The best thing about graduating university and having a job is that nothing follows me home. For almost all of my life, up until this point, I felt like a slave to homework, projects, and tests. I’d never have a weekend where I could just relax, and not think about the next thing that I should be working on. Even in the summers I felt guilty for not getting a head start on next years material.

Now it’s just pure relaxation. No more worry about failing something or running out of money. The only thing left to work on is me, and I have the rest of my life for that.

I think that most guys around this time of year pull a Pablo Francisco in New York, in this area at least, when the weather really starts to go up and a lot of girls are anxious to show off their new summer clothes. I suppose that I can admit to doing the same thing at some point, but I’ve sort of lost the feeling, so they say.

So many are in halter tops and capris (ugh, capris), or other skimpy, tight clothes, and it all just seems so boring now. I might get distracted if a girl dresses with some more fucking personality instead of dressing to show skin, but overall hizzotness just doesn’t do it for me anymore. There’s gotta be a little more, a little something extra to really keep my attention.

Hopefully, that means I’m growing up, not getting more superficial.

I always walk into clothing stores with my headphones on but my music down. I keep the volume low so that I can make sure I’m not in someone’s way. I keep my headphones on so that I can ignore anything that the salespeople say to me. People working on commission can be very annoying.

I had the chance to hang out with Sonas on Wednesday night. He brought over some wine and cigars just as a chance to relax. He graduated last month and is looking for a job before he looks for a law school. The thing is, he’s not tied down by anything at all. His girlfriend is in Seattle, finished her studies and working as a pharmacist, but he has no plans on moving there. He’s perfectly fine with moving back home, out west, or even overseas to find a job. I have to admire that kind of freedom, especially since he’s in a relationship. There’s a trust there that really goes beyond most of the other relationships that I know. We ended up ordering in and hanging out on the balcony. I can’t relate to him very well because I don’t know much about him, but I can definitely say that he’s an easy person for me to talk to, which is a rarity in itself.

Yesterday I had the chance to hang out with Pat, and just kick back with some Soul Calibur II. We were pretty evenly matched, although I had the upper hand because I actually own the game and have a steady character. We’d really learn each others moves, so it ended up being a game of reflexes and feints, instead of button mashing like it is against most people. He’s the only person I know who used to be a hardcore gamer the way I used to be, so it was great to be able to talk about fighter styles and relate on that level.

I should believe only in a God who understood how to dance.

—Of Reading And Writing, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

I don’t currently believe in a god, but if I did, I would imagine that he, being a god, would understand all the things that I hold as important. I couldn’t imagine a god without a great sense of humour, a good sense of musical taste, or a nice bowel movement or a regular basis.

And how megalomaniacal is that?