Love in the Age of World Domination

Most Awesomely Bad Breakup Songs

This is VH1's official 40 Most Awesomely Bad Breakup Songs.

OMG - I LOVE more than half of these songs!! Yeah am a big fan of really bad 80s songs. I also generally like elevator music and hotel lobby bands.

No but seriously you've got to watch this to really get the flavor of it - with all the crazy fashions, cheesy lyrics, and the biting commentary, its HIL-arious.

  40. Total   Eclipse Of The Heart - Bonnie Tyler
  39. Separate   Lives - Phil Collins ft. Marilyn Martin
  38. Unbreak   My Heart - Toni Braxton
  37. Don't   Know What You Got (Till It's Gone) - Cinderella
  36. On   Bended Knee - Boyz II Men
  35. Say   It Isn't So- Hall & Oates
  34. www.memory - Alan Jackson
  33. Headed   For A Heartbreak - Winger
  32. Look   Away - Chicago
  31. You're   In Love - Wilson Phillips
  30. Don't   Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) - Motley Crue
  29. Red   Red Wine - UB40
  28. Looking   For A New Love - Jodie Watley
  27. If   I Could Turn Back Time - Cher
  26. F!#% It (I Don't Want You Back) - Eamon (lyrics   not available)
  25. Still   Loving You - Scorpions
  24. Sara   - Starship
  23. Stronger   - Britney Spears
  22. At   This Moment - Billy Vera
  21. I   Miss You - Klymaxx
  20. When   It's Over - Sugar Ray
  19. Broken   Wings - Mr. Mister
  18. The   Tin Man - Kenny Chesney
  17. Don't   Turn Around - Ace Of Base
  16. All   Cried Out - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
  15. From   The Bottom Of My Broken Heart - Britney Spears
  14. She   Hates Me - Puddle Of Mudd
  13. On   My Own - Patti Labelle & Michael McDonald
  12. Missing   - Everything But The Girl
  11. I'll   Be Over You - Toto
  10. Missing   You - John Waite
  9. It   Must Have Been Love - Roxette
  8. It's   Not Right But It's Okay - Whitney Houston
  7. I   Still Believe - Brenda K. Starr
  6. One   More Night - Phill Collins
  5. Hard   Habit To Break - Chicago
  4. How   Am I Supposed To Live Without You - Michael Bolton
  3. Foolish   Beat - Debbie Gibson
  2. All   Around The World - Lisa Stansfield
  1. Blame   It On The Rain - Milli Vanilli

How to be a Good 'Friend'

Ah how the rules have changed.

Given that these days one is more likely to make friends on Facebook than at work or at the local coffee shop, we could all use some guidance. So courtesy of Valleywag:

1. Get in the friend zone. Have at least 15 "friends" so you don't look like a loner. But if you're just starting your career or not very connected, be wary of filling out with over 100 tenuous connections; after that, keep it below 300.

2. Be the interesting one. On a network where people actually do stuff (like the social messaging site Twitter), you can set yourself apart just by never wasting other people's time. Don't tell everyone "I'm making a sandwich." Tell them "I just dropped half my sandwich on the floor, peanut-butter side down. I picked out a couple of hairs so I think it's still okay to eat."

3. Interact with your friends. A Facebook user who just sits there without messaging, writing on walls, or at least joining a couple of groups; or a YouTube user who's never left a comment; or a Flickr user who has just three favorite photos, is like a sex partner who just lies there.

4. Let it all hang out. The more someone can see of your profile before they be"friend" you, the more likely they'll see something that makes you a good "friend."

5. Remember the reality curve. The more activity that happens on a social site, the more "friends" you can add that aren't actually friends. For instance, adding a hundred people you've never shaken hands with on Facebook is bad. Adding a hundred such people on Yahoo Chess, not bad at all.

6. Fake it just a little. Put up a flattering profile photo or highlight your best accomplishment. The slight disappointment as your "friend" gets to know you is a normal part of all human relationships. Just avoid lies and Photoshop.

7. Don't set your relationship status to "It's complicated." No one wants friends who are "complicated." Unless, of course, they're kind of creepy and think they can steal you away from whomever things are complicated with.

8. Link your social profiles to each other. Link to your Blogger or MySpace accounts from your Facebook profile. (Unless, of course, that's where you keep your private confessions and bong collection photos.) Like adding your friends as "friends" and filling out your profile, this just fills in context about you and makes you seem more like a real person.

9. Make mutual "friends." For a particularly tough-to-meet "friend," you've got to invade from neighboring territories. Yes, this is a metaphor from Risk, but it's kinda true.

10. Leave a wall post on birthdays. Endorse your colleagues. Favorite your "friends'" photos. Even if these little gestures feel meaningless to give, they feel strangely powerful to receive. In another sense, that's the whole point of being a good "friend."

"Thats my Daughter in the Water"

M - this one's for you.  Father's Day gift. I've been working on this for weeks, sorry it took forever to get the website upload to work. Make sure your volume is on and switch to full screen.

As the Pounds Creeps Up

And the summer swings on in the Nation's Capital..

But - first - where in heaven's name did June go? I quite remember May.. and now there's July.

1) I can’t fit into my clothes from last summer… as a few more pounds have surreptitiously crept up on me. So being forced to go shopping and buy new stuff. I have started with this print dress… all the dresses now are those tents that hang from your chest that make you look 8 months pregnant.  I wore this to a party at Natasha’s some weeks back. Later that evening I asked her “so you didn’t say anything about my dress.. .” “Yeah we need to talk about that.."  Mean!

2)  New job is awesome as is new colleagues- kinda nice to be around very young people who are plugged-in ipod/youtube/green-living types after the ailing aging baby boomers shuffling through the corridors over at 1818 H Street. The first thing I noticed when I got here was that everyone has really nice hair… or at least a significant amount of it … which was an interesting contrast from before.

3) Finally bought a place in DC after a good couple months spent up and down the NW postcode looking at some 30 or so properties. Its a nice little condo in Cleveland Park that backs right up into  Rock Creek Park - like literally all you see is this thick green forest. Super quiet, very secluded, and just the kind of place I can disappear into for days without emerging. There is a little guest room - so now I can have visitors without me having to decamp into the living room.

4) HRH Dad has been here providing technical and moral support on the condo project - in particular he was instrumental in pushing me to actually sign on the dotted line, instead of looking and looking but never committing. Because well, thats me. Commitment, responsibility, and spending significant amounts of $$ on anything, are all anxiety-inducing events that make me wanna go bury my head in the sand. Or in the internet.

5) Dad's visit was, as always, replete with fabulous meals and great conversations full of insights and analysis.. he always comes up with some stuff that never fail to floor me. Like,
Dad: I am so glad you now have some really good friends that you actually enjoy being with.
Me: Huh? I always had a ton of friends!
Dad: Yes, on paper. But you never gave anyone the time of day.. to develop authentic sustained relationships.. from the time you were a kid, you always preferred some loner activity like reading books, or writing, or talking to yourself, than actual interaction with other human beings.
Me: Great! Thanks for sharing Dad. Glad to know am making progress.

6)  M and family are well in SL. He likes to do crazy things like taking my little infant niece who’s barely 5 months old on tiring, dangerous, pot-holed road trips all over Sri Lanka. And then he gets mad that I am all ‘americanized’ and that I think of SL like the Island in Lost. Seriously? I bet the Island in Lost will have more infrastructure by the end of season 6 than SL.  Not to mention these latest abductions that are happening in the country... yeah sounds a lot like something The Others would do…