Tim Russert, My Hero, is Gone! :=(

I'm so sad.

My hero Tim Russert died yesterday. How can that be?

I couldn't even post until now, I was so upset. My boss at the pool (where I lifeguard) called me down from my chair and told me.

"You must be mistaken," I said.

I just saw him last week on Meet the Press, and he looked just fine. He had just gotten back from Italy, where he and his family were celebrating his son's graduation.

Then he just dropped dead. At work.

My boss just shook his head, and said, "I'm sorry."

Everyone knows how much I admire Mr. Russert--he's all I talk about.

And I always will love the guy. He's the gold standard of political journalism--actually all journalism.

Introducing me to political journalism is the best thing Mr. T. did for me--maybe the only good thing...

Later, when I saw the tape of Tom Brokaw announcing TR's death, then I knew for sure he was gone.

I'll come back tomorrow.

This is just too hard for me right now.

Good night, Sweet Prince.
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Graduation & My Birthday on Friday the 13th

I just can't believe it!

Free from high school at last! I was soooo sick of the petty crap that goes on every day at school. A hall pass for the library, rules for everything else, 20 minutes for lunch, three minutes for the bathroom. And then there's all the losers who don't want to be in school and who make sure no one else wants to be there either.

College, here I come.

Graduation last Friday was kind of bittersweet, though--I'm going to miss Brit, John, Jason, Emily, and Allie. We're all going to different colleges, our separate ways. We promised to stay in touch, and we will, at least for a while, but slowly we'll drift apart, only to see each other at class reunions. Mom and Dad just attended their 25th college reunion last summer--1982! Egad! Ancient history. Dad didn't say too much, but Mom just kept saying, "God, everyone's gotten so old!" Poor old Momster.

I'm never going to be the type of old person who remembers high school as the pinnacle of my life. I had a good time, but it wasn't spectacular. For one thing I was too busy studying and getting my grades up for college. Still, I enjoyed a busy social life, though mostly outside of school.

And then there was Mr. T.--another story for another time.

Now it's Jared the IT guy. We met at the mall when I was 16. Yeah, jail bait. We had sex on our second date. (Mom and Dad, don't read this!) Some might think of him as a predator, but he's not. I told him I wanted to make love, even when he said we shouldn't because of my age. But he's a guy, and guys need sex, so it wasn't a hard sell.

He wasn't my first lover, either.

If I were older, I'd go for him in a big way and maybe even settle down and get married. He's hot but more than that, he's a super nice guy. When I broke up with him, he understood why. For me, it was more about timing rather than personality; he's 29, rich, and ready to settle down, I'm not yet 18 and want to experience college and taste the world as my parents have never been able to do.

This is my time in life.

Jared and I are still friends who hang out, and, yeah, still sleep together. Why not? I'd rather sleep with someone I know and love (well, in a friendly way) than some stranger I might pick up in a bar. I'm a modern single woman with sophisticated and mature sexual tastes, who feels no need to marry just for sex--unlike my grandparents and (to a certain extent) my parents. For now, I just live in the moment and enjoy my time with Jared. And after I leave for college, he will probably move on and find someone who can give herself completely to him and love him in every way that's important for a long-term commitment.

I hope he invites me to the wedding.

Anyway, my birthday is on Friday the 13th, so as a present Jared helped me set up this blog with its domain name (He also bought me another expensive domain name for later development, which I'll do once I get to college). He has taught me a lot about setting up web pages and writing html, which will come in handy for college writing and computer classes. He's working on developing a social networking start-up site, but, personally, I think that world wide web train has already left the station. From what I have read, website analytics and mini-site development are the ways to go.

But I have developed this blog just for fun; I'll be pretty open about my life, sexual and otherwise. No porn, guys--that's way too gross. I'm more of the Anais Nin school of eroticism. I'm all about veils, masks, and double entendre. Perhaps I'm a millennial who's throwback to another era, but there it is.

These days, sex is just too...out there. Some things should remain private. Body parts crashing together is not sexy; soft music, beautiful clothes, good food, smooth Cognac, stimulating conversations, and sexual rituals are exceedingly erotic, and I will describe those aspects of my sex life. I will discuss other aspects as well; I'm somewhat brainy, and original ideas are important too.

One admission: while I do have an unusual and just plain weird last name, "Three" is a pseudonym. Sorry, but I must protect my identity and the identity of some people around me who probably should be kicked in the butt for their actions. By protecting them, I protect myself from the unsavory side of the internet, which I experienced big-time when I was not quite 15 and didn't know any better. Someday, I'll tell that story as well. I was a victim of a horrible crime; I survived an ordeal that probably would have killed most girls my age, but I refuse to live my life as a victim--in my opinion, that accomplishes nothing. I thank my parents; they did all the right things to help me to move forward very quickly.

I want to be up-front about my life, but not about my real identity. My real first name is Jennifer, but for this blog, I am just Jennif3r. The only way anyone can reach me is through the comment section of this blog, and even then I choose what gets published and what gets zapped.

Tomorrow, I start my summer job as a lifeguard at the local pool.

I'm looking forward to it!

Ta, ta!

Jennif3r
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Jennif3r: The Perfect Name

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So then I decide to do a blog.

I hate myspace and facebook, your name just gets lost among all the other myspacers and facebookers, and it's so lame.

Like http://www.myspace.com/jennif3r (not my profile--sorry, other Jennif3r)

Who'll ever remember that?

I wanted MY name.

Okay, so I had to tweak it a bit. I got this idea I should get a dotcom, like Jennifer.com, but the IT guy I was dating last week just laughed and said, "No can do, unless you got about 50,000 bucks."

Then he goes, "These days, you gotta be creative." And today he found Jennif3r.com for me, though we're not going out anymore. He's still a cool and sexy guy (yum) and we're still good friends, but I'm too young to be tied down (another story).

Perfect. It's like my last name is tucked within my first name. Totally cool.

My real name is Jennifer Three.

Well, it's better than Seven of Nine, but what kind of people take a number for a last name?

Obviously, one of my long-dead ancestors thought it would be an easy surname to remember and write down. Instead, throughout the generations, my family has endured teasing by other kids.

Not me, though.

I'm lucky, I'm a bit of a looker, so my friends and boyfriends kinda overlook my strange last name. It's true what they say about exterior beauty opening doors. I'm no huge brain, but I'm going to an ivy league college in the fall. Don't get me wrong, I earned my way there, but all things being equal beautiful people get that important edge. It does sucks if you didn't hit the genetic jackpot.

Now that I'm older, I'm beginning to see "Three" as a cool last name.

Three is supposedly a perfect number:

The Holy Trinity.

The Rule of Threes. Have you ever heard a joke that got to the punch line right away?

Three-leaf clover.

The Three Bears (Tee, hee!).

I like science fiction, so I find Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics fascinating:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Having a number for a name isn't so bad.

Then there's that writer Jennifer 8. Lee who doesn't even bother to spell out her middle name.

Know what? I like the new version of my name!

L8ter!
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