Erin is one of my closest friends. She is funny as hell and has the best taste in music and clothes of anyone I know. Incidentally, she's also the only girl I know who can kick my ass. First she left the cultural Mecca that is California. That's bad enough, but at least she went to Oregon. I saw the town, and it was very nice, but it's in Oregon. I understand Oregon has no sales tax and that pedestrians don't have the right of way. If that was at all part of her decision, then I guess I support it. But I guess that wasn't far enough away from me... now she's moved off to Boston! I'm sure she'll fit right in there. My message to the East Coast: God help any of you that cross Erin.

Erin was and is one of my favorite people to spend time with; when she's happy, she's electric. I'll cite "irreconcilable differences" as the cause of our break-up, but she is credited with leaving me with a few special, long-lasting effects:

• She is one of the most passionate people I've known. She showed me the ups and downs that come with that.
• Erin bolstered my love of Ukrainian culture.
• She is to be credited/blamed for the ten-fold increase in my vanity during the end of 2000.
• She introduced me to the great Duran Duran song "The Chauffer" as well as other artists including Björk. Now, I haven't bought a Björk album yet because, frankly, after watching "Dancer in the Dark", I was a little scared.
• The foul knowledge that cats like hers exist. I won't go into the details, but her cats, loveable and pudgy though they are, we'll say... molest each other. It's quite disgusting; you have no idea.

Below is a little tribute that I know she'll appreciate, even though many of you won't. "Bye bye now!"

These images are all from famous illustrator Edward Gorey, and that's no accident. You see, Erin is a big fan. Check out one of his many books, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies". I actually found these images on a site that has most of that book on it. So I guess you can go preview it now. No doubt this fella had some problems.