After two and a half days out of town, far from the calming influence of my two daily broadsheets, I felt out of touch. So, I turned once again to my beloved New York Times. Now, everyone who knows me well understands my conflicted relationship with Maureen Dowd. Her columns simultaneously amuse me and frustrate me. While she peppers her writing with that caustic wit I love, sometimes I fear that her outright anger undermines the very causes she attempts to forward, many of which are actually quite worthwhile.

But this article on the state of feminism today, or rather the lack thereof, was different. Somehow, it really struck a chord with me. I saw many of the same things that she noted, felt some of the same concerns. And reading it really made me worry. Damn that backlash to the feminist movement. It just makes my life so much more difficult.

Listening to:

The Tension and the Spark – Darren Hayes
06 – Hero

I love my Darren Hayes. Even if all the songs on this album are about his unfortunate, semi-romantic encounters. But seriously, it’s that feeling of being horribly torn between being good and giving into the dark side. Like when I was deciding whether I wanted to finish my Micro problem set, or whether I should just let Question 8.10 stay unfinished…

And I was never so relieved that a problem set is not due next Friday. School becomes suddenly so much more difficult when one is not in town half the days in the week. But, with any luck, all this madness will be over soon enough.

Listening to:
Lost Without You – Delta Goodrem

So, I’ve been catching up with my diverse collection of sappy music recently, when I heard those old Delta Goodrem songs again. Yeah, remember her? Yet another Australian girl who used to be in Neighbours? Well, if you live in the US, probably not so much, but no matter.

So, these lyrics were killing me. Listen to this stuff.

All I know is I’m lost without you
I’m not gonna lie
How my going to be strong without you?
I need you by my side
If we ever say we’ll never be together
and we ended with goodbye
don’t know what I’d do
I’m lost without you

Now, keep in mind that this was from her Australian debut, which she recorded at age 16 or something. I mean, it’s not that I don’t believe in young love, but do we really need to sound so pathetic and desperate before we even reach the age of majority? But I suppose only so many people can cover I Want Candy before it gets old.

Delta Goodrem’s US debut album, which will be a hybrid of her two Australian and European releases and includes Lost Without You, hits shelves October 25th at a record store near you.

Listening to:

So Beautiful – Darren Hayes

I think I need to seriously reconsider my spending habits. Either that, or participate in fewer morale-deflating activities, such as interviews where my counterparties grill me until I burst out into big, fat tears. Then, I wouldn’t have to resort to purchasing more jeans from the Express and even more department store cosmetic products.

I’m pretty sure that I don’t actually have that many signs of premature aging despite my rigorous education, so this really shouldn’t be necessary. Although, I think I should buy that Darren Hayes album I keep lusting after. Sometimes it feels so good to give in to temptation, don’t you think?

By the way, what’s up with this music industry collusion? I mean, why can’t I buy albums available in the UK from iTunes US? Is there something intrinsically wrong with allowing me to download these songs that are already in their library? Or does Apple really need me to sign up for yet another account, provide them with yet another credit card, and further jeopardise my already endangered credit history? Just when I was buying into this whole pay-per-song system, they need to make it complicated.

Listening to:
Hey Jealousy – Gin Blossoms

The conversations I have are just too much sometimes, they seriously make me consider not talking to men in the future.

Yesterday, I sat patiently to listen to a guy complain about being torn apart by the seemingly millions of women he sees each week, and today, I hear another friend complaining about never being able to find a girl. Why can’t people just get together and share?

As much as I enjoy being the clearinghouse for men with girl problems, I really have little experience to speak of in this realm. Maybe I should ask for advice on how to pick up women from one and transfer the wealth to the other. Do we believe in redistribution?

Listening to:

Pocket Full of Kryptonite – Spin Doctors
07 – Two Princes

Instead of doing my Micro homework, like I know I should, I’ll just share with everyone the fact that I went on iTunes and downloaded a bunch of song from their One Hit Wonders from the 1990s collection and now I’m listening to all these old skool radio hits from back in the day.

Listening to:

Van Wilder – Original Soundtrack
08 – Okay by Swirl 360

I’ve learned a couple important life lessons recently. One of them is that one should never put oneself in such a situation where one feels an undeniable need to play catch-up afterward. I can’t tell you how I came across this revelation, but I can tell you one thing: playing this dangerous game requires a specific skill set and a fair amount of energy, and when it’s all over, you’re left feeling strangely breathless yet unsatisfied.

Take my latest digressions and distractions for example.

All of last week, in my horrible state of illness, I felt as if I couldn’t eat a crumb. So I didn’t. One week and -6 lbs later, I was 80% recovered from the flu, but I felt as if I had missed an entire week of eating, so I decided to try to catch-up. I eventually ate all food in sight, and now I have this awful stomach-ache that I’ll choose to blame on those Au Bon Pain cookies. At the same time, I really wish I had purchased that block of smoked Gouda…

In another unfortunate turn of events, I finally decided to read the MIT school newspaper after months of living in a purposeful oblivion to campus events. There, I learned that I could read the NYTimes’ op-eds through our library’s subscription and then I played catch-up with Kristof all night long. Now it’s late and I still have two papers to read about signalling pathways in cancer cells. Yet, somehow, I feel like all my catch-up is still not enough to fill the emptiness caused by TimesSelect, even knowing that by allowing myself this distraction, I’ve made my life more difficult.

So, in short, playing catch-up is bad. Don’t do it. Now, later, or ever. Do not deprive yourself because it just results in a horrible cycle of excess and guilt.

I was feeling horrible yesterday due to an accumulation of generally unrelated factors. Some might have chosen to drown their sorrows in the bottle, but I chose, instead to seek out my own poison: Shopping.

Three hours of rampant consumerism later, my wallet was much lighter, but my arms much heavier. And there’s nothing better than to be able to wear all the items purchased during a single 24 hour period. Go ahead, ask me about my black knee-high boots. I dare you.