Wednesday, Jan. 07, 2004 | 3:12 PM

Matt just sent me a long involved email and this is a little touch of it:

You are such a doll, sending me that new mix CD. Though I must admit the first one still is my favorite (because I'm familiar with it more), I'm really touched by how compassionate a gift it is. I think we were meant to meet; I think we have some very deep connection. To be frank: You Rule.

We are going out Saturday night to see LOTR again and then for drinks and then who knows? All I know is that he makes me so happy. God I�m so fucking lucky. He�s amazing. He�s buried treasure and pirate ships and Capture The Flag and Absinthe and rowboating on Jamaica Pond and every possible good thing in the world. And his brain is one of the most outstanding I�ve ever come across. I care about him so fucking much it�s unreal. La la la la la. What a wonderful wonderful boy and a wonderful wonderful world.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.

--Nelson Mandella

I don�t trust people who aren�t obsessive. Of course there�s good obsessive (owning every Teenbeat Records 7 inch ever produced, training every day for a year for a marathon, etc.) and bad obsessive (stalking your former high school principle; catholicism, etc.). But you have to be totally gaga over something or other or you aren�t alive�I don�t care whether it�s vintage motorcycles or Napa Valley wines or (ahem) David Cross�s comedy. I tend to have a rotating list of obsessions. Right now I am obsessed with the following:

1) Mr. Show and everything tangentially associated with it (yes, my love affair with all things Bob and David continues on and on and on much to the chagrin of all who know me and are tired of hearing me expound upon their brilliance again and again.)

2) Victorian England (Read The Crimson Petal and The White if you haven�t already done so�it�s truly one of the most entertaining books (I�ve ever come across.

3) Jungian Astrology

4) Karaoke

5) Cooking (Dude�I keep getting better and better as a cook. Soon I will vanquish the Iron Chef in a match of wits�er, whisks. Only thing about cooking though is that it�s no fun to cook for yourself. I love cooking for others. It�s spiritually nourishing.)

6) Making mixes

7) The Dresden Dolls

Things I�m not quite obsessed with but fancy nonetheless:

1) black stockings with seams up the back

2) Doing Shots of Aftershock in the wee small hours of the morning

3) Going on five mile walks

4) British Accents

5) Dissecting the many ways in which the Bush regime is fascist

6) Christmas movies