But in all seriousness...
I BOUGHT AN UMBERTO ECO BOOK.
Many of you might know who Umberto Eco is, and why reading his (her?) work makes you smarter. I don't know why. All I know is that it does, and it seperates you into a class of intellectual superiors (or at least it used to. I hope the expiration date isn't up on that one).
Additionally, some of you might know that I have a decently long, very irritating commute. Some of you also might know that I have a serious addiction to French toast sticks (and not the actual French toast mind you, only in stick form) that I developed while eating them during the seven summers I spent at summer camp. But that is neither here nor there, I only thought of it because I'm eating them right now having microwaved them in the office and I'm wondering if anyone around me is ever bothered by the constant foody smells I unlease on the office. Anyway.
I have to be out of my apartment and down at the leasing office by 8:25 to catch the free shuttle to the Metro. Depending on the traffic on 66, it takes about another half an hour to get there in the morning (longer in the evenings). From there it is exactly 30 minutes from the moment I swipe my SmarTrip card (also known as the most genius invention known to man, and what distinguishes us seasoned commuters from the amateurs and the tourists) until I sit down at my desk.
I generally like public transportation because you can do other things, space out, etc. Even though I had determined that taking the Metro twice a day was too expensive on my meager budget, I quickly got burned out by riding the bus for two hours in the evening on the way home. Regardless of the fact that the 'doing nothing' factor is high, it is more uncomfortable and tedious than I had ever expected.
Either way, I dropped the "I'm not going to renew the lease" bomb on my roommate last night. Ambassador of Unemployment and Filth that he is, I could not take it anymore. While I have not made any concrete additional arrangements, I viewed a few places last night in the anticipation of the expiration (I'm Jesse Jackson now, apparently) of my lease in the beginning of August.
This summer has been a tired one. Last summer I worked, probably harder, but for the most part went out nearly every night: spending the days exhausted, acheing to go to bed without venturing out but when I would arrive home getting hit with a second wind that would inevitably blow me about. I like it that way. Now I feel like I am just blowing from one anticipatory state to another: moving out of the dorms, moving out of Mormon's house, moving out of here. There is nothing to enjoy, just anticipation. And in that anticipation, the days are fading fast, and school is coming back into view. Today is the LAST DAY OF JUNE for chrissakes. Last year at this time I was down in Rehoboth with Paul and Mormon, enjoying the last bastion of those important friendships that had made my freshman year so bearable (if at all).
I feel stuck. Umberto Eco be damned, I don't want to be doomed to a life of shitty roommates and endless commutes and money shortages. I can't afford to buy Mark a birthday present until after our birthday is over, probably, because of the way my pay schedule has worked out.
I'm very seriously considering moving home next summer, depending on the kind of jobs I could get or even where home is. There's serious talk of them not having enough money to stay in this place, or just wanting to pick up and go to Florida (you know parents, they're getting to that age...).
Either way, I'm stuck at this crappy job, just pulling myself through by looking forward to things. Lunch...Don and Mike...going home. It's always looking forward for me, never in the present.
