Untitled (how many more of these am I going to do?

[Dano]

I woke up on the couch at 9:30. I had gotten home from work around 3 and sat down to read the mail. Over 6 hours later and i woke up with my tie still on, my glasses wedged between couch cushions, and one shoe had disappeared.

Well, I'd managed to waste another Friday night. It was too late to be early and too early to be late. I stood up, trying to shake the lethargy and disappointment. I was always doing this, sabatoging myself.

Pissed off and sick and tired of being pissed, I decided to at least go get some food. I went to grab a tape, but ended up grabbing a few. May as well go for a drive.

I drove through and got a burger and a soda, then hit the highway. The words and music of some guy from Texas with three names filled in the spaces of the vast Nebraska horizon as i headed north.

At first, I wasn't paying attention, just flowing with the music. But, that song came on. You know the one I mean. The one that makes you remember her. The one that makes you long for the time you spent in his arms. The one that opens up a fresh bottle of heartache and slides that cold sweaty longneck into your hand.

Following the lines, the past surfaced, names and faces and feelings. I started talking to them, out loud, through the song lyrics. And other songs, the ones about life, wasted potential, wandering, not knowing where home is, spoke to me, pushed me into deep thought.

I stopped in a small town to gas up, and decided to get a beer, just one tallboy. I filled the tank, then went in to fill my own.

On the muzak, the latest approximation of country music blared out at me, insulting my anachronistic preferences. There was nothing Country about it, it positively reeked of the suburbs. And although vaguely Western, it was more LA than Bakersfield. I decided I needed more beer.

It took about 5 minutes to decided between a six-pack and a 40oz. The sixer won out because i reasoned that I didn't have to finish it all tonight, i could take some home. I eased out onto the highway, back towards home. A few miles down the road i saw a turnoff going west, and without really thinking, i took it.

i kept driving for almost two hours. I stopped again for gas and turned around for home. i kept listening to the same three tapes over and over again, absorbing them like i never had previously. songs of magic and loss and beer and women and cars and living life and good times and bad times and making the same damn mistakes and being a slave to music. what else is there?

i got back into town and snaked around the city a bit. it was already 4am, and i had to be at work at 8. I drove around, winding in and out of the neighborhoods, looking at the sleeping houses and apartment buildings, wondering what might be going on in the few illuminated windows. A rent party? A picking session? Lovemaking? children using the light to kill monsters? insomniacs suffering?

i pulled into the parking lot of where i work at 5am. i can't tell you what made me do it, but since i technically still had my work clothes on, i put my car into park and fell asleep. (fin)

[Oz]

i like the end more than i like the beginning. next time im on IM, remind me to talk to you about this one.