h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yesterday, I got up early to scoot over to Craigs, to look together for a place to rent. S**t, after a day like yesterday, I begin making vows like, "I will never again leave the house if the temperature is over thirty. It got to 37 eventually, and I was just *dyin'*. Anyway, we had a look at a few exteriors, and then I went home, promising to go look inside a couple in the afternoon (Craig had to go to tennis). I drove to the earlier one, but a combination of the heat and a family standing outside waiting made me disappear, and I never went inside. I drove home unhappily, deep in a funk. I felt like the agent would look at me in my Transformers t-shirt, look at the nuclear family, and make the obvious decision, so what's the point even showing? Of course, no one would understand all that, so I told Dad and Craig, when they individually asked, that my car began to overheat. I don't like to lie, but the truth often appears to others to be an even worse lie. Craig doesn't know me *that* well, and what's he gonna think if I tell him, "I freaked out at the sight of a regular family"? It's just easier if I make up a story that is more palatable. So anyway, I spent most of that afternoon on a real downer. My hopes finally raised when I flipped to the entry under "depression" in the Everyday Book of Christianity" and read that what I often experience is more common than I realise, and a natural response in many cases to the stresses of modern life. So I decided that when I see the doctor next week about my sinuses, I will ask him to recommend a shrink, too. But this time, it will not be organised by Mum and Dad, and I will not tell them about it. There will be less pressure for me to mend if no one is watching - I can do it on my own time. The evening turned out better. Mum and Dad went over to Roy's for tea, and I had the house to myself, shutting it up to direct the air-conditioning towards me, and dealing with my f****d-up CD player, doing household chores, and playing Hearts. Partway through the night, I realised there was a great cool breeze happening outside, so I went around and opened up the whole house, and it was such a strong wind that I could still have the music up loud without annoying the neighbours. So it was a wonderful cool evening, listening to Kraftwerk, Ice-T, Supernatural, Jars of Clay, the Manics, Mike Oldfield and Momentary Lapse, all from beginning to end, and deleting the unwanted tracks as I went. I did a cursory vacuum and swept and mopped the floors. Meanwhile I put away all the CDs in their boxes. By the time Mum and Dad got home, it was after midnight. Mum expressed surprise that I was still up, and I didn't know why she said that, since only later did I realise how late it was. After a while I tried to retire, but during the evening a party with a live band had kicked in down the road, and that kept me from deep sleep for a few more hours. Things like that just get me so mad. I feel so helpless when faced with the problem of noisy neighbours. What can I do? Nothing - I just have to grin and bear it. But I won't grin. After a while, I got up and decided to go online. I surfed around looking for friends - tried chats, tried penfriends, tried personal home pages, but that stuff just doesn't work. Hung up, slightly disappointed but happily tireder, an hour or so later.