No clever title

Today was World AIDS Day. I didn't know it until I started my computer this morning and went to Google to do some research for work. The red ribbon was there and it made me think of my very first World AIDS Day. I was in high school and my friend Jamie made red ribbons for all of our friends. We wore them around school that day. That ribbon is in a collage that I made of pictures from high school. The collage is in a frame and it's hanging on my wall to this day. So when I saw that red ribbon, I thought of Jamie. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, if you read this, Jamie... please contact me. You were my oldest and dearest friend and I haven't spoken to you in many years. For some reason, when I saw that red ribbon today, I missed you intensely and felt a need to get in contact with you again. And if any of my friends out there who are reading this know how to contact him, please send me an email with his email address or phone number. I need to talk to him.

But back to World AIDS Day. When I saw the ribbon, after I realized how much I missed Jamie, I was then struck by how many people have been taken by this disease. I thought of them and their families and I sent good thoughts and prayers their way. I hope everyone else in the world did the same. Last year, when I was a journalist, I did a story about an AIDS walk in my community. The theme was Walk to Remember. When I graudated from high school in 1995, AIDS was a really "hot" issue. Everyone was talking about it, everyone was interested in preventing and curing AIDS. We have become complacent about it, or so it seems. I hope that today, people renewed their commitments to finding a cure. I know I'm going to contact my local AIDS support center and see if there's something I can do to help their clients. Maybe I can participate in the next Walk to Remember.

On another, lighter note, I went to my very first "professional party" tonight. It was a media appreciation party, held by the Public Relations Council of Alabama. I was terrified that I wouldn't know anyone. I was afraid I would just be standing there by the trash can, waiting for someone to talk to me. (not really a great fear for a PR person, right?) But it wasn't bad at all. In fact, I had a nice time. It was outdoors, there was a lovely jazz combo playing and pretty lights making the whole thing very festive. The weather was nice too. Not cold at all. I was only wearing a sweater, not even a jacket. Anyway, I found quite a few people to talk to, some I knew and some I didn't. I have a lot more confidence about the next five parties I have to go to in the next two weeks. I felt a little like Bridget Jones when she's preparing to go to the launch party in the first book/movie. I actually caught myself introducing people with "thoughtful details" and I had to chuckle a bit. Seriously, you guys should have heard me go!

"Hi, how have you been? Have you met ____? She graduated from ______ with me and now she works at _______, where she is in charge of _________."

It was great. I actually can't wait for the next one. I have a party on Monday, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday of next week, and then a few the week after that. Some of the people who were there tonight will be at the other ones, so at least I know there will be people there that I can talk to! I used to be so great in social situations, and then I spent years not having to do that, so recently I've been a little hesitant. But tonight showed me that I can do it again. It was good.

I going to sit down with my NaNo novel tonight. I haven't read it all the way through yet, and although my mother said she really enjoyed it, I need to read it myself before I really start fleshing the thing out and editing it. I probably won't finish reading it tonight, which means I will have to finish it over the weekend, because I wont' be able to do it tomorrow night, since I have plans to go see Rent! I'm sure it's not as good as the stage show, because... well... they never are as good, but I've heard nothing but glowing reviews. The touring cast I saw a few years ago was fabulous, but I've never seen the original cast. It's so great that almost all of them are in the movie. So I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Well, that's about it for tonight. I need to do a little Web research for work before turning in, so I'm going to do that now.