I've been feeling kind of blue in the last three days. What would the appropriate action be? Oh -- listen to music that fuels the emo monster in me, mostly involving Andrew McMahon. Ugh. I am fucking twenty-three years old and am acting like a whiny-ass fifteen-year-old whose math teacher doesn't understand her. Someone please dump a bucket of butt rock over me so I can get over this.

After listening to Everything In Transit (I know, I know) two times through (and the spoken monologue during "I'm Ready" three times by itself), I just couldn't take it anymore. The weight of all the things that I'm worried about -- money I don't have, jobs I'm trying to catch, boys and the subsequent problems that stem from them -- were starting to pile up. I felt mopey, misunderstood, lonely, and thoroughly Sad Whiny Bastard.

So I turned on my favorite groove: "Outstanding" by the Gap Band. I felt better almost instantly. I'm currently lacing up my running shoes and feeling like I can actually crawl out of the cave that I've locked myself in since Sunday. Jesus.

"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" -Rob Gordon, High Fidelity.