Pretty good day so far. Two classes down, one to go - and, amazingly, I've already read the material for tonight rather than putting it off. Of course, the reading happens to be the Communist Manifesto, which I've had to read for classes about 4 times.

Oh, I took the John Cusack test:

Which John Cusack Are You?

Now I'm just sitting in the Cafe...I also got some work done for my job - this laptop is a Godsend. I was able to put together a graphic for the site as well as email some info to someone at work so that it looks like I've done something for the meeting tomorrow! I'm kinda stuck until they buy me the software for our virtual tour, so I have to make little projects look big until then...it's morally repugnant, but it's kind of what my bosses are forcing me to do since they don't have any real assignments for me. Hey, I'm on retainer...I'll look at it like that. Marx was so wrong when he said that you can't change your world by changing your mind

I finally succombed to Clare and her friends - I went to dollar drink night at Chillers. What an interesting experience...someone actually flicked their cigarette off on my shoulder. It was so crowded. It was so not me. Here I am surrounded by hundreds of people and I felt kinda lonely...weird. Needless to say (or maybe not), I didn't get off my ass...I don't know whether it's just this inward desire to not be drunk or the fact that I weigh enough to balance the alcohol out.

Well, I should be working on a story. Later!

It's a little ironic, but as Juan is getting ahead in his schoolwork, I'm starting to get behind. Not really far behind, but I'm starting to finish things the actual day they're due - not good. For example - tomorrow I have to read and write a short adaptation of the "Wonderful Land of Oz"...yes, it's actually an entire different story than the "Wizard of Oz"...

Classes went swimmingly (to steal a word from Brendan's story tonight)...the critique part was ultra-abbreviated since Brendan's story was really a prologue and it's hard to judge it on its own. Jeanne (our teacher) is having him write 4 pieces instead of 3 pieces with revisions on one (or 2, she kept changing the number during the class...I need to ask her to clarify). So, by the end of the semester, I will have read chapters 1 - 3 of Brendan's novel. Fun, fun, fun...

Not so fun - my screenplay is not progressing very fast. I turned it what I have, but I think the prof is going to catch on soon that I should have 30 pages, not 10 and an outline...oh well...I'll weather that storm when it comes...

My plan for tomorrow - playing catch up!!! =) Later!

I looked over my past few entries - whoa, way introspective and sad-faced. Funny, but it took a Monday to blow all that out of the water. It's not that I'm less introspective, but I've got back some perspective. =)

- Mom and I spent most of the morning harrassing Dad. Before you get judgemental, you should know that he's been in a pity party funk for the last week or so and it's been driving us crazy. Well, our family has this thing about pity parties - pretty much everyone treats the mopey person like David Letterman treats his guests until the mopey person shapes up and gets over it. We kept jabbing at Dad until he broke out laughing about how silly things have gotten around here. Yea! Note: for a really severe version of this pity party punishment, you should see my friend, Braden, and his family. They actually throw entire PARTIES with cake, ice cream, and party favors for the person who is in pity funk...a real pity party - how cool!

- I then promptly left the house and went to Stardust Coffee and Video to work on homework, something that I have not been able to do all weekend (see Chicken episode below). I got my Russian homework done and then this guy at another table kept smacking while eating his food. Well, the whole study atmosphere was pretty much shot since I'm autistic when it comes to sound.

- For some reason I dropped in on Braden's family even though he doesn't live there anymore. They still let me come over like it's my second home. His sisters harrass me, I harrass them - it's like "only child" therapy. I ended up petting their self-impregnating cat (this cat has not had a suitor for quite awhile, yet it keeps getting pregnant) for about an hour before getting very sneezy and allergic. I also got to watch "Hitler's Women" with Leah, the youngest of the family. She skipped past MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, the WB, and settled on the History Channel - how cool is that! She's the most literate 15 year old that I know...well, now that Megan's older.

- Finished reading and critiquing a prologue of a novel for class at Barnes and Noble. I buy coffee there as my ticket to sit in their cafe which has plugs for my laptop. Most of the coffee that I buy lately has been to sit in the cafe of the coffee-selling establishment.

- Got home, watched the end of "Patch Adams" with my parents. What tripe! I really liked it the first time, but now that I know more about the real Patch Adams, the movie comes off as a gloss over his real achievements and personality. Oh well...

- Watched a hilarious "Ally"...Paul got me turned onto the show and now I love it. It probably has a lot of flaws, but I'm blind to them at the moment...beautiful people, contrived situations, yet real human emotion - what more could you ask for?

So, I've concluded that Monday's are great - I'm energized, I'm cheerful, I drank 4 cups of coffee, the freakin' birds are singing on every branch...life is good...I hope that yours is as well... =)

This weekend was low key, but personally challenging (in good and bad ways), for a few reasons. It still amazes me how much of my day is still taken up in thinking about things while I go through the everyday stuff:

1) I didn't really see any friends this weekend - they were all busy and my parents were really needy. I usually get really lonely and pissy when this happens, but I'm proud to say that I found stuff to do and didn't mind it that much - I've reclaimed my "only child" powers sapped by years of socialization!

2) I spent inordinate hours doing things for my parents. I don't mind this usually, but almost everything turned into a huge ordeal. For example, dad wanted chicken. I said that it would probably be a hassle to go to Popeyes at 6pm on a Friday night. Dad reiterated forcefully that he had his heart set on chicken (good grief!). So, mom and I go and it takes an hour and a half to get the chicken. Multiply this by 10 errands and you have my weekend. It gave me a lot of time to think about my relationship with my parents and the imperative need to move out =).

3) The harp people came to church...this is a big one...I use the phrase "the harp people" jokingly, they're a family that travels around the US and the children give concerts on three harps as well as piano and flute. The oldest daughter also does these pretty chalk drawings in real time while they tell a story - kinda like "Reading Rainbow" on PBS when they draw the story as they read...or am I the only one who saw that episode? The reason that this is a big event and spurred on much thinking in my head is because they still belong to the ultra-conservative, ultra-strict "Christian" homeschooling group that my parents and I belonged to for 2 years near the end of my high school days.

This family is such a nice family (actually, an oddity in this homeschooling group - I've met more dour, passive agressive people in this organization that I've met elsewhere), thus making me question my principles. You see, I'm against what this group stands for and I personally believe that they do more to hurt the cause of Christianity than to help it. However, it's hard to think this when their children are so nice and the parents are so friendly. Oh yeah, the kids play countless freakin' instruments as well! Oh, and the fact that they've written and published their own book...yeah, that's kind is impressive too.

Well, that encounter got me thinking about the best way to live and whether they were getting more benefit than bad from it. After talking to them for awhile, I realized that I, at least, had made the right choice for me. They seem to have a hard time relating to others who aren't in the same sort of lifestyle (and that describes most everyone at our church) and the parents seem to get visibly shaken by other kids who aren't wearing floorlength cotton jumpers and talk loudly about "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings" movies.

I just couldn't live that way - I just didn't believe it. That's why I pushed to leave the organization. How successful can I be in life, how many people can I influence or inspire or just get to know, if I'm totally shut off from the culture in which everyone else lives?

So, if nothing else, this weekend helped me reaffirm that I'm on the right track as far as my "mental-scape" goes. I hope I didn't bog everyone down in mundane stuff that is best left unsaid, but by now I think everyone knows that I use this blog for just that =). Later!