Love, love, love

i just recently remembered how much i loved my first favorite band. i could, can, and will continue to listen to their stuff on repeat. for hours. days, even.

breaking up with my ex made me feel free again. and i never realized how much i'd supressed my own interests in his favor; and what's even worse is that i did this little by little. to make him like me more? yeah... probably one of those subconscious things people do when they want to love and be loved. This, i guess, is my attempt at making a list of the things that i can think of that have and will continue to make me feel more myself again, as i learn to love and be loved for all of my little quirks and nerdy interests (which include the Twilight series).

Music:
Brand New vs. Armor For Sleep - you can't like one without liking the other, so dont try to tell your girlfriend that brand new isn't worth listening to.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - classic, and if you can buy a cd for $5, its a steal, no matter what.
Missy Higgins - "Where I Stood" - if your girlfriend marks this as a favorite on your xm radio, she's probably trying to break up with you without hurting your feelings.
Generally speaking, trying to talk someone out of a song or band they like or want to hear is usually not a good idea, since this will encourage them to delve into more artists to find songs with hidden messages that articulate relationship instability.

Family:
Disliking family members is a huge no-no. Especially when you start having arguments over siblings. Telling your girlfriend she can't eat dinner with a sibling when their sibling would otherwise be eating alone is a terrible, i repeat, terrible idea. Your girlfriend will hold this against you in every fight you get into. And you will not win. Ever.

Friends:
First things first, facebook. Facebook? Most guys dread the day when their girlfriend begs to change the relationship status. Begging your girlfriend to change her status will only add to the length of the skirt you wear in that relationship (read: this is not a manly thing to do).
Also, convincing your girlfriend that close friends, girls or guys, that they secretly dispise of you because you're in a relationship is... just. not. cool.
Telling your girlfriend not to hang out with any guys that may highly regard her and/or her friendship will only make her end friendships for no good reason. This will later lead to emotional distress because the friendships she ended quite simply did not need to be ended if you only trusted her in the first place.
This also applies to female friends. Especially the ones that remember her enough to wish her a happy birthday.

Exercise:
Buying your girlfriend a subscription to Women's Health will not motivate you to work out more. In fact, you'll probably find that your girlfriend is lacking motivation to motivate you in your latest weight-loss challenge with coworkers. Why is this, you ask? Probably because your girlfriend isn't overweight and thought that by taking the magazine hint and getting a gym membership for you would be enough to slim you down and shape her up.

Automobiles:
Fixing her car will earn you bonus points. Breaking the stereo antenna and not replacing it when your handiwork failed will not earn you bonus points. In fact, this will bother her for a long time, mainly because she doesnt know how easy it is to replace and because she works a lot more than you.
Wrecking your vehicle while your girlfriend is in the car with you will freak the hell out of her, to the point that she will never again ride in a car that you drive without clinging to the door handle.
Replacing your vehicle can be a fun time for you and your girlfriend, as test driving can be exhilirating and and filled with the anticipation of buying one, which leads into my next point...

Money:
Your girlfriend will undoubtedly lend you money if you need it for an important purchase, like insurance the night you buy your new car. However, if she gives you the money and it bounces all sorts of charges in her bank account, you should feel obligated to repay her for at least half of the overdraft fees. Especially if the fees alone add up to half of the amount you originally borrowed.
If helping her pay back the overdraft fees is not something you're man-enough to own up to, prepare to fight a war you will not win. She will make you pay. And she will most likely make you feel like a jackass when she does. Read: this may or may not occur on a date to a fancy dinner.
If you've been out of college for more than a year or 2, and you still live at home, you should feel obligated to pay rent. Especially if, 1, your mom buys groceries; 2, your mom makes dinner every night; 3, your mom cooks you breakfast and packs your lunch (EVERYDAY); 4, your mom does your laundry; 5, your parents pay your car insurance for your bad driving; 6, you ask your girlfriend to stay over more than just on the weekends; 7, your parents feed your pets, including ones that need to go outside and ones that are confined to tanks in your bedroom.

Clothes:
It's one thing to enjoy shopping for clothes, but when you admit to your girlfriend that you wouldn't mind working in a clothing store with a mission to help other girls pick clothes out that look good on them, it makes you sound gay. This will not help foster a heterosexual relationship.
If your girlfriend buys you a shirt that you both like, but you get too fat to fit into it, lose weight. Her last jab at motivating you to slim down will be this: She will see a shirt and deliberately buy a size too small to fit you. Heed this warning, fatty.
Her lingerie is not your lingerie. Meaning that if and when you break up, refusing to give it back to her will make you look a little petty and moreso creepy. The following excuses will not be taken seriously: Telling her that you will personally through it away for her, and telling her that it's better that way because you don't want her wearing it for another guy will only fuel the angst within her to get her belongings back.

That's all that comes to mind for now.