It's probably just the sound of the rain, but I feel like I can hear someone laughing at me. Maybe I'm going nuts...
- Paul Jenkins, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #44

"Where I Can Wash This Sadness Out of My Heart..."
I just got back from a run in what I can only describe as a hellacious downpour (actually, I could describe it as "a deluge of the soul," but I won't, because it's been quite sometime since I've read J. M. DeMattheis' brief, but stirring stint on Daredevil) and I've got to say, I think I get it now.

It was amazing. Like a nice refreshing thought that wouldn't stop.

Somewhere in my ascent of College Avenue, right after a big black Chevy Silverado identical to Brent Jones, Part Two's pride and joy blew past, hitting me with a heavy splash of rain water, I just started laughing.

Breakdown or breakthrough? You decide!

"And I'm Sorry, Mr. Jones, It's Time..."
I love living with My Crazed Roommate... I'm going to get to read those issues of Y: The Last Man I haven't seen yet... As I gear up for the big push into the real world, it's great to have the guy who don't mince words but still has an unlikely faith in me around... I might even eat some of this fruit he's smuggled into The Barrio...

So please, understand that when I say what I'm about to say, it's meant as no slight to my precious Prew-Prew Boo-Boo, nor does it come from some skewed "lesser of two evils" type of mentality:

I miss Brent Jones.

On the day Brent moved out, I went to Flatbranch for a drink and a lot of potty talk, and didn't end up getting back until he'd already taken off, so I didn't really get to say a fond farewell to our co-habitation before it was over -- actually, there's been a lot of that going around these days -- and despite the fact that Brent never reads this thing, and doesn't understand why I ever write anything about him (you have to realize, guys like Brent and me have this odd tendency of assuming that if someone's saying something about us, it probably ain't too nice), I just wanted to say that it was a pleasure rooming with you, buddy. You are one of the few people I don't feel like I have to walk on eggshells around, and the only person who knows the proper response to my assertion that I've been having a good time pleasing your woman.

God bless you.

"Things To Do Today"
* Write that inquiry letter for The House of Ideas.
* Make that resume for The Guide to Comics
* Find a summer job.
* Hit the library and kick off the cultural revolution.

"What I Will Probably Actually End Up Doing Today"
* Read Avengers Forever.
* Tape that last episode of Angel (or as Brent liked to call it "The Spike Show Starring Spike with Angel".)
* Fall asleep on the living room floor again.

Ain't life great?

Worried? Anxious about the future? Fearful of the uncertain? Then let me share a suggestion made to me by a dear, dear friend: Slow down.