My mom sent me this email:
"In June, 2011, Philadelphia was named the 2nd most Dirtiest City in America by Travel and Leisure's readership, for a variety of ways, including litter, air pollution, and taste of local tap water.

In 2006, Philadelphia's homicide rate of 27.7 per 100,000 people was the highest of the country's 10 most populous cities."

What does this accomplish? Is she trying to scare me away from doing what I'm obviously going to do?

I was about to reply, "well, the homicide rate of my town is going to rise if I don't get to be with my lover right soon."

Today I drove away from the greatest source of light shining into my life and giving me energy, as I drove away from the sun which was in the process of setting behind me. The symbolism was so easily conceived that a mediocre fiction writer could have written it, but it was very real. As most think of the sun as the greatest source of light in the physical realm, she is the one who best fits that title in my eyes. When I first pulled away from the airport where I left her today, I regarded it as just another departure, having been our fifth. And while I seem to be getting used to the repeated stiflings of our times together, I also am getting used to the feelings of sudden emptiness and disdain which summon moisture into my eyes after each time this occurs. Another departure, another day of feeling like crying. It's just part of the process.

She suggested that I shouldn't feel bad because we have departed from each other many times now. This is our lives; this is what we do. But the crying and heartbreak doesn't come from naivete with regard to these situations. It doesn't matter how many times this happens or how much practice I have had dealing with it. I'm still going to feel like crying because a large part of my personal foundation is being taken from me. Something is being lost.

The one difference that did occur today was that I kept on moving. Tears welled up in my eyes but I was not debilitated. I got right back in the car, eyes glossed over, and kept moving. I am getting better at dealing with it, but the emotions of heartbreak and emptiness aren't things that subside with time.

Love is real. I know because I have discovered it firsthand.

In order to experience love, you must achieve the following objectives:
1. Be in touch with your emotions
2. Realize that your purpose on life is to improve the world around you
3. Know what to look for and what criteria are important
4. Know what criteria are NOT important and should be ignored altogether
5. Have an ideology that is well-developed enough to converge with other well-developed ideologies
6. Don't be self-centered
7. Be open-minded

Fired
Rockin the Suburbs
Time
Army
Sentimental Guy
Your Dogs
Selfless, Cold, and Composed
Brick

^Songs by Ben Folds that I play on piano

I hate Valentine's Day.

It's a lose-lose-lose situation.

Let me explain

You are either:
1. Single
2. Taken but not totally confident in your relationship
3. Taken and confident that what you have will last.

1. If you are single, you feel left out. And that sucks.
2. If you are taken and not confident in your relationship, you will try to woo her with some material objects you bought with your material money. But it doesn't really make sense to state something immaterial with material generic stuff. It costs you money that you otherwise wouldn't spend, and it doesn't really make sense anyway.
3. If you are taken and confident in your relationship, you reaffirm your connection with her every day, and you don't need one special day a year to do so. You should be showing you that you care every day. This day should be no more special. And if you know this, Valentine's Day is pointless and useless.

I also hate it when people discuss how terrible an exam was right after they walk out of said terrible exam. It's going to be painful enough when I get the grade back. Don't drag out the pain by slowly revealing to me all the things I did wrong, so that I feel worse and worse the more we talk about it.

I'm finding, now, that when I fail at something, or I endure some form of hardship that would typically get me down, I find myself thinking, "at least I found love. And no matter what happens, I'm going to be with her. So nothing is ever all bad."

TOUR

St Louis
Oklahoma City
El Paso
Tucson
Phoenix
San Diego
Los Angeles
Riverside
Fresno
Las Vegas
Denver
Lawrence
Indianapolis
Columbus
Pittsburgh
Durham
Richmond
Baltimore
Philadelphia
Jersey
Manhattan
UCONN
Boston
Portland, ME
Montreal
Toronto
East Lansing
Ann Arbor
Chicago
Madison
Minneapolis
Winnipeg
Edmonton
Calgary
Vancouver
Seattle
Portland
Pocatello
Sioux Falls
Omaha
Iowa City
Memphis
Dallas
Austin
Houston
New Orleans
Tallahassee
Gainesville
Tampa
Miami
Jacksonville
Athens
Atlanta
Nashville
Champaign

I never understood teeth whitening.
Why do they need to be white?
I decided I want mine to be blue.
So I ate nothing but the blue raspberry flavor of Fun Dip for three days straight.
I lost 45 pounds, went to the hospital, and the worst part is,
My teeth didn't even end up blue like I wanted.
They were more of a cerulean; I was looking for more of a royal blue,
AND THAT JUST DIDN'T WORK FOR ME!
That's not the most exciting part though:
The most exciting part is that,
None of that actually happened.
I'll bet none of you believe that though, since I'm such a skinny motherfucker.