A week ago I was in New York, riding the subway, seeing shows, crammed in a hotel room with 10 other people, eating cheap (yet amazingly good) pizza, walking around aimlessly at 2AM, catching taxis, being carded, looking up at flashing lights and tickers in Times Square, riding the Staten Island ferry, and watching a guy desecrate a toilet bowl with a half rotten banana. Now I'm back in Harrisonburg. Needless to say, it's not quite as exciting as my trip to New York. Which as awesome. It's a trip like that that makes me hate the fact that memories fade and erode over time. I want to hold on to every minute I was there, capture it in words or pictures, keep it with me forever. But I know that a couple of years from now the trip will be a blur, a few frames that flash for a moment and then shrivel away. They'll become another lost dream that I can only remember as I forget it.

Ok, enough of the deep stuff. I need sleep, but I don't want to sleep just yet. Therefore, rambles and run on sentences are bound to ensue. Consider yourself warned.

I have lots of new music. Tsunami Bomb, Fluf, Sondre Lerche, Drag the River, Chad Rex, Jimmy Eat World, Elliott Smith... All good stuff (I assume), but I haven't had the time to listen to them in the past week. School (namely reading) has been taking a huge chunk of my time. I feel like all I do anymore is read. Sometimes I think it's killing my soul. It's not that the reading is horribly bad, it's just time consumming. I miss being able to sit down, pop in a CD, and crank out a few math problems in 10 minutes and that's that. Now, I know I made a vow when I first started this thing to not bitch about my life, and I think I've done a pretty good job with that. But fuck it, it's 3 in the morning. I'm tired. So I'm gonna bitch about being an English major since it's been bothering me. Not that I doubt my desire to continue with English, I just feel discouraged since a few of my previous English classes are pretty much null and void now that I've declared Secondary Education as my minor. Whatever.

It was so nice to be able to go away. For five days I forgot about my life as it is. For five days I had freedom, I had independence. For five days I was the happiest I've been in a year. And then it was taken away and repalced with... this. In high school, everyone always tells you that college is the best four years of your life. And it is, probably. It's just depressing to think that, from here on out, your life will go downhill. And what am I doing with this time? Fucking it away. Fuck. Listen to me. I need to stop this self-pity shit.

The election is coming up very very soon. I don't know what I'll do if Bush gets re-elected, but screaming, shouting, and swearing are all at the top of that list. It's not like Kerry is going to change everything, (though I've gained lots of respect for the man since the debates) but he's bound to be better than Bush. And if you've seen Fahrenheit 9/11 (which I hope you have), then you're bound to feel that Bush shouldn't be allowed to be president at all. It's like when you read the official rules for a contest, and one line is always, "family or friends of employees of (insert company) may not enter," it should be like that with Bush. He should be disqualified from being president due to all of his crazy ties with the bin Ladens. So vote. Please. And tell other people to vote. If you can get just two people to vote, and then those two people tell two other people to vote... It's like the principle in that Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt movie. What was it called? Pay it Forward? I forget. But it's like that. We can make a difference. So let's take the opportunity to do something about it.

Ha. Me preaching about taking an opportunity and doing something about it. Since I'm the expert on that subject.

We picked out pumpkins today. With Halloween being a week away, we're getting in the spirit (Ha! Spirit? Halloween?) by decorating our townhouse and carving pumpkins and all that stuff. I'm trying my best to get into the grove, but it's not happening. I feel so old and stupid when I think that I'll never enjoy Halloween the same as I did when I was 8 or so and went as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but that's really what I think sometimes. It doesn't help when assholes steal decorations you have planted outside. But we saw that coming, so it wasn't quite as big of a deal. Still, people are real jerks sometimes.

Yes! Uplifting, optimistic... These are both words to describe my awesome entry! Actually, if I continue using these exclamation points, then maybe I can mask these not so happy thoughts! There we go, problem solved!

Something cool did happen this week, though, and that was this: Through the radio station, I got to listen to an advanced copy of Strung Out's "Exile in Oblivion" album, which doesn't come out until November 2nd. That was really awesome. Especially since it's a good album. I haven't decided if it's better than "An American Paradox" or "Twisted by Design," but it's definitely really good. Lots of catchy tunes, and the guitars are, of course, awesome. It's not nearly as hard or disturbing as the awful cover art makes it look. So I would recommend picking it up. Maybe you can reward yourself after you vote by purchasing some fine music. Yeah, that'd work.

Also, I saw Races to April tonight. That always helps. "Kill the Lights" live is a cathartic experience.

I want to be happy all the time. I want to make someone else happy all the time. I want to stop writing sappy entries in this blog. Truthfully, I think some people were meant to be alone. Have a nice day!