Come along with me now 'cause there are things I've been dying to tell you...

So much, Reader! So much so much so much! I have fully immersed myself in pronia, and it's wonderful, though I spend a lot of time worrying that my dear mortal heart can't take it.

Last Friday we had a really wonderful party, I think, in honor of Ms. Jessica Hyde. Everyone got all dolled up and came to play at my parents house, where we played Frank Sinatra and ate finger foods and enjoyed being in the company of some truly fine people. Lance and Graham helped straighten the house while Britni, Mark, and Thomas went to Wal*mart and ABC; soon O'Brian arrived, then Chris, then Jeff; next came the Birmingham crew and Jessica and T.J., but I can't remember the order in which they arrived. Mom and Dad got home from Meagan's game (with the Meagan and her friend Melissa) and Mom helped me put the o'deurves together so that everything looked splendid. Jonathan also showed up after a bit, and later that evening Kacy and Luke came to visit. We had a slight fiasco with a handle of vodka, but it didn't put us off to badly... Mom also broke a wine glass right after the glass had been cleaned up... it was crazy and funny and sad. Overall, I think everyone had a really good time, and I think it was a good way to spend the weekend.

Monday night Jessica and I headed to Huntsville to see the amazing John Mayer. We were in the fifth row. The FIFTH ROW! It was amazing! Before he came on stage, a band called Soul Live played, and they did a pretty good job; they had a great energy and were fun to watch. Then John came on and the place erupted as he launched into "Waiting on the World to Change." He also played "Good Love Is on the Way." and a lot of other really great songs that I just can't settle my ticking brain long enough to remember; for his encore he did "Your Body Is a Wonderland" and then "Why Georgia," which may actually be one of the best songs ever written.

It was a really fun night, though it left me a little sad... a lot sad. From the beginning I had it in the back of my head that this was our last big adventure, Jessica, and that makes me so so empty. I know it's not the last, but it's the last for a while, and it's the last of this stage in our lives, because you moving is a new stage, a good stage, a different stage. I kept pushing thoughts of dollar fifty matinees and swinging by the river and driving nowhere and smoking in the woods and talking on the porch and a million other things that are US, that are uniquely you and me. Anyway, I have to stop now because I don't want to cry tonight. I love you, Jessica.

Last night I saw Romeo and Juliet by the Aquila Company at UNA; it was wonderful! All the characters have memorized all the roles, and before the production they had audience members draw their parts from a hat. They do this to maintain some of the spontaneity of live theatre. I was hoping for male/male or female/female leads, but it didn't happen- the play was great nevertheless, and there were some gender reversals that served to make the play entertaining while also proving their point about how gender often isn't that important to the communication of ideas.

During the final scenes, an older woman in the row in front of me spend the greater part of the time crying, and it almost set me off as much as the play. I wonder what it was like to view this magnificent work for the first time... I wish we weren't taught the plot of this great story so early and so flippantly. I bet it was an intense emotional ride for its virgin audience.

Anyway, so much to do! Tomorrow I have to go take out a loan to pay for school, as well as pay my overdue rent and work for 8 hours and write two papers and spend whatever time I can with Jessica before she leaves. Friday I have class, then hiking with Jonathan, then work. Saturday morning Graham and I are going geocaching, then I have a basketball game with my Little (I hope we're just going to watch one, though I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to have to play), then I'm headed to Tuscaloosa to visit Lindsey and see Guerrilla Theatre. Sunday morning we'll headed to Huntsville to visit some family (maybe- I haven't called Rosemary yet or anything) and maybe give some help if we can because I know things are hectic there now as my Uncle Bill prepares for surgery. Nothing exception planned for Monday or Tuesday, then Wednesday is Valentine's Day, and I'd like to attend the Vagina Monologues, but I'll probably just work (blast!).

In closing, I'll love you forever- all you have to do is ask.