4.14.2009

Best Of

With a lot of Facebook friends unaware of the blog and asking to read what will (hopefully) potentially become a published book, I've decided to go into the Year of Joe archives and repost (in chronological order) some of the more popular stories from my crazy lil' life.

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Happy New Year! (also known as Post #1) (1.01.2007)
The post that started it all.

The Year of Joe (1.04.2007)
Why I started the blog.

Great White Hype (2.02.2007)
The kind of rants I've become accustom to.

Things I Love (2.13.2007)
Looking back, I gotta say I still love each and everyone of them. Maybe "holding hands" less so, but that's just me being Bitter McBitterson.

You Can't Spell "Valentine's Day" without V.D. (2.14.2007)
Man, I am bitter! Of course, by the time you finish reading the excerpts of my life, you'll clearly see why.

The Year of Joe continues! (1.02.2008)
The first of two blogging hiatuses, I catch my readers up on the previous eight months.

A Nickname Timeline (1.28.2008)
The nicknames I've acquired during my lifetime are a little insight into why I am the way I am.

The Void of Not Knowing How
(1.29.2008)
I get serious in this post in light of my Grandma being sick. She soon passed on and it changed me as a person, both in respect to my value of family as well as my path towards finding God. Clearly not your typical The Year of Joe kind of post.

29 Dimensions of Compatibility, My Ass! (2.12.2008)
The first eHarmony post! This experienced what I like to call the "eHarmony Chronicles," which gave me waaaay too much material to blog about. These are the experiences that most likely led to my book deal about being an unlucky bachelor.

Save The Date! (2.19.2008)
Just over seven years til I'm married, ladies!

Monday Night Raw (2.25.2008)
This was one of the most fun posts I've ever had the chance to write. A subsequent post should be read as well.

6% success.....or is it 94% failure? (2.29.2008)
I really shoulda got out while I could...

Mr. Strangelove (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love eHarmony) (3.06.08)
If there is one post to read (well, make that "one series of posts to read"), make it this one. This is the start of the great eHarmony-match-turned-Nigerian-scam. No, really, I'm serious. You won't believe it until you read it (all.) After you read the first post, follow the ten-part series. Read all ten posts, you won't be disappointed, I promise!
Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX and finally Part X.

iPod is Dead and The Call From Hell (3.21.08)
The phone call with an eHarmony match at the end of this post is possibly most readers' favorite The Year of Joe moment ever.

The word of the day is... (3.23.2008)
Maybe my standards are too high and I'm doomed for the single life forever?

Ill Communication (4.09.2008)
Another phone call gone awry.

Date #2: Obama Drama and No Reach-Around (4.17.2008)
How Obama screwed my date up. Another failed date post. I dated some real winners, like the girl who suddenly grew a boyfriend, the horrible liar, the girl who never called back, the gal who smelled like cheese, the birthday girl who thought I was someone else, and, of course, the homeless chick. It's all real people...really messed up this happens to me!

I Love It When You Call Me Big Poppa... (7.08.2008)
The blog address used to be on my Facebook profile and when the ex and I connected on Facebook, she came across the blog. She read it without my knowledge and loved my writing! I think it was my writing, sense of humor and, in particular, this post that I think caused my ex to take interest in me before we started dating. The post still holds true and it's very painful that I'm not any closer to that dream.

* * * * *

Well, there they are peeps. It's a lot to read through but c'mon, I'm a great writer and the material is gold! Hope you laughed and are hungry for more material!

4.03.2009

Comes and Goes (In Waves)

Well, I had a bunch of posts all lined up...a funny story about me getting my foot stuck in my tuxedo pants, causing me to fall out of the dressing room half-naked at the Men's Wearhouse, one asking you faithful readers to help me decide what to keep and what to trash when transporting all my belongings from one dwelling to another, how a pitcher on the Padres ended up agreeing to let me take live batting practice before a game sometime this year, an open letter to God asking him how the hell can I write a Best Man's speech about love, marriage and commitment when I thought I knew the answers but now those words seem so foreign. I had a few more up my sleeve, but alas, they are all a moot point.

"Say it ain't so, Joe!", you scream. (Someone has to be screaming that, right?) Well, it is so. Life raised it's cruel head and intervened. A few days ago I had a fainting spell, a few anxiety attacks and what a doctor diagnosed as basically a nervous breakdown, so less of me I think is the way to go for now, which means I'm going to sign-off the blog for a while. I know, I know...I just got back. But then again, it was the return of this blog that led to part of my problems. Although I didn't do any trashing and had nothing but good things (and the best of intentions) to say about the ex (other than the hurt that I was enduring), I felt horribly guilty about blogging about it. It was stupid and pretty crazy and I wish I never had done it.

So there's that guilt that quickly built up. Then there was the break-up itself...ending a relationship with (and basically being shut-out from) the person whom you loved more than anyone else in the world, the person that will always be a part of me, the person that I spent the most amazing time with and the person that I will never, ever regret having those memories forever embedded inside me. I think you can see where I'm going with this. Throw in a few consecutive 60-hour work weeks, stressing over the move to the new apartment, the reality of my two best friends getting married within a month (leaving me as the only unwed guy of the bunch), and well, yeah, it was the perfect storm for me to cave in, emotionally and physically.

Sorry to leave as quickly as I arrived, but it's for the best. With my apologies to Edward R. Murrow...

Good night and good luck,

Joe.