Alone Before School

The beginning of school rapidly approaches ... and those pangs of nausea ever increase in frequency. I wish more than anything right now that I knew someone going to this place. My friends are all leaving for college now ... Emily's been there since the seventeenth, almost a full month before I even leave! Everyone's going, and I'm left behind to wait, and now with almost no one around to help me through the final days and weeks!

It's terrible having most of my friends out of reach. There's no one for me to go to the movies with anymore. I see a review that catches my eye, and I think, "Oh, I should call so-and-so and ask her if she wants to check this out ... " and then I remember -- gone! Arrgh!!! I've even thought of just bribing some of my brothers to go with me to a film ... but then, they'd probably want to see something stupid like Jurassic Park III (haven't we been down this road two times too many??).

I decided today that I needed to tear myself away from The Sims and update this page ... before I waste an entire day furnishing my Sim family's mansion. Since I won't use the cheat codes to get money, I have to wait for the Sims to go to work for several Sim days before I can furnish a room to my taste ... my expensive taste, in this game. I decided that for this group of Sims, I would skip right over buying the cheaper furniture and only invest in quality couches and bathtubs ... and although I started work on this house quite a while ago, it still has a couple unfurnished rooms. I admit, some of the delay is my fault, since I am way too picky about the layout of the furniture, but then, I like my game to be aesthetically pleasing ... well, maybe I do attach too much importance to some things.

I saw the Barenaked Ladies episode of Behind the Music at 2 a.m. on August 20. Yes, I do make a habit of staying up that late, but anyway ... even though this is one of my favorite bands, I never knew most of the stuff they talked about on that show. For one thing, I had no idea that they had no success in America until the release of Stunt ... maybe I just live too close to Canada, because I remember "If I Had $1,000,000" being a huge hit in my little city several years ago...around when I was in sixth grade. It was on the radio constantly, my teacher used it in a class project, and my brothers and I knew all the words. Sean even has the original Gordon cassette ... that was before we all had personal CD players. Of course, I admit, I thought that the band had dropped off the planet between "Gordon" and "Stunt" ... but, apparently, the intervening albums weren't blockbusters in Canada, either ... well, I was extremely excited when I first heard "One Week," anyway, thinking this great band had finally made their second record. True stuff.

I also didn't know that the keyboardist had almost died from leukemia. I nearly cried during that half of the show, as he battled for his life. Can you blame me? He looked like such a nice, sweet guy, had finally had success with "Stunt" when he was diagnosed, and, come on, it was Behind the Music -- almost nothing good happens to people on that show! I figured the poor guy was doomed. Good news, though -- he is still very alive and much better! What drama ... I just wonder why the people at VH1 don't air that excellent episode more often, especially during the hours most people are awake...really, people, do we need to see Vanilla Ice, Grease, or Styx one more time???

How about some more stuff on U2 instead? I love U2. I never knew until they released their latest CD that so many of the songs I grew up loving on the radio were actually U2 songs ... but since I discovered that fact, I've just been snapping up the whole catalog as quickly as my nonexistent income will allow. I like that they have a huge range ... I can listen to powerful protest songs, thorny ballads, weird techno stuff, and just rock songs, all from the same group.

I just looked at my little note from the last entry, and I think I've pretty much covered everything I wanted to. On the last statement ... I think this site shows a part of me I don't usually let people see. Exposing my soul to strangers I will never see is easy ... it's just another bit of literature, like my poems and stories. But with people who already know me ... some stuff in here might surprise them.

I'm going to head off now and see if dinner's ready ... sometimes I miss the dinner call when I have a CD playing. As for next time ... here's something extremely personal ... maybe I'll talk about why I feel so horrible about how I treated someone back in my junior year and why it has been haunting me lately.