The end of day of a melancholy Day One of single life has me feeling grateful for my sweet roommate Lisa. It's not just her spunky disposition that brings me a bit of comic relief...but she made me an absolutely awesome mixed tape when she thought I was about to embark on a five-day road trip - one of those rare instances where the tape-giver doesn't just give you a tape full of songs they like, but one full of songs they think that you'd like. So I'm sitting here listening to Diana Krall and the bongo wonders of Perez Prado, Dead Can Dance, etc., etc, stuff I dig.

Now would be a good time to mention the CD that my friend JD burned for me the other day as well. Man oh man...we had been talking early 80's country and the fact that the Oak Ridge Boys and Alabama and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band just kicked the shit out of anything Nashville has to offer these days (and both of our Mom's seem to harbor some morbid fascination with Anne Murray)...so my CD came complete with Kenny Roger's "The Gambler" (that is Kenny Rogers, right?), and John Anderson's "Swingin'," a song that, for some reason has been burned into my memory as a piece of sheer brilliance since the tender age of five. Go figure.

I'm sitting on my bed wondering what on earth to do with myself given the fact that I have no finals to study for (not that I would have been studying even if I did), no job to go to, an aching feeling in the back of my eyes that prevents reading, and can barely stifle a dry heave at the thought of watching T.V. on a Sunday night (Simpsons being over and all). This is all I wish for (free time) during the nine months of school, and now I can't figure out which way to go. Whatta dork.

I went to visit my friend Dean today, and I've finally found somebody who agrees with my claim that sci-fi paperbacks are men's answer to the romance novel. Since the fact that he works at a bookstore allowed for such a luxury, he went to the trouble of finding a sci-fi novel and a romance novel that had nearly identical cover art - each with a warrior-looking man holding a heaving-breasted damsel in distress in his arms...or something like that. Awesome.

I'm trying to prepare for my big train ride out to Colorado, but I can't seem to get motivated. It probably has something to do with the fact that some of the things I have to do are to go to my storage facility, the bank and the post office...none of which can be done on Sunday (or Memorial Day, for that matter). So I think tomorrow I'll abuse myself with TLC programming...A Makeover Story, A Dating Story, A Wedding Story, in that order. Or maybe I'll just take a long long, long long drive, and think about all the reasons why life is wonderful while listening to my groovy new musical gifts.

I'm hoping to wake up with motivation and joy...wish me luck.