I feel inspired today.

Oh, but we have hope in hope.

Oh California, you've snuck upon me like a snake in a garden.

My hopes for you are high and widely spent.

I found you among the roses and you drew from me

an act I never thought I would. I am surrounded by

a lake of souls, manmade - messing with nature,

but we've got to stop the water crisis!

This is not my blessing. The mountains in the distance

serve as mediator between sky and golden plain.

I didn't think you'd have the nerve to come and say goodbye.

Just call me Bandon.

Though the world did not stop turning, you may have heard the tragic news: I have lost my beloved Outdoor School water bottle. This wonderful, brown, nalgene holder-of-sustenance was forgotten in the cup holder of La Mirada's very own Regal Cinemas. It is hard to regret going to see It's Kind of a Funny Story because the movie was such a pleasure to see (flashback to the imagined rock concert given by the patients of the mental hospital, lip-syncing Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure"), but to have lost a water bottle that has stayed with me through countless (about two) weeks out at Camp Namanu and at least one freshman year at college is...heartbreaking. I love my water bottle. I love that my camp name was written on it. Some employee of the movie theater probably found it and thought that I either a) can't spell, or b) have an odd phobia of the letter 'r'. This would make more sense if you knew my camp name: It's Bandon.

This said, I now drink my water from a coffee mug that sits on a shelf beside my bed. This is far less convenient/the source of immeasurable subconscious stress (what if I knock it over in the middle of the night?!). Oh, to be me.

Any ideas?

I really wish I were in the middle of a good book right now. Last year when I went away to school I brought all of my favorite books with me. All of the classics, my poetry, books I'd read for school, etc. By the end of the first semester I had absolutely no room on my bookshelf. This year, in an attempt to not try and fit my entire world into one 14x18 dorm room, I did not bring a single book that was not required for school. I also did not factor in that I am roughly 950 miles farther from home than I was the first time around. Oops: no grabbing a book on a weekend home this year. You live and you learn, I suppose.

Anyway, back to the initial issue. I wish I were in the middle of a good book right now. I don't want to keep learning some song about the New Testament or memorizing the Russian word for German - I would far rather be lost in the mind of a character. Take me to another world, teach me something that I don't know. A new word, perhaps? Give me something to THINK about. Hulu is no longer a satisfying distraction: it just leaves me feeling empty, guilty and tired - kind of like eating copious amounts of a desert that I don't care for.

I think I have lost my touch...if I ever had one.

Sweaters are nice.

Life throws you curveballs. For seriously. I have to give a speech this Friday. I have a major paper due the same day that I won't be able to work on until Wednesday night. I probably won't see the gym this week. I just delivered a steaming cup of Stumptown coffee to a good friend as means of comfort. Also, today it is raining in LA: Sorry for the poor photography/quality.