(I'm lucky just about everyone who reads my diary leans left — though not suprised; I can't imagine a right-winger putting up with me — because I still think the last one was rather mean. Though I did keep some of the more intolerant things I had to say to myself. :) And everyone who replied: you're absolutely right. I think I understand better and am even just a bit more terrified of the electorate.)

Now that it's nearly August, I finally have a summer job! I only half-heartedly sought one when I got back in July, still burned out from my hell of a June and preferring to spend my days sleeping till noon and watching movies till the early am. Nice for a while, but inevitably mind-numbing, so this week I begged my mother to get me a job at her work.

So I'm back at Akron's premiere 'gourmet market.' Working in the garden for 20 hours a week. On the one hand, it's manual labor and there are bugs and it occasionally requires interacting with people. But on the whole, it's a pretty nice job for me, as I get to work alone and listen to music and feed my checking account. I didn't want to bring my nice mp3 player so this morning I bought a $10 cassette am/fm portable, which is giving me the chance to rediscover the kickass mix tapes I used to make off the radio in high school. And there were a few major purchases (new glasses, a dvd drive) I wanted but couldn't justify, so I'll consider the next three weeks' pay free to spend and try not to touch any of the rest of it.

So three weeks, yeah, till I'm back in Marietta for my senior year. I have nothing but good feelings about this year. Since I'm pretty certain I'm not directly bound for graduate school, I'm not anxious about much of anything. My schedule is (for perhaps the first time) completely reasonable, and I won't be working over 15 hours a week anymore, so there should be time for all the Hortons runs, Columbus weekends, drinking binges and movie nights I can handle. I have nothing but good feelings. I'm going to have a hell of a senior year.

The only other thing to say is that I'm becoming a bit of a convention junkie. I will be sad when it's over. I only wish I'd had the chance to hear Dennis Kucinich speak in person during his campaign — he's so exactly my idea of the ideal politician (if I can't have Jed Bartlet, of course). Anyway, I'm looking forward to Kerry's speech tonight, and then I guess I'll have to find something else to do with my evenings.

And finally, if I change my template anytime soon, it will almost certainly feature the following quote from Voltaire, because I've decided it absolutely defines my life:

If we do not find anything pleasant, at least we shall find something new.