Guess who's back...

Okay, so I went an entire TERM of school without blogging. Shame on me. Let me briefly give some reasons why:

-Life is not NEARLY as interesting as it was in London.
-The G on my keyboard had been acting up and I wanted to give it a rest.
-I've just had a lot going on, okay?

Enough of that. For what it's worth, I've wanted to blog numerous time for the last few weeks. Let me tell you what you've missed.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN RACEWAY - Yes, I spent a day at the races. One July 5th. And it was everything you would expect. I think the only thing worse than hooking up with a girl on February 13th is spending the day after Independence Day with a bunch of NASCAR Dads and their families. We honored the courageous men and women who are "out there fightin' for our right to be here racin'." I must admit, I didn't realize that right was under attack but I understand the sentiment. I could accept the in-your-face-and-as-tacky-as-possible patriotism that pervaded the event. And I could accept the 90 minutes I spent in the snack bar line and realizing that calling obesity a "medical emergency" is anything but an exaggeration. And I could accept the fashion nightmares that I saw all day. (The next time you have an old American flag, call the Boy Scouts, don't sew it into a hoodie...) What really got me was the very end of the festivities, when the fireworks display was accompanied by a string of country music about the 9/11 attacks. Something about watching explosions and listening to "have we forgotten about Bin Ladden" (yes, that is supposed to rhyme) didn't sit well. On top of that, the fireworks were shot off close enough to us that flaming pieces of...something kept falling on us throughout the show. We were under attack. Good thing we have a militia full of soldiers fighting for our right to fireworks shows. (Disclaimer: I fully support the troops, so much that I'd love for them to come home soon.)

"I'M SO BUSY" - I've noticed that people who say this really aren't. The really busy people have better things to do than complain about how busy they are.

MY BIRTHDAY - Confession: I don't like my birthday. Apart from my family, no one does a thing for my birthday. I don't ask for much, but something more than a post on my Facebook wall is always nice. I have a yearly "maybe I have no friends" pity party every July 11 but I'm happy to announce that this year was a step up from the norm. People remembered! I love my new roommate and my new job and that certainly has a good deal to do with the birthday festivities they initiated. Plus, one girl bought me a Jamba Juice and another gave me chocolate and a card. And I must say that nothing makes a woman more attractive than remembering a birthday-starved 22-year-old. At least to me. So, it made a nice change. (And, yes, I asked both of those girls out.)

DANCE CLUBS - The day after my birthday a couple friends wanted to go dancing. And it took me about five minutes to remember why I hate dance clubs. It's the same in any environment in which people turn into animals (clubs, sporting events, mosh pits, DMV lines, etc.). We seem to want to escape reality so much that we turn up music to drown out conversation, turn off the lights, and pulsate to primal songs with banal lyrics that we would never really admit to liking. But in the dance club anything goes. People form uncomplicated semi-sexual relationships and girls stand in circles trying to out-sexy each other. We must really not like each other much.

THE OLYMPICS - I'm boycotting. Yeah, I'm one of THOSE...

Okay, well, that;s the short list of my recent insights. I'll be more diligent from now on. Seriously.