as simple as a breeze.

Why was I not aware that Ryan Adams had a new CD coming out today? I was seriously just thinking about him and how much I've grown to love Easy Tiger when I saw his name under "new releases" at the iTunes store. Huh?! Granted it's only a 7-song album, I obviously got it and it's amazing. It's called Follow the Lights and is with the Cardinals, with whom he makes some of my favorite music. He's allegedly coming out with a box-set later this year too; which means soon since it's almost November. That man makes music like nobody's business.

This makes an otherwise annoying day completely fabulous. It doesn't really take much to make me happy, does it? Lately I've found that the smallest things make me down to the bone, incredibly happy. That kind of happy that makes you cry. The most innocent song. The simplest quote. A night out with my friends. A meal I cooked myself. A card from my mom, which not only held a beautiful Hallmark message but in which she also wrote "You are the gift of a lifetime." My life in general.

I'm really busy with school and freelance work right now, but it's a happy, I love my life type of busy. For class, I'm writing Boston magazine style articles, which at first annoyed me because it's an editing class and I signed up to edit, not write. But now I'm realizing how much I love this stuff and that I em equally happy writing and editing, totally depending on my mood. Sometimes I can't believe that I am able to make a career out of the things that I would be doing even if I was paid nothing. A "real" job would be nice (as opposed to my work at home freelancing), but I'm not settling until I find something I absolutely love. I made myself that promise when I left my last job, and I'm sticking to it.

Sorry I'm sickingly happy lately. I don't know what's wrong with me. But I kinda hope it lasts.

"To tell the truth, it's hard enough without a lover who you only want to hide your darkness from, so you don't let them down." Ryan Adams

glass in class.

It's always a good feeling when you leave class feeling like you got a lot out of it. Especially when you've computed each class out to cost over $200 (uhhhh. sickening). Tonight in class we watched and discussed Shattered Glass, which is such a powerful movie. Usually I hate watching movies in class because I fall asleep and I think they're a waste of time. But I loved this. I think everyone should see it, but especially anyone in the writing and publishing industry. It astounds me that the events of the movie took place only 9 years ago, and that Steven Glass was able to get away with completely fabricating so many stories. If you don't know the story, Glass was a 24-year-old reporter at the New Republic who wrote some amazing stories. The only problem was that many of them were completely made up. I once made up a single source in a college paper because nobody was returning my calls. I felt extremely guilty and paranoid that I was going to be caught; and my paper was merely being turned in for a grade, not being published for the world to see. So, I have no clue how Glass did this for so long. I cringed as I watched him get deeper and deeper in his lies. He actually made a fake website, business cards, brochures, voicemail boxes, etc. so that he wouldn't be found out. Yeah, he had some serious issues. I want to be successful too, but I think I'll try it the old-fashioned way.

I think the movie was even more powerful to me because it did an really good job of showing editor/writer relationships (duh, that's what my class is called). As someone who was incredibly saddened by the death of Michael Kelly (a fellow UNH alum), I thought it was amazing to see how he stood by his writers and was so loved by them all. Plus, I heart Hank Azaria. It was also powerful to see Chuck Lane do the right thing and make it through his adversity. And Steven Glass is clearly doing OK as he got a 6-figure advance on his fictional (ha) book; I hope his conscious drives him crazy though. And that the Bar doesn't admit him. He totally creeped me out.

For as long as I can remember, I've struggled between whether I want to be a writer or an editor. I started college as a journalism major, switched to English focusing on writing, and entered graduate school focused on editing, but taking my share of writing classes. I've finally come to the conclusion that I can do both; but it still seems as though people always want me to choose. And maybe I will have to at some point. But I really, really hope not. We had a guest speaker in class tonight who, at age 21, got the first article he ever submitted accepted at Esquire. Now he's probably in his late 40s and has written for so many high-end publications, it's mind-blowing. Makes me feel like I am wayy behind in some areas of my life. So, yeah. Better go get started on that whole career thing.