Excuse me while I go bang my head against a brick wall

[Listening to: Placebo, "Allergic (To Thoughts of Mother Earth)"]

Grrr... I knew this was going to happen. Katie and parents are fighting with eachother about the validity of Michael Moore's new movie (or lack thereof). Katie's a hardline liberal, Dad's a hardline conservative, Mom's more or less in the middle, so there's quite a bit of shouting going on out in my living room. I've got my headphones on, with the music turned up just loud enough to drown out most of the conversation without blasting my eardrums out. Sigh. Anyone wanna come rescue me? No? Fine then. They'll give up in a couple hours. They have to sleep sometime, right? But I know that Katie, at least, has been looking forward to this arguement for quite a while, and I think Dad was, too. They like to fight and try to convince each other. Pisses my mom and me off, but there's not much we can do about it. Personally, I'm on the more liberal side of the discussion, but I realize the futility of arguing anything with my father.

I've been feeling mostly miserable for the past three days or so, for various reasons. Too much noise, too many people, too many shitty new sitcoms on the television, too little money, too little to do. The only bright spot right now is the fact that I finished the second Harry Potter book last night and I'm about halfway through the third. I better reserve the fourth book from the library tonight... hard to get copies, what with everyone reading the damned things. This third one isn't so exciting to me since I've already seen the movie so I know how it's going to turn out. Actually... I sorta knew how the others would turn out, but I hadn't seen the movies for a while so it was more exciting.

In other news, the dog has learned how to escape from our backyard now. She's found her way under the fence and into the front yard a couple times today. Dad's gotta fix it tomorrow. I think she learned that trick from the Jack Russell terrier that was visiting next door. Problem is, our dog Sylver is about ten times the size of the terrier. She's a cross between a German Shepherd and a greyhound, among other things, so she's a big, powerful, fast dog. Thank god she's got a sweet temperment.

Looking out the window reminds me that I haven't checked Spaceweather.com in a while. Might have missed a solar flare or something. I may have left the field of physics, but the scientist in me still comes out once in a while. I can't be a silly emotional writer all the time, now can I?

Speaking of that... I'm getting sort of tired of Dad continually reminding me that I "used to be a scientist". I know that's what he wanted for me, and it bugs him that I left that world behind for writing. He doesn't say so, of course; he's supportive of me no matter what. But I can tell that he wishes that I was still studying physics.

Mom thinks I should go to the doctor cuz I'm still coughing and my nose is still running more than two weeks after I should have gotten over my cold: classic signs of a sinus infection. I get those a lot. I used to get them even more often, but now it's down to once or twice a year, instead of almost constantly. I'm pretty sure that my immune system sucks. I get sick a lot even when I do my best to take care of myself.

I spent a good portion of the morning trying to remember my high school French. It's been a long time since I had to use it and I know I'm really rusty. I really wish I could go on Eurospring. Spend a semester of college in Europe... it sounds fantastic. But also highly unlikely. It costs a lot, and it would set me back even more, credit-wise. I wish I could afford to stay in school for another year and not have to work so hard, but that's not a good idea, financially. Damn money. Who invented it, anyway?

God this is a long entry. They're still fighting outside. I'm sick of it. They fight like children; lots of personal attacks and "I'm right!" "No, I'm right!" sort of arguing. This night already sucks. Sigh...