Things I learned on my trip up to Washington:

-When you're in the car with your family, no one cares what you look like.
-Always get the stick out of the Fun Dip before you open the powder.
-Snow is a fickle entity.
-5 hours of driving is usually the point when people get loopy.
-People eat weird-smelling things.
-My brother obsessed with the temperature, asking inane questions, and the difference between a freeway and a highway.
-There is no difference between a freeway and a highway that anyone cares about.
-My brother will tell you about them anyway.
-Glowsticks are an excellent idea in the car.
-Music and amazing texting conversations will save your life.
-Even with snow on the ground outside and frost making your windows all foggy, it can still get absolutely sweltering in your car.
-Other places have trees that actually lose their leaves.
-Snow is actually soft and powdery sometimes!
-There is an endlessly amusing town called Weed, California that is a source of endless amusing jokes that my mother does not find amusing.
-Oregon's State Lotto Powerball: $106 million.
-Gas station attendants fill up the tank for you in Oregon. Apparently it's a job that requires highly trained professionals.
-No matter how fucking cool it would be, normal people just can't Skype on the road.
-I'm not sure if I just never noticed it before or if people just don't do it in the desert, but every fast food place that we stopped at had a full-on Christmas tree in the corner.
-Shoe on head pictures are endlessly hilarious.
-"Electric boobs" does not rhyme with "mohair suits".
-Sunnyside smells like shit. Literally.
-Andrue is consistently amazing.

"So Sorry, It's Over"

I got the Beatles' Abbey Road for Christmas #1. So appropriate, that it be the first Beatles album I own. I mean, this is my fucking album. It pretty much spearheaded Beatles Self-Education and Appreciation 101 for me. This time last year it was all I listened to. It's so crystal clear. Sounds like Ringo's drummin' in my room for me. Thanks, Starkey.


I got Blink 182's Greatest Hits for Christmas #2. Of course, "Man Overboard" would be on it. It is a greatest hit, after all. It's strange. Nothing reminds me of what it used to, and even the chemistry's different. When she's here I feel like she's farther away than ever. Blink 182 reminds me of Elisa, save for MO. But honestly. All I need now is Pink Floyd's Greatest Hits.

"I'll never forget you, with the girl at the rock show."

Blah, poetry time.

Christmas

Christmas time is here. And lemme tell ya, I couldn't be more excited. The cold deters me, I admit, but I love this season. If there was anything that could cure me of my ridiculous obsession with my dubious depression, it's Christmas time.

Although, I don't care much for the music.

"I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. Love Christmas is all around me, and so the feeling grows."

Selfish thing that I am,

it never occurred to me that people could be having the time of their lives. For all my transparent cynicism I believed in the haze of sorrow that drifted over my world, icy and inspiring, not remembering that my world is not the world.

Selfish little thing.

"What is life without your love? Tell me, who am I without you by my side?"

Also iambic pentameter, inspired by Lucy

Frustrated to no end with everyone
but you; there's really no way out of this.
I'm tired of his questions, of her games--
This love triangle is pure hit or miss.

The bond 'tween brains keeps me safe in this storm,
He is the sign at the crossroads of thought.
Beautiful in words and lovely in speech,
his comfort is the kind cannot be bought.

She holds me up with strong words and bright eyes,
I can think of nothing new to say here.
So often am I filled with gratitude
I have already said it all, I fear.

Light of my life, the reason I am strong;
I know what you are, what you can become.
Don't let the tyranny lead you astray.
Be who you are. She'll see her mistakes someday.

Wheels turning, the flames keep burning, and I
am at a loss of what to say or do.