All By Myself

My roommate moved out last weekend, so for right now I have a double as a single. This is too good to last. I�ve missed having my own room, especially one with a door that locks and contains my own private phone line (which I never answer because I�m always out being a college freshman). I feel like a high school student run away from home. Any minute now, my parents will be at my doorstep demanding that I come home this instant. Or I�ll go home tonight and someone will have moved into the room. But for now, all is right with the dormitory-related universe.

In & Out

There are two doors at the university�s library. One door is marked IN. The other door is marked OUT. These markings are in large, clear letters. However, this does not stop people from going in the OUT door and out the IN door. It�s frustrating. I want to yell at them, but then they�ll think I�m crazy.

Diet Coke Price Wars

The machine in my building sells 20 oz. bottles of Diet Coke for 75 cents, but it doesn�t take my meal plan card as a form of payment. The food court sells 20 oz. Diet Coke from the fountain for 99 cents plus tax, which does come off my meal plan. The thing is, I feel bad being overcharged upwards of twenty-four cents each time I need my liquid crack, but I�m running out of petty cash. I need all the change I can scrounge so that I can print out pages and pages of my delusional ranting � er, well-researched essays. But I started the semester with, like, $200 in my meal plan�s petty cash account, so I can probably afford that extra quarter a day. Although if they�d stop overcharging me, I could donate that extra quarter to those starving children in that third-world country from the TV commercial. Which is exactly what I would do.

It�s the Time of the Season

The new television season officially kicks off Monday, and this is the first year that I can remember where I�m not ready for it to begin. I just don�t know when I�m going to cram all this crap into my schedule. So many new shows, so little time. The Emmys are Sunday, and I know that, but it seems like summer just started. I feel like time stopped when I left for college, so TV should be put on hold until I graduate or something. I did watch Ed last night, and from everything I�ve heard, next week Ed and Carol finally do it. Good for them. Although if it takes you three years to get someone into bed...hmm. I would have probably given up after, like, three weeks, but I guess that�s why I�m not the subject of a romantic dramedy.

Wake Me Up Inside

It�s exhausting being a college freshman. I feel like a pretender here again because I don�t really do anything. (I do stuff, I guess. I have this journal, I�m starting a zine, I�m taking sixteen credit hours, I watch TV. I guess I just feel guilty for not having a job, like somehow employment validates my existence.) Maybe it�s the new five hours of sleep schedule, but sometimes I wonder why I don�t pass out directly on the keyboard, tying gibberish with my face as I go. You�d think I�d get smart and figure out a way to sleep more, but you�d be wrong.

Writing for Fun and Profit

I�ve decided that my new minor is going to be Professional Writing. How awesome a minor is that? I�ve been recruited by the school paper (but they�ve got me doing hard news � blah), which is just like old times. I didn�t realize how much I missed all the publications drama. Also, topics for my English essays this semester so far have included packaging at American Eagle and the nuances of granola bar advertising. Deep.

Up the Down Staircase

One of the two elevators in our building is currently broken. This happens every other week. There are ten floors in our building. I am on the sixth floor, even though they call it the fourth floor. I can deal with tumbling down six flights of stairs each morning. It�s coming home after class and facing the prospect of hiking back up to my room that�s exhausting. So I wait for the elevator to come back down. Sometimes I wait for, like, twenty minutes. It�s worth it, though. One of these days I�m going to have to teach Gregory to climb stairs. Maybe I could dangle a carrot in front of him or something.

Someone got here by searching for: placing classified ads tv informercial Reading: An essay about The West Wing for my English class. Listening to: Michelle Branch. Eating: Domino's. Oh, how I've missed the pizza. Watching: Ed. Drinking: Raspberry Kool-Ade.