I quit blogging for a bit ’cause there’s been school to take care of, and it’s hard to blog a proper blog when you have to think about homework. This is a Quality Product, people!! But, oh, how school’s over now. Oh, yes. Oh yes oh yes oh yes.

Meanwhile, I thought I was going to be all euphoric after handing in that last paper yesterday, but alls I felt was this kind of greyish “eh.” I know why, too—it’s ’cause I feel like I just slinked out of the school year. I won’t say I’m exactly embarrassed by that last paper, it’s not bad bad, but the thing is, I know when I’ve written a good paper and that wasn’t it. But, man, I just didn’t have it in me to write anymore. I don’t know if it was the something like a paper a week I’ve been working on for the last two months, or the intense seventeenth-century mugging, or, I dunno, being mesmerized by the growing dust bunnies in my neglected apartment, or what, but by Thursday night, it was clear the paper wasn’t going anywhere anymore. And then after I handed it in Friday morning, I was talking to my friend Tara, who’s a, I dunno, something like fourth- or fifth-year grad student, and so:

“Hey, Tara, let’s say you’re a professor—”
“Uh-huh. . .”
“and you’re going to be away on hiatus all year next year—”
“Uh-huh. . .”
“and you’re never going to see me again—”
“Uh-huh. . .”
“and I just handed in my final paper—”
“Uh-huh. . .”
“and it’s eight pages long—”

and then at this point Tara made a face like maybe she was sucking on one of those crazy Japanese sour sour-lemon candies. And someone’d just punched her. And she had a stabbing pain in her head. Sigh. Let’s just hope Professor J. has a different reaction. Maybe her reaction will be, “Oh, yay, a short paper, so I can get this out of the way before I pack for summer fun.” Let’s. just. hope.

Neways, I will say it felt really good returning every single library book, and then walking out of Butler into the open at the moment Beyonce’s very jaunty “Crazy in Love” came on on my iPod.

And then, bit by bit, the day got better. Post-finals activities included lunch with Jason, finding a very gorgeous Orla Kiely skirt at the sample sale, the Elizabeth Peyton show at GBE, and “Coffee and Cigarettes” with the French contingent. Lunch with Jason was good because of Jason, but the Coke was flat and the burger unsatisfying. The very gorgeous Orla Kiely skirt is good because it is green and pink. The thing about it that is surprising is that it is more green than pink, and I don’t tend to do green. Up till I got that skirt, every piece of clothing I owned that was green or had green on it could be worn in one outfit. No more. The Elizabeth Peyton show at GBE was good because of the nice white space, but I didn’t care very much for the actual collection. The other thing that was good, however, was that GBE is just up Greenwich from my old office, near enough so’s I could go use the toilet there. “Coffee and Cigarettes” is good because of: Roberto Begnini going to the dentist. Tom Waits and Iggy Pop being just great. The coffee cups. Jack White and Meg White and the Tesla coil. “Champagne.” Bill Murray and “Are you a bug, Bill Murray?”

Later, dinner at Pink Pony, which included a mimosa, two rounds at the juke box (“Ziggy Stardust,” “Be-Bop-A-Lula,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “Changes”. . .), and sitting on Ludlow in the mild night watching all kinds of cute young hipster sorts do their cute young hipster thing.

This morning I woke up and deep-cleaned my bathroom to the Ramones best-of CD. Oh, yes, life is good.