Never took piano lessons, but baby you are grand

- I'm currently riding the high of two -- yes, two -- venti iced Caramel Macchiatos. I had one on the commute in this morning and just spent the better part of my lunch break driving around the city in search of another Starbucks so I could get my second. That's, what, six shots of espresso? In a six hour period? I respect ratios. And it's not that I'm overly tired or dragging during the day. I get approximately 5-7 hours of sleep per night (depending on how good the writing or how bad the late night TV is) and, even though I wake up every morning hoping that Gwar has swallowed my office building (shut up, it's early), I generally get up to speed and out the door in good time and good spirits. Today just seemed like a day that would necessitate ridiculous levels of caffeine. I told Dave Stevens that, "If my heart doesn't explode by three o'clock, I'm not doing my job." He keeps looking out of his office. I think he's worried that I was serious.

- Not that I don't have enough to read right now. But. Does anyone have a copy of MacDonald's The Galton Case that I could beg/borrow/steal? I'm interested in it viz. smurphy487's recommendation. She says it's a lot like The Gun Seller (which I'm carrying around in my purse as we speak), which, in turn, is like The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (ditto). I tried Barnes & Noble while I was out this afternoon but they didn't have any copies in stock; 'same with Borders. I spoke to a guy on the phone about it and he said that it might've overreached its re-print date (I think the last printing was in '96.) I'm just fishing. I mean, I don't need additional reading material, but I'm in a sort of espionage-y mood for fiction of late and I'd like to try something new. Last summer I read a whole bunch of short stories by Raymond Chandler. Those were absolutely fantastic.

- S'anyone know if Hugh's new book is still on target for its September publication date? I heard September 27th. And will it be released simultaneously in the U.K. and here? I've got so many things to buy in the months of August and September: Season 3 of House, the House soundtrack, the Band From TV CD/DVD. And the end of September itself will be flagged. I feel like I should build a "time barricade" around September 25th -- like, the 24th and 26th -- just in case all the VCRs and DVRs in the world decide to rise up against Mankind and refuse to record anything I ask them to. I could build a Cold War era bomb shelter and stash a couple of VCRs down there, just in case. Of course, I might be exaggerating. A little. Can I borrow a Makita and some cement?

- As another Fall approaches, I find myself thinking more and more about where I was this time last year. I was actually here -- at this office, one cubicle removed -- anticipating my last semester of college. I had no real bead on what my plans were after that, but everything seemed to be constrained to that five month period between August and December, like it was this big block of time with blinders on. Now that I'm out -- out and employed -- I've gotten a chance to appreciate what I had when I was at university. Yes, I had to take a couple of blows to my pride by going back to the dorms (and to a 42-year-old non-traditional student for a roommate, whose idea of a Sunday night "check up" with her family involved having her cats put on the phone so she could talk to them) and gathering up some core curriculum credits that I put off until the very last minute (hello, Fitness Walking), but I can't think of a time when I felt more independent than I did during those last few months of college.

And I can't compare that atmosphere -- that open, academic environment -- to anything I've experienced since. Walking to and from class on a carpet of leaves, Snow Patrol on my iPod, worrying about group projects and capstone assignments until I was sick over the stress. It was worth it. Totally, totally worth it. These days I'll hear a song that I played often during my last semester ("SexyBack" is one of them, believe it or not) and I'll get a shot of nostalgia for that time in my life. I'll get "homesick" for muggy dorm rooms, chicken salad from the commissary, House DVDs on my laptop (literally on my lap), and the uncomfortable chairs that seemed to occupy all of my lecture halls. I miss late nights at the library. I miss late nights at the newspaper. I miss getting strawberry frozen yogurt from the cafeteria (and the cafeteria ladies who always slipped me an extra dish of fresh-cut strawberries because I was nice to them). I even miss the fact that I walked around for a week and a half with a mild strain of pneumonia because I was too busy (read: too stubborn) to go to the health center and get it checked out.

I'm moving on to bigger, better, more lucrative things, but some part of me wants that time in my life back. 'Suppose that's true for a lot of people. Mostly I just miss the frozen yogurt.

- Ten minutes 'til three. Lets see how long my heart lasts.