If I were a pretentious bastard I would make some sort of "into the void" comment.

Notes on the first morning of school in Seattle as I sit in front of my laptop about to collapse:

- I can hear a kid on the other side of the street crying and screaming about summer being over. Ain't my cup of tea either, man.
- I'm wearing a belt. It's not a very good-looking belt but it's a belt. The era of Mat wearing pants that he should not be wearing due to immense bagginess has ended somewhat.
- The first week and a half of Nova doesn't count, thankfully, so maybe I can get a bit of sleep during the long period of time between when I get there and when things actually happen.
- What the hell am I doing awake and wearing clothes at this hour? Jesus.

This would be more insightful if I hadn't gotten like four hours of sleep.

Day One

Nova feels strange and foreign to me this year. On the first days of my sophomore and junior years here it just felt like "back to the usual routine" where I found the people who I hang out with and just sort of go through the usual thing. This year, though... just a bunch of weirdness. I'm not quite sure why.

Things that could have caused the weirdness:

- The fact that the lounge now has a linoleum floor, only a couple of comfortable chairs, and three small tables instead of one big one. It was compared to a Kindergarden classroom on more than one occasion.
- The fact that Mark's room has got this accursed floor as well.
- The fact that there is a giant influx of people I do not know and this year it feels like there's no avoiding the giant wave of people I don't know.
- The fact that with Victor, Tristan, Marryq;y, and Josh gone that pretty much means there is nobody left for me to discuss obscure everything with at school.
- The fact that I'm just really bad when it comes to change.

It was a good day, really. I interacted with Brigid in person for the first time in eight months, for instance, and I got food from Magic Dragon on Kamaria's dollar (I will pay you back, I swear, but not until after my trip to NYC.), plus I hung out with the Geek Lounge posse and I watched American Splendor for the third time in one year (which is impressive for a movie because I don't like watching movies multiple times often) during the afternoon.

It just feels weird, that's all. Hopefully I'll be over the weirdness soon enough.