Whatever words I say, I will always love you

I'm getting the itching feeling again to travel somewhere, especially on a road trip. I was thinking about how fun it would be to take a road trip to St. Louis, just to go to the City Museum. I just remember being totally on board with the whole thing when we went there last spring. We got into the museum, and I saw a hole in the wall, and I thought, "I'm gonna crawl into this hole in the wall. What's stopping me?" And that attitude prefaced nearly everything I did that day at the City Museum.

But a road trip...staying in motels, seeing the landscape, stopping at gas stations...is it really weird that I love gas stations? Probably because I've never had to actually fill up a gas tank, so I still associate gas stations with a novel experience during a road trip (with the potential for buying a special treat).

Also, it's far too early in the semester for me to want the week to be over already. Maybe it's just this week, though. I've got some exciting things coming up. I'm interviewing for a lab position at 3M (holy cow!), but I'm a little worried about how that might fit with my schedule. Research has been fun so far. I'm slowly getting better at the guitar. I'm very excited for Carnival.

I got my script today and looked at the music. It's a sweet show--I love Lili's interaction with the puppets. Also, I love the end--here is Lili's line:

"...I've been living in a little girl's dream, not seeing anything except what I wanted to see. Not that dreams are bad to have...it's just that there's a time for them to end. Like there's a time for going to school, a time for losing our parents, a time for falling in love with a beautiful magician, and a time for waking up. And we just have to learn each time to say...'This is over. Now go on to the next thing'...I guess it's something nobody can teach you, Marco. You just get older...and you know."

On a side note, I've always disliked when people automatically say things like age doesn't matter, because I think it really does. I think this because a person's "true age" depends on not only their experiences, but their level of comprehension of those experiences. Thus, the older a person is, the more experiences they have had, but a younger person might be at an "older" level if they have a high level of comprehension of the fewer experiences they have had, or can think reasonably about possible experiences. Anyway. I just don't like when people say that, since age is a component in a person's "true age."

But right now, I think I'm in the unfortunate circumstance of being in between times, as Lili describes. I feel like I'm already saying, "This is over," but I can't go on to the next thing because it's not actually over. And by it I mean school, or maybe just the position my life is in right now. That's probably playing into wanting to travel.

I know I talk about this all the time, but the thing is, I can't tell whether it's related to being unsure about the path I have chosen or whether it has more to do with my age and position in school. In any case, it's probably annoying.

Anyway, I have to prepare a presentation about microraptors.Bet you weren't expecting that!