Episode 43: Goodbye, July (or: Goodbye, Summer)

So I am almost free.

I have a final to take. Then I have to work. Then, for the most part... summer can begin to end.

The start of this summer was a stress test on me. After my lackluster performance during my second semester last year, I thought for sure things were going to just go downhill until I hit a bottom. I knew they would, actually. Which is sad. And pathetic.

May ended out pretty "OK", I suppose. I was just fearing the months ahead. Pete was home, Zak was home... mom was home... dad was working all the time, still is, actually. We played and wrote music, Pete and I played Mario 64 with near-religious dedication, I saw movies... it was fun.

Then came June. What. A. Sonuvabitch. Long, work-loaded, class-filled, boring-boring-boring, very little fun.... STRESSED-OUT!

July was worse. Mainly because I figured, if fate and destiny were gonna screw me over, they'd wait until the last possible minute. So, every day was a long, drawn out pain in the ass. Work dragged, classes and tests seemed huge and hard, everything seemed to mock me... Even going to Des Moines for the 4th seemed to be a misleading blessing of some kind, because all it really did was add new worries and doubts that weren't there before.

But now that we've reached the month's end, and I've got all my stuff to go back to Drake filled out and sent in, I've just printed off my two-weeks notice for work, my class ends tomorrow, and in one week I'll be coming back from my second summer-trip to Des Moines, this time heading to Iowa City to see a concert. A REVEREND HORNET HEAT CONCERT! It'll be a psychobilly freakout, is what it'll be.

Then I'll head back home and ride the rails into the Fall semester...

Where I can stress out over the little question of:

"OH GOD HOW WILL I MANAGE TO NOT GRADUATE?!

OH BOY!

Episode 42: The Final Countdown (or: El Countdown de la Finale)

No, not the song of the same name by the band Europe, this is the final 31 days of my summer vacation, wrapped up into a nice countdown.

31-22:
-These are the only days left I have in my Accounting class at CCC, in Hastings, NE. I have four tests left, although the final one is a comprehensive exam, and since I'm doing well so far, I assume this means I will do well on this. This is, however, assuming that I know what I'm talking about.

21-20:
-I don't typically work on Wed/Thurs, but the next bit explains what is going on, here.

17-16:
-I will be heading to Des Moines for a little bit of respite, taking the days off from work (more accurately: changing the days I work to the Wed/Thurs prior to the weekend) to enjoy a concert and hopefully some good company before heading back for the final half-month of my summer at home.

15:
-Turning in my 2-Weeks notice at work; This is always fun because, since I've left this job three times already, I simply use the same old resignation letter, change some names and dates, and viola! Instant "Get out of Jail" free card! This time, however, I will be turning it in late, under the pretenses of "I would have turned it in on time, but I was on vacation and forgot!" The oldest trick in the book...

14-5:
-My last days of work forever at Hamilton Telecommunications (I hope and pray). Tearful goodbyes, warm hugs, well-wishes of Godspeed.... None of these things will happen as I leave the building, forever.

4-1:
-My final days of summer, all before I head back to Drake University for some volunteer work (Hey, I get to move in early and help spread the Lit Society's name around a bit? Heck, you don't gotta ask me twice!) and some smooth sailing into the first semester of the end of my college career.

0:
-August 21, 2007: What will the future hold in store for you?

Episode 41: A Terrible Truth (or: How I Spent My Weekend)

So I guess it's time for another one of these, eh? How're you all doing? If you could only answer while I'm writing this post, then we could have a talk. A talk about...

Weekends.

You see, since my work week is a touch more stupid than most people's, my weekends actually take place on Wednesday and Thursday, instead of your average Sat/Sun business, like most people experience.

Since this means I can't hang out with anyone during MY weekends, I have to stay indoors. Also, as a side note, I have to study for tests that I take every three days, so I couldn't go out anyhow.

So, tomorrow, being my last day of the weekend, I figure (after I get back from shopping in the morning) I'll study a whole lot, then actually continue work on my photo project I started. I wanted 15-19 pictures, total. I have 4. And one of them is overly crummy. Then maybe - just maybe - I'll study some more, actually work out (I skipped today... I feel so bad), and maybe watch some of this show called "Home Movies" which is so good I don't feel I can adequately describe it to you.

See, if you could talk to me now, I'd ask you how you were going to spend your coming weekend. But we can't have a discussion, can we?

A few last notes:
-I want to trade my car in;
-I'm high off a kind of hot, liquid Jell-O made with about 4 cups of sugar
-Wishing I was done with so many things so I could start so many more
-Drawing more crude stick figure comics at work is great
-Going to bed, now.

G'night.

Episode 40: Joo Lie (or: Watchin' Frasier on DVD)

I haven't been very active this summer. But I'm 22 and getting old, so I suppose this is acceptable.

But I've been writing (still) and I suppose I've just started working out, lifting and doing situps and stuff. And I've been hard at work wi...

Oh, working out? Yeah, I suppose I should share; I've started lifting with my younger brother for the past week. I'm going to keep it up for the rest of the summer and (I hope) into the school year. The reason for doing this? It's far too simple to even explain. I'm really just going through some stuff and figuring out that I'm not an overly healthy individual. So I'm working out, now. I'm also learning how to study again, for the first time, so...

I don't know, I really don't have much to say. I'm excited for summer to be over so I can get out of work and this house. Not that I hate the house, mind you, but I just feel like I'm running in circles doing nothing. And this job, despite the good pay and the fun I have and the friends I make... it always causes me to get at least a little depressed. And that's not cool.

So...

Come one, school. Let's GRADUATE!

Episode 39: The (Temporary) End of Everbody Stills (or: No More Write)

I have been forced to quit writing my current story. By the main character's insecurities, anxieties, and apparent social disorders.

When I left him last, Everbody was on a men's room toilet, attempting to relieve the tension and anxiety he assumed he could rid through his... well, end. But he discovered that there was a problem with this.

Everbody, at this point in the story, has found the object he's been looking for his entire life, the one thing that makes him complete (or so he thinks). He'd thought he'd found it multiple times before, but had failed each and every time.

Now that the real deal is in front of him, within his grasp, he is shut down mentally, emotionally, and sometimes physically as a result.

To quote Everbody (and the section's title), he is simply "Not Ready" yet.I hadn't ever anticipated that this would happen to him, at all. I know how the story ends. This CAN'T happen in that ending. But I can't NOT persue it, the concept of his continuing discoveries is too great to pass up. I thought I could make a choice, take time off from the story and examine the pros and cons of each possible answer.

But I was wrong.

It turns out that Everbody can never be the same after this, no matter what. Even if I try to take it out, from this point on in his life, Everbody will be affected by his discovery in the bathroom that day, with his pants down around his ankles. That he is too scared, anxious, and self-concious to simply reach out and grasp what he's always wanted. This holds him there, in that bathroom, until he and I can figure out what his next move should be.

Not WILL be. Should be. I'm not going to ruin this for him.

I've got my own life to ru(i)n.