I said the most difficult goodbye this morning. It's comforting to know that all over this little college town there are people saying these terribly sad goodbyes and feeling just as weird about moving on. But, at the same time, watching my roommate's little blue Ford Focus pull out of our parking lot this morning was gut-wrenching. My little buddy is gone, moving to New York City on Tuesday. I'm lucky to have met these girls. I just hope I can get it together and stay in touch with them. It's always so much harder than you think it will be to keep up with old friends.

I don't want to say that I love goodbyes, because that would be a weird thing to say. But it's so nice to have the chance to be total wreck in the presence of people you love while letting them know just how much it's going to such to not be around them all the time. And goodbyes (at least the ones that I have faced so far) are usually paired with moments of great excitement and change.

So now I have to start packing up. I may be taking a little trip to Chicago this week to help move my twin bro in to his new apartment. I should go, if only to keep myself in the running of people who he will take care of when he is an enormously rich lawyer in a few years. And I think that staying around this town all week and just waiting to move out will just get me down.

Just marking time now. I'm not at work. I'm officially jobless. But at least I'm spending my first day as a member of the unemployed in bed watching the olympics. I foresee a nap or two in my immediate future. I do my best work at night, anyway. At the very least, not having to wake up early each morning will give me a chance to get back to my nocturnal roots for a couple of weeks.
Oh! My birthday! It was really great. As far as birthdays go, it was definitely up there. It was a good way to wrap up the summer.

Technically, I'm getting paid to watch the olympics this week because of the vacation days I never used up at work. Technically this is a vacation day. How awesome is that?