The Finch at the Feeder

For the past month or so (maybe more) I've been celebrating the end of my college career by misbehaving. While the experts, with their academic offices and ever-wagging forefingers, would tell me I should be searching for a job, polishing my resume, thinking about the future and getting my affairs in order (that's what they tell the dying to do!), I've decided to go a slightly different route. That is, the class-skipping, late-paper-turning-in, overspending, Jameson-and-orange-juice-drinking, illegal-cigar-smoking, oversleeping, assignment-ignoring, good-TV-watching, trip-taking, concert-going, excuse-making route. The fun route, as it's also called.

What has come over me? A readiness for the future, I think. It doesn't help that I'm in limbo about so much of my future because I'm waiting to hear whether or not I'll be getting a certain job through Ball State for next year. The answer will determine so much of my future (whether or not I'll be in grad school, where I will live, how much I'll be making, when I can start a new job, whether or not I'll be eating in The Retreat every day...) that, without an answer, the future is pretty darn intangible. Until I hear, I'm more or less stuck floating around eating Cheez-Its and browsing Uncrate.

(In case someone in my family, or a potential employee, has come across this blog, it isn't half as bad as I make it sound. Exaggeration is an all-too-acceptable {and quite belove'd} literary technique.)

Still, though. I'm not quite the go-getter I feel like I should be.


What's keeping me off the mark? Lots of things!

1) My new bike, for instance. Stevi and I both got bikes, actually, and we've been riding them quite a bit ever since we purchased. Tonight, we even rode to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, which is just about 4 miles. That's a more serious workout than I've done in quite a while.

2) Online shopping. Thanks to my huge tax refund, I've had some money free up, even though I just bought the Sentra. Over the past week or two, I've purchased online from J.Crew, Express, Topman, SkinID, and McSweeney's. That's just what I can name off the top of my head. I also bought a sweet new backpack at target and I'm seriously considering ordering four of these for Stevi and I.

3) (I'm embarrassed to say) television. I've never really been a TV watcher (I've always been faithful to about two shows at a time, but otherwise went for movies or books instead), but lately it's crazy. I faithfully watch LOST, Important Things with Demetri Martin, Scrubs, Big Love, Breaking Bad, Flight of the Conchords, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and (though I've taken a break recently) The Sopranos. WTF. That's too much. Thankfully, a couple of these shows just had their final episode. Here, my workload breathes a sigh of relief.

4) Books! Ever since AWP I've been working on probably 4 or 5 books at a time, switching back and forth like a fickle lover, perusing, browsing, and only occasionally hunkering down. While this is definitely the thing I feel least guilty about, it is no less time-consuming than any of the others. Who discerns between a good and a bad addiction?

5) Food. Geez, I love eating. I eat Stevi's cooking, I go out, I cook, I snack, I masticate whatever is in front of me and nourish myself into oblivion. Seriously, with my appetite, I'm amazed I get anything done.

6) I've been sleeping like a proverbial mo'fo lately. Probably from all the late hours spent doing everything above.

7-?) Working, going to various concerts, socializing, sexual exploits, cuddling, re-organizing, lazing about, pontificating, bar-going, etc.


This seems like I'm unhappy, but I'm really not. Quite the opposite, actually. I know my days of relative freedom are finite and fast approaching their demise. I may as well live it up. Until summer, when I'll be going barf-crazy trying to learn German in like 6 weeks, I'm toeing the line and cozying up to the bare minimum. How many more chances will I get?




(I feel like the guys who did this instead of getting out of the car to move the stick.)