Jenny (or in the comments as “jt”). So that the legacy of her personal achievements lives on, I refer you to the old-school photo I posted on her birthday last year.

I know this was the iconic Being Amber Rhea image for a long time, but I think I might have a new one now. If you’ve been paying attention to the description field in my RSS feed lately, you’ll have noticed that it contains my new tagline. And now, thanks to the GDBF, I have a shirt that proclaims a variation of that slogan to the world:

It’s been a pretty goddamn good birthday so far. More blogging to come.

…not to be opened until tomorrow. (Well, maybe one tonight, like on Christmas Eve.)

Happy 25th birthday to the fabulous Niki Sol. Commence ruminations on life, the universe, and everything… now.

Since I couldn’t find the picture that I wanted to put up, of Niki and I from her 16th birthday party, this one will have to do:

(click for larger picture)

Sure, Jenny may hold the title of Village Whore Junky Slutbunny, but that’s a mere formality.

I love you, mtani. :) Welcome to the Quarter of a Century Club.

♪ Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday Michael Stipe,
Happy birthday to you! ♪

(A little late, but at least I remembered!)

…I’ll write an entry about my birthday. I turned 25 last week. I feel like I’m in a pretty good place for someone my age. Here are what some other people did when they were 25:

• Orson Welles coscripted, directed, and starred in Citizen Kane.
• Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly alone across the Atlantic.
• Bavarian painter Aloys Senefelder invented the lithograph.
• Alexander the Great became Pharoah.

Kind of puts ‘Web Site Developer III’ to shame.