Being exposed to the combined force of two truly horrible Jennifer Aniston movies--only part of each, but still enough to affect me--has brought on a brooding ennui that makes me want to go sit out on the porch and smoke 4300 cigarettes. In the interest of well, self-interest, I am going to turn that frown upside-down and ac-cen-tu-ate the positive. I will not mess with Mister In-Between. I will also not attempt to watch either "Rumor Has It" or "Rock Star" ever again, because even the hottness of Marky Marks' abs cannot cancel out the terribleness of Jennifer Aniston's rueful self-consciousness at failing to portray an '80s metal chick.

Poola recently offered up this shebang, which I invite you to read:

Pay It Forward! I will send a handmade gift to the first three people who leave a comment on my diary requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don�t know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is Pay It Forward by making the same promise on your diary.

Because I made the cut, I am now obligated (and happy to be so) to Pay It Forward and offer the same shebang to you. So, if you would like a wonderful Violet-created object (tbd), please leave me a comment. The first three requests will win. ("Win") I am not sure what my "handmade gift" will be. Perhaps I will write a song for you, featuring your name and subject of your choice! That would be great. I should totally do that. But the future is uncertain, as is this Pay It Forward challenge, so plunge in! You never know what you'll receive.

AND, in other news, you can go over here and listen to the little acoustic number I posted on my band's MySpace page. (Because we are 14 and have a band MySpace page.)

Anyway, the song I posted is one Mathrock and I did at the end of our last recording session, and totally out of character with the rest of our material. It's called "Call Me (When You're Old Enough to Drink)" and was written as part of a songwriting challenge with my friend Al, in which we each wrote a song by that title. His turned out very creepy and sleazy, which is excellent. Mine is a little less overt, although creepy in a romantic way. (Creepy romance: a specialty.)

So, I've given you two things to do; three, if you count "avoid Jennifer Aniston films."

Enjoy your evening, your respective evenings. I'm going out on the porch to smoke cigarettes.

Star of the day. . .Dave Toschi