“Neither one of us trying to hold it down,
Neither one of us taking the middle ground,
Wasn’t how to make sense we were thinking of,
Just the two of us bent on delirious love…”

Okay, pause action. Stop and look around. How did you get here?

You are laying in a bed, the bed you share although you are alone, plugged in to your iPod, and intently listening to the new Neil Diamond album. You had hoped to fall asleep so as to rest up for your big day tomorrow when you are going to the school you work at and moving around the books on the shelves in the room you call a library.

How to unpack a moment?

First off, the Neil Diamond. Sure, your mommy used to play “Forever in Blue Jeans” on the stereo and you eventually learned the words and sang along. But you buried those tastes during middle school, didn’t you? What, are you going to tell me it isn’t a choice? Were you made to listen to the rhine-stoned jewish Elvis by your genetics?

Now what of the library? Well there was that day almost two years ago you were visiting your boyfriend in Boston and thought that perhaps it might be fun to go to library school. Remember how you were out walking (probably for coffee) and then happened upon that brick building with the colorful banner advertising your nerdy degree? Well you managed to make that work and now you are officially a professional library-mediaspecialist-prepteacher and you are invested in your job despite the fact you aren’t working very hard at it. That’s why you have tomorrow to get caught up.

Are you still alone in the bed?

Well, sometimes alone isn’t bad. And other times you understand that others feel that way and you make due with your iPod because truth-be-told you could happily pass a day listening to music. Especially your new CD.

What is the quote you typed at the beginning of this post?

Um, it’s one of Mr. Diamond’s new songs. It seemed to resonate because I really want that moment he describes. Want it more than most anything else.

Yeah, I noticed you seem to focus a lot of your pictures and words on sex lately.

That’s not really connected. I think partly it is just easy to tap into the more intense emotions with certain subjects. Or maybe it is just easy. And when I get bored my mind seems to wander in those directions. I know I don’t have excuses to be bored but it does happen a lot lately. I’m working on it.

Are you a man of faith?

Hell no! I’d rather vote Republican.

Are you optimistic?

Yeah, I always have been. Not sure what drives it, but I am fairly convinced it will all be okay.

Don’t you think it is time for bed?

I’m not really sure what I think at the moment.