In my stalking of JGL yesterday I discovered another hidden gem on the interwebs (or tubes as we call them).  hitRECord.org is a little project that JGL has been working on for a few years.  Here’s the description of what can be done on the site

What does it mean, hit record?
Different things… It can be an object, a musical recording that sold a lot of copies. But it can also be an action, to hit record, to start recording, to make a record, be it musical, visual, textual, or anything else. That moment when you hit the REC button, when the tape starts rolling, or the camera clicks, or even when somebody writes something down, it always makes my heart beat a bit harder.

Hit record. A complete sentence in the imperative tense, it’s something I’ve been telling myself a lot lately. When I was younger, my life’s work was to be recorded, but not to hit record. That’s changing.

What do you suppose could change if we all started to hit RECord?

In other words it is a place for collaborations (or mashups, if you prefer).  Everything that the MAN doesn’t want us to do.  But, if enough of us out there are regenerating content, and hopefully breathing new life and perspectives into it on the way,  maybe we can defeat the man one day.

If you haven’t already checked it out, take a peek at the site for RIP: A Remix Manifesto (a documentary created to expose the MANs efforts at stifling the creatives, and perhaps to flip him off.).  The film is undergoing a series of remixes as we speak.  Since day one the filmmaker, Brett Gaylor, has shared his raw footage at opensourcecinema.org, for anyone to remix.

As always, little readers, stay tuned for a full review of the movie.  Until then I give you the definition of hitRECord. If you’ve got time, go make a little something that will move us a step closer to defeating the MAN.

Date: July 2, 2008
Location: Gingerman
Time: 7 pm
Duration of date: 12 hrs 30 min
Occupation: Teacher
Age: 26

So crazy paid off. After a week of emailing back and forth on Facebook he asked me out.

We met at the gingerman at 7. He was at the table in the far corner, reading a book and drinking a beer. I got a beer. We talked for a long time. We had another round of beer. More talking. He asked about dinner. I said I wasn’t super hungry but I would go grab food with him. I was feeling the beer so food was a good idea.

We walked to Taverna. He was hobbling due to a broken toe. I was a little tipsy. We ordered capresi and some wine (I filed the disclaimer that I could drink no more). We talked more, we ordered dinner. More talking. I drank the wine. The trek to the restroom was a little tricky. Then I did the unthinkable. The check came and I let him pay.

He asked what I would be up for next. I said that I could not drive home right now. He said we could go for a walk. I vetoed because he was being stubborn about the foot. We ended up at Betsy’s bar. He got makers and something. I had LOTS of water. We talked some more. The truth came out about the email. He admitted to putting a lot of work into those. I admitted that I put the effort in because I was writing to an english teacher. At some point I leaned towards him and put my head against his. Then we were making out in the bar. He held my hand. He had his hand on my thigh, then he was running his hand along my leg, then his hand was under my skirt (AND I DIDN’T STOP HIM). We were THAT couple. Making out in the bar.

We left the bar and he asked what I wanted to do next. I said, driving was not an option for me. He asked if I wanted to hand out with him some more. I said that would be cool. He asked if I’d like to see his school. So we hiked up to his school. He showed me his classroom. We made out there. Then we made out in his car (it was parked at school). Here is where I debated asking him to take me back to Em’s house so I could sleep on her couch.

I went to his place. He filed the disclaimer that his house was a mess. I shouldn’t let it reflect poorly on him because his roommate is a slob. His room was really clean. We talked for a bit. Then it was more making out. (when I told em the story earlier she asked if i was sober enough to make clear decisions. was it the liquor talking?) I was in complete control of the situation. I removed my own underpants. We made out some more. Then it was obvious that the sex was going to happen. I said that I had condoms in my purse. Game ON! That’s right, the 2 year drought is over.

There was sex and talking and more making out. I think that I got 2 hours of sleep. I did have some issues keeping my mouth shut. I brought up the 2 year drought. I told him that this is one of the few dates that I’ve gone on recently that didn’t end in the awkward hug. I told him that the sex on the first date never happens.

The sleepover. Umm, he held me all night. I couldn’t escape. I wanted to be on a side of the bed on my own with covers. So clingy in the bed. He said that I should call in sick and he would take me to my car on the way to work.

We were up before the alarm rang. More making out. There was no sex though. He showered while I rounded up my clothes. I checked out the contents of his room too. Not bad. He is moving this weekend. He is trading in a roommate for the cat that has been living with his parents.

He said that he wanted to see me again. He asked what I was doing on Friday and could he take me out to dinner. I told him that he didn’t have to buy my dinner.

He dropped me off at my car around 7:30 and tried to convince me to skip work. He didn’t have to be at work until 9 but I realized that my car needed to be moved before 8 (it was at a meter). He kissed me and said that he would call me later.

I managed to get to my house at 8. I got showered and dressed and was in my office at 8:30.

He sent me a really sweet email that morning. We shall see how this plays out.

So today I had a little breakdown. I was in the middle of an email conversation (with that boy I stalked). He had asked if I had pets.

I have a cat named Louis that I found when I lived in the Co-op. I never saw myself with a pet, I only had fish growing up. He was a little west campus dumpster diving kitty that needed a home. I have had him for almost 10 years. He is a house cat during the winter and he tends to disappear a lot in the summer. He’s been M.I.A. for the last month though. This time I think he really may be gone for good. I had been preparing myself for the day that he didn’t come home but this will take some getting used to. I suppose there are worse ways to lose a pet. A friend of mine actually saw his cat get hit by a car. Other friends have had to deal with putting a pet to sleep.

Then I broke down. While I have always known that my illusive kitty would stop coming home one day, I hadn’t really prepared for it. Writing all of this down hit me really hard. I decided to pack up all of of Louis’ stuff and put it in the closet. Then I didn’t want to be in the house at all. went home. I needed my mom. I needed to cry. I needed a hug.

My mom did what mom’s are supposed to do. They let you get it out of your system. She was the keeper of my cat for awhile and new of his transient habits. She said that I should have called and she would have helped me pack up his stuff. I told her I thought I could handle it. She asked if I wanted a new cat. I told her I wasn’t ready for that. I wanted MY cat.

After I calmed down she showed me her latest sewing projects. I showed her the dress I was working on. It needed buttons. She had some in her stash that worked out. We watched Harry Potter. I sewed buttons on the dress. We talked and laughed and I felt better.

When I was about to leave she told me that she was happy that I stopped by unexpectedly. I told her I needed a hug, and buttons.

So I went a little crazy this week with the whole interweb stalking. When M and I get bored we send each other the M4W Craigslist postings. Since she has been on a hot streak recently I was a little jealous and decided to take action.

I responded to a ton of ads. The one response I got was from a super hot guy who was interested in me (or my legs). Unfortunately he posted his ad in the wrong city (he lives in CA). I moved on to the Chronicle’s personals. I was debating signing up for their service. Not sure I want to go there. There are a handful of interesting people.

In my craziness, I used the interweb for evil. I stalked a boy. I ran a few keywords in his profile through google. Then I located a name which I could run through the “friend finder” in MySpace and Facebook. Normally I stop myself at this point. But as I said before, “I WAS CRAZY”. So I sent this boy an email on Facebook. It felt a little “Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator” but I did it anyways. I admitted to stalking him in the email. (IMHO Facebook is not really the place to be picking up dudes. That is a MySpace thing).

I sent the Arab a text message saying that I needed help. The first step to sobriety is admitting you have a problem. I got on the elliptical machine to for a bit. I can’t use the computer there. Later, I emailed M and Meg to let them know about the crazy and that I had put myself in time out. I was traveling for work and I was going to back away from the interweb. They were rather amused.

At this point in time I can say that crazy paid off. Stay tuned.

So, yeah I know the Internet houses some deep dark stuff that’s not meant to be read by people, but if you’re advertising then I might some day come across your information so do me a favor and be aware of that when you post stuff.

On that note, Yeah I was doing it today, I was internet stalking. Insert shameful face here. It’s just that some of my friends have had such good luck that I thought I might find something magical.

Maybe this is too private, but what the heck: I was on a friend’s myspace page flipping through their comments section. Let it also be noted here that I’ve quit the myspace because of incidents like this that I was afraid of happening. In the comments section I found pictures of someone I thought I’d never see again. It was the ex-boyfriend that cheated on me.

I guess the most disturbing thing wasn’t the picture; it was that the picture was recent and it was with the girl he cheated on me with (and her head is on his shoulder in the picture). ACK! It’s not like I’m still holding a candle for this guy, I mean let’s face it, he did cheat on me, but that’s not something you’d expect to see out there randomly in the interweb business. Or maybe it is, and I guess what I’m saying is that it just caught me off guard.

It is all starting to make sense; i.e. he cheated on me with her, now he’s with her, hmmn funny how that works out sometimes. (Not like I didn’t see that one coming a mile away.)

I could go all crazy and be like “Did you cheat on me more than once? How long were you cheating?” but I’m starting to ask myself what would be the use in that? I guess in some ways seeing that picture is a little more closure for me. I’ve been so angry for so long, but now I get it a little more.

I’m starting to freak myself out here. Re-reading this is starting to sound like a something out of that movie “Mean Girls” or something, but where else can I post stuff like this, no one’s really going to read this anyhow.

Let me tell you friends, if you’re not prepared to find the worst, then don’t go looking, you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble. Now let’s just hope that I remember this valuable lesson next time I decide to go interweb stalking.

I had a Deja vu moment not to long ago. I got a sticker, from a DJ. Had this not just happened a few months ago I would have thought nothing of it.

But…

In my quest for fresh blog material, I was digging through old emails and found a conversation between myself and Em about the last DJ…

> Yeah, that’s too bad about the DJ, cause you know DJ’s are always hot…
> any dude that puts on headphones, stands behind some decks and bounces his
> head around is always going to be hot. Ha…

The head bobbing… Em and I caught the end of MSTRKRFT’s set during SXSW. The music and the head bobbing, such a turn on.

Luckily I haven’t seen the whole head bobbing thing yet. Besides, I didn’t know this one was a DJ until the sticker was handed out. I met the former one at a party he was DJing at. Slightly diffferent, no?

Then I reminded myself of the internet stalking with the other DJ. For starters, they all put their web address on the sticker. The web address usually leads to some sort of blog and/or MySpace page. Then there is music to download and listen to while you read everything they wrote.

Yes, internet stalking is bad. But it is their fault for giving me the sticker in the first place.

Ok, so I have found myself using the internet for evil once again. I am merely researching a boy. First the standard name search via Google. Then I cruised the usual hangouts for someone my age… MySpace and Friendster (applying my usual scrutiny).

Am I stalking him? I don’t think so. Especially when I look at what Amelie did when she was “studying” Nino. Granted there is a lot of information that you wouldn’t normally find out about a person on the internet. But most of the time it is the fault of that person for being careless in filling out forms online.

Things that Google might dig up (other than your personal website):

• Education- Colleges, extracurricular activities
• Employer
• Stuff you reviewed (on amazon)
• Forums that you post on.

…all of this with just your first and last name (and maybe your location)

Once you find an email address you can find out more.

You’d think that since I was so good at locating stuff on people that I wouldn’t leave such a crumb trail myself. I figure why not. It’s already been determined that I can’t run for office.