I can't wait to be in college. Not so much the actual "being in college thing", but more because I'm so sick of the anxiety leading up to it. Most of my friends are settled in now, and I become more envious with every video iChat tour of their dorms. I want that. I want to be moved in and comfortable, goddamnit.

In the meantime, my life has consisted of painting the lake house and overstaying my welcome at Phoebe's.

I haven't been listening to music lately. Because I am always listening to podcasts from NPR. I can't help it. I currently subscribe to: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Talk of The Nation, Fresh Air, Story of the Day, 7 AM ET News Summary, and I just added This American Life and Stuff You Should Know. Also, APM's News from Lake Wobegon and The Writer's Almanac, both by Garrison Keillor. And of course The Onion Radio News. So that's a total of 10 programs, which doesn't leave much time for music.

My friends generally have very good taste in music, and if they're this goddamned obsessed (much to my chagrin) with Why?, then there must be something to it. So I'll give Alopecia another listen or two. If I can squeeze it in between all those podcasts.

I am sick of no sleep. But not sick enough to not watch a West Wing episode when I finish this blog.

I have zero motivation to do anything at all. Anything that I "should" be doing right now involves preparing for college. And in doing this, I would be acknowledging the fact that I'll be leaving in 13 days. 

The whole high-school-to-college thing is like a sick human experiment. They allow us to seek out the people we're most compatible with, become close with them, and then say "Time's up! Everyone go separate ways." I imagine they're watching us with clipboards and jotting down little notes. 

"Humans appear to be displaying depression" 

"Humans engage in 'hugs' frequently"

"Humans display emotional attachment"

How am I supposed to read Northeastern's required reading when there is so much West Wing to watch?

Tomorrow is Liz's last day, and I have high expectations for it.

I'm terrible at communicating. Consequently, I suck at goodbyes.

It's 3:47 am, and I have to get up relatively early. I'm just going to tell myself that I'll be fine painting all day tomorrow on 4 hours of sleep.

I just sneezed on my laptop screen.

Billsville

I am in Williamstown, MA with my cousin Chris (he has been mentioned a lot recently). 

We went out to eat with a couple of his friends. We played a game where we came up with arbitrary words that Matt (one of Chris's friends) had to use while talking to the waiter. It led to exchanges such as:

"How large is each potato skin?"

"Fairly big, they put a lot of toppings"

"Would it satisfy a lumberjack?

"Um, I don't know"

"How about the nachos? How large is the serving?"

"It would be about right for the four of you"

"Do they deliver the nachos in a truck?"

And so on. He tried to throw in "abortion", but it just wasn't going to happen. The waiter caught on that something was up (I was laughing hysterically) and we felt bad, so we told him what we were doing, and left a large tip.  Still, it was a really fun game.

I then lost $9.50 playing Hold Em' with far superior players.

I am going to watch The West Wing before I go to sleep. It is so so good. Next time you have mono (or just ample free time), watch it. 

Grand Theft Auto

I was awoken this morning around 5:30 am by my mother. With surprising composure, she told me her car was not in the driveway, where I had parked it last night. In an alarmed-yet-half-conscious state, I racked my brain, trying to think of why the car wouldn't be there. My mom eventually gave in to the inevitable conclusion: It had been stolen. 

I, however, was still trying to figure out what had happened. I thought up absurd scenarios. Perhaps one of my friends just borrowed it without asking (in the middle of the night?). I actually flirted with the idea that maybe, just maybe, I slept-walked out to the car, slept-drove it somewhere, and then slept-walked home. Of course I knew it really had been stolen, but I couldn't get out of semi-denial. 

I was still in this state when, around 10 pm, the police called. The car had been found abandoned in Fitchburg. They said that there was no visible damage, and we are picking it up tomorrow morning.

So all is well. Except my sense of Princeton, my neighborhood, as a safe haven, separate from the real world. It is shattered.

Family Reunion.

My family hosted roughly 100 relatives for what we call the "Russell Corner Reunion" (we're all distantly related to some Russell character?) It's a biennial event, but in the years between each reunion, everyone forgets the name of their 4th-cousin-twice-removed-on-the-Densmore-Perry-side. So, we actually have name tags, at a family reunion. (Chris and I named ourselves Ethan Vander-Planck and Paolo Garcia-Jimenez)

I enjoyed this RCR more than any other year, and I can credit this largely to my cousin Carolina, who I hadn't seen in several years. She's from Georgia, and speaks with a Southern drawl (Does that carry a negative connotation? I hope not.) It was fun to hang out with her, and it was hard to keep track of all the Southern slang.

We organized a Texas Hold 'Em tournament with a $20 buy-in, and I placed 4th (for which I won nothing.) I think I'm going to start playing poker more often.

The only low-point: My cousin's dog defecated on a rug.