I am not so strangely still awake, but strangely wide awake thanks to the Baby's First Espresso I had with my parents tonight at a ritzy French restaurant. We went to celebrate my mom's sixth decade on the planet Earth, and were aurally raped by a table of eight cackling soccer moms who I am sure all had names that were variations on "Sharon" and "Cyndi."

I think that the Amandas and Stacies of today are the Sharons and Cyndis of tomorrow.

Despite these chatty Cathies next to us, we were able to talk about how stupid people are, how awesome we are, and kittens versus puppies. My dad randomly told a story of when he was first in the navy and was almost raped by a gang of his superiors, but they just stripped him down and spanked him and took him out drinking instead.

Sometimes I can really relate to that guy.

After gaining a net worth of approximately twelve bajillion pounds, we stepped outside and my dad asked if we could all smoke some of my Blacks. I should mention that at dinner I sort of "came out" to them about occasionally smoking cloves at school, and my dad was intrigued by my description of these Make You Look Supercool While Tasting A Robust And Sweet Flavor inhalable death sticks.

Standing outside the restaurant smoking with my Mark Twain doppelganger dad and my big jolly mink coat sporting mom was probably the singlemost awkward event of my life.

Other than peeing myself in the fourth grade.

But that was just awkward because I thought I was doing something completely edgy and original, but I guess because I was wearing a shirt that said "My Cat Walks All Over Me" at the time, it wasn't received well.

(In case you haven't noticed, I am trying out a slightly different, less hyper style of writing.

...

I just wanted to clarify that this is not some kind of freak accident and I am not blind to the fact that I am suddenly writing like a somewhat normal person. I am still saying nothing, just using more words to do it.)

As music-savvy as I have always liked to consider myself, I am severly disappointed in my inability to fill up an iPod. I have been furiously scrambling to import my tactile music library since I have been back at home, and am realizing that I am running out of (read: quality) CD's at a meager 10 gigabytes.

So I've been downloading a lot.

Other than me, nobody in the universe is on winter break yet. There is really not much to my life these days. I download music, sometimes go out and buy music, make music compilations, shop, hang out with my mom, and occasionally hang out and do the humpity hump with Dan. I am noticing that the big, important overseas problems are not what keep me up at night, but rather the stupid drama of my own life.

My parents are now telling me that I should consider transferring back home somewhere because money is becoming tighter than Hillary Duff's vagina.

The more I think about it, the more it seems like a relief to be back here. Even though I'm not living the fast-paced city girl life (which I barely was to begin with), right now I honestly prefer it. I feel more sane.

It will definitely be harder to leave DePaul than it was to leave UArts (which I am actually trekking back up to on Wednesday to hang out with some neat people I've neglected to otherwise stay in touch with).

I am looking at St. John's in Annapolis and the ever faithful College Parque.

If I actually do transfer again, it is going to mean that I will have attended four colleges and lived in two major cities by the time I am a junior.

Which is pretty exciting.

If you're into that sort of thing.

Anyway, anyone with ears and a penchant for melody should pick up anything by the Heavy Blinkers. They remind me of music that would be in a Charlie Brown or Dr. Seuss cartoon. But in a really, really good way.

Speaking of melody.

I have made a mix of the prettiest melodies I've ever heard that reach out and touch me right in the pants.

And it goes like this:

1. "God Only Knows" - Beach Boys
2. "Cigarette" - Ben Folds Five
3. "Asleep" - The Smiths
4. "Those to Come" - The Shins
5. "Dear Prudence" - The Beatles
6. "Mother's Day" - Bitch and Animal
7. "Let's Get Lost" - Elliott Smith
8. "Maria" - West Side Story/Bernstein/Sondheim
9. "Poses" - Rufus Wainwright
10. "Lord Anthony" - Belle & Sebastian
11. "Wicked Little Town (Tommy Gnosis version)" - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
12. "No Surprises" - Radiohead
13. "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her" - Simon & Garfunkel
14. "The Fairest of the Seasons" - Nico
15. "Two Headed Boy" - Neutral Milk Hotel
16. "The Piccolo Snare" - Super Furry Animals
17. "Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, Prelude" - J.S. Bach/Yo-Yo Ma
18. "Here, There, and Everywhere" - The Beatles
19. "Jackass" - Beck
20. "Such Great Heights (Iron and Wine cover)" - The Postal Service
21. "Inmates" - The Good Life
22. "Missing the War" - Ben Folds Five
23. "Ave Maria" - J.S. Bach, as performed by Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma

It's weird to actually invest time and thought into one of these entries.

And that's it.

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