I often relate more to novels where the point of view is from a male's perspective.  One book in particular is Five Days Apart by Chris Binchy. So much of what the main character says I empathize with a lot. He doesn't know how to talk to people he actually likes and often ends up saying things he regrets or making things much, much worse.

He writes of spending a life "building significance into the smallest everyday interactions with women. Smiles in shops. A coincidentally turning head. Eyes meeting in a mirror or in a car stuck in traffic...These incidents were the starting points for my fantasies...Over and over I went through the same process, imagining what could have been. I would return to these happy scenarios as if they were memories."

I suppose it doesn't matter what your gender is, though, when it comes to passages like the one above. I mean isn't that kind of thinking what fuels the "missed connections" section of Craig's List??:)

missed connections

Loneliness and a deep yearning to meet someone special isn't limited to being a man or a woman. The problem is that sometimes loneliness can be so intense and yearning so painful that we see things where they don't exist. I'm not saying that the "missed connections" section of Craig's List is full of delusional and sad people. I'm not. I'm pretty sure some of those people read the right signals and are hoping, miraculously, that somehow that other lost soul will be perusing "missed connections" and catch sight of their ad.

Sometimes (I'll use myself as an example) you want to believe someone else is giving you that "I want to get to know more" look and then you happen to be in the rest room a few minutes later, look in the mirror and realize you've had spinach in your teeth ever since lunch and that's why you've been getting those looks.

Still, a girl (or guy) can always dream, right?:)

...heard this amazing and very catchy song today in American Eagle when I was shopping with my niece and her best friend. It's definitely worth the 99 cents to download it off Amazon or iTunes!!:)

"Souls for Sale" came out in 2007, but it's never been more relevant!

listen and see lyrics here

a pretty impressive website for anyone interested in 80s music or having inexplicable fits of nostalgia:)  :

in the 80s

A great article on unwanted emotional memories (and whether we can suppress them)

It can be from trauma or an intensely painful break-up or just someone in general you want to forget forever, but the concept (as shown in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) of finding a way to purge someone from your memory has always fascinated me.

This article on suppressing unwanted emotional memories is really good: read here

Another incredibly sad and tear-inducing song is "I've Been in Love Before" by Cutting Crew.  I remember crying like a baby to it the first time I heard it back in high school in '87. To this day, whenever I hear it, I remember exactly what was going on in my life (though thankfully the pain and melodrama that went with it have completely disappeared.)

There are some songs you revisit that just don't sound as good or as vulnerable as you remember them, but this one sure sounds as emotionally powerful as ever!