So there’s officially a month to go until Christmas! Argh! I swear we just like, completely skipped a whole chunk of 2008! Where the heck did it go? I guess it’s true what people say about time going more quickly as you get older! o.O

Today Brooke and I went Christmas shopping. For 6 hours. We started just after 10am and finished at around 4pm. I don’t remember off the top of my head how many presents she bought, but I bought two.

I got this calendar for my dad to put his wall at work. I got Thailand because my parents went there earlier this year and really enjoyed it, and the calendar has a few pictures of places they went, like Chiang Mai, so hopefully he likes it as much as he likes the 2008 China one someone got him last Christmas.

I was surprised I found a Thailand one actually. We went to the calendar stall and I said "I BET there won’t be one there, my idea will be down the drain and I’ll be back to square one again!" But there was. Yay!

I also got this for a friend of mine who collects angels and fairies.

She especially likes Christmas ones, in particular the kind that sing annoying songs and dance around, but for the sake of her family’s sanity I decided to refrain from buying yet another one of those! She’s also a "cat person" so I figured that one is rather suitable. It kind of creeps me out how none of the Willow Tree figurines have any faces, but I think it’s cute anyway. :)

I also know what I’m going to get for mum (a webcam, so she can see her cousin in Lithuania via Skype without borrowing my MacBook, lol!) and for Jenny (but I haven’t bought it yet and I can’t post about it here anyway!)

I’m still completely stuck on another friend of mine (and also Brooke, but ditto the comment about not being able to post about it here!). We’ve been friends since I was 3 and she was 4, so REALLY I shouldn’t be having this much trouble, but as we’ve grown up I’ve started to see less of her and not be able to deduce what she likes as easily. I was thinking of getting her some kind of gift pack from Lush, but most of them include bath bombs, and although their house HAS a bathtub, I just don’t know how often she uses it, and if I’m getting her something, it might as well be something she’s going to use. Hmmm.

Any other bright ideas?

 I found the cutest things today. Some of you might have seen them before, but I hadn’t!

USB owls! Owls that plug into a USB port on your laptop and clip onto the top of your screen! Seriously. How awesome are they! Pointless, yes, but CUTE as heck! I think I want one…but which colour!? I think I’m tossing up between the brown and pink ones. Brown because it looks "owlish" and kind of normal, but pink because, well, I’m just *that* kind of person! Oh dear. What a conundrum. :/

Before I say anything else, I would just like to remind people of what Blog Secret is, so if you’re reading this blog for the first time today, you’re not confused. If you want to read about it, click on the badge at the right.

Now, without further ado, here is the secret I have been assigned. It’s been posted exactly as I received it. I haven’t edited it at all, just put it in a blockquote so it’s clear where my explanation ends and the other person’s secret starts. :D

[a] i’ve lied more times than i have been honest. if it benefits me to lie, then i do. i’ve lied so much in my life, that whenever i tell someone something, i automatically challenge myself of whether or not its the truth. i lie to get out of things. i lie to get money from people. this makes me feel horrible. [b] the ending of my last relationship was completely my fault. i spend my days trying to make it his fault but its completely mine. i regret lying to him and even almost cheating on him. i wish he’d call me. even if he did, i would never be honest with him. [c] i told the [b] man that i did not want to have sex because i was molested. it was a complete and total lie. it was because i did not want to have sex with him because his body disgusted me. he had a hairy back, and a flabby stomach that hung due to weight loss. plus he smelled sometimes, which i don’t understand because he was clean, i think. [d] i’ve considered faking a pregnancy to get [b] [c] back, but i finally realize that the manipulation must stop. [e] somehow i was born with only somewhat of a conscience. i think a little less of one and i could have killed people and not cared. in fact, a small part of me feels truely bad for people in prison for killing people. i think they just need some help. just like me. which i am getting. i really think satan made me to be a killer, a liar, a manipulator, but somehow, god got his hands on me before satan was done. so, the product; i’m party evil, party saint, completely messed up. [f] i don’t pay my bills for months at a time. if it was between buying a new outfit or paying my electric bill, i’d be at macy’s. in fact, i have a past due balance on my electric bill of over 800$. [g] i’m convinced that i am impossible to love. [h] i was interested in a friend of mine. when this friend of mine told me that he loved me as a friend i took this as my cue that we wouldnt be dating. i made the excuse that he just was not ready because he just got out of a divorce. then, i introduced him to my best friend who he slept with. i hate her for it. i hate him for it. i will never forgive either one. [i] when i don’t have enough money, i use an unsuspecting family member’s checking account to pay my bills. i’ve probably done this about 10 times amounting in over 3000 dollars. the family member hasn’t noticed yet. i have my speech planned for the day they do. [j] i spend most of my days at work doing non workrelated things. i basically get paid to do absolutely nothing. one of the work related things i actually do is complain that another person i work with doesn’t do her job. which she doesn’t. im a pot calling the kettle black. [k] i absolutely despise my boss. if she were to die, i wouldn’t care in the least. i might even celebrate. a co worker of mine said he wanted to kill her jokingly. i spent the rest of the day dreaming of how great it would be if that would happen. i would never do it, but i would never hate the person that did. [l] i’ve never done any sort of drug in my entire life. i have never smoked a cigarette nor have i tried. i think though that if i ever tried a drug i’d be instantly addicted. it takes all of the strength in the world not to try heroin or meth or cocaine. i hear they are amazing drugs. but i have enough self control to avoid them…for now. [m] i’m so scared that one of my friends is going to recognize this as mine. then my secrets will be out. [n] as much as i love my mother, i hate my mother for neglecting me as a child. she was the worst mother ever to me for a period of time. though she tries to make up for it now, she never will. part of me will always hate her. [o] i’ve stolen from stores pretty often. i have not done so in a while but i used to do it daily. [p] i don’t want my parents to die, but i want the inheritance. [q] i told my boss that my relativ  died to leave work and go to lunch with a friend. now, that uncle really is dying. what the hell am i going to do when he dies? especially since i gave her an obituary to proofread that i was ‘sending into the paper’. [r] my best friend left her wallet at my house once. i went through it and stole the best buy gift card and used it. [s] i want to die – but only to see who comes to my funeral. i want people to cry their eyes out. [t] i got caught in the payday loan cycle. i received over 3k in pay day loans. i’m afraid to have to explain my horrible credit to my future husband, if that ever even happens. [u] i faked a job offer to see if my boyfriend really loved me. i spent 3 days ‘debating on whether or not to move to another state’. i even composed an e-mail from a fake email address offering me the job. i decided not to take the job. [v] i’ve faked so many illnesses just for the attention. [w,x,y,z] i’m finally tired of being a dishonest person. i want to become a better person. i want to stop lying to others, but i know i need to first stop lying to myself. i’m not a sexually molested child. i’m not an asset to my company. i get paid to do nothing. i was a horrible girlfriend. i would have cheated if i had the chance to. but i’m done. i’m starting over on the day this secret is posted. so, instead of a life of constant lies and endless deceit, i have a life of hope and happiness ahead. if this idea had never come about, i would have continued lying. i’ve wanted to come clean for so long. the longer i waited to do it, the more i wanted to die. the guilt was unimaginable. but as each day would pass, i would tell myself that i was making all of this up – and i was actually a good person. the truth is finally out. what a relief.  even after writing this i feel a lot better. thank god for this idea. thank god.