I'm back, and better now.

That's the problem with temperance and abstinence and the basic refraining-from-things that our culture, for all it's talk of freedom, tries to encourage. I'm a lightweight, with alcohol and caffeine and a dozen other assuredly quite wonderful things, and every time I un-abstain it's like I'm starting all over again.

Every cigar is like the first one, the one I inhaled and got sick to my stomach from, and even a tiny bit of caffeine is like that time I took too many caffeine pills in Vancouver and ended up staying up all night trying to blink, all the while listening to the unmistakable sound of Dylan throwing up.

I don't want to need to smoke or drink a can of Mountain Dew every few hours, though. Still, occasionally all these things would be fun, if I could find a middle group that doesn't keep me up all night with a nasty headache. What kind of whack root beer has caffeine in it?

There was a lecture on The Structure of Scientific Revolutions today, and I spent most of my time drawing, because there isn't much to say about that book when you're a Freshman in college. It's not written for laymen, and it's really repetitive.

The speaker did all he could, and his last joke, "Hey brother, can you para-digm?", is probably one of the only things anyone remembers from his lecturre.

Like I said, I regressed in order to cope. I created a superhero named Exemplar who basically just flew around the page fighting the only physicist I can draw- Stephen Hawking, superstar of the science world. And Wolverine, of the X-Men.

A bunch of the people I randomly sat with at lunch a few times this year sat with us today at lunch, for some reason. It was nice, because they're nice folks, but some of them don't know my name, which is annoying after how long I spent learning theirs.

Most importantly, I had a midterm today, in Calc, and it was pretty easy. I read over some of the stuff that I knew would be on the test and then remembered it when it was time to answer questions. Nevertheless, the minute I left the room I realized one of my answers was wrong. That always happens to me, too.

My competitive nature is once again here; I noticed it today as I tried to finish the test before The Vain Man, which I did. It's a petty, useless victory, but when you don't have a really good reason for liking someone, petty and useless victories are all you have. Go me!

Well, I'm tired. Later.