"Only in Dreams" and a break from our regularly scheduled program for a public service announcement.

It's 1:30am and all I can think about is how much of a tool Mark Consuelos is, though I can't imagine being married to Kelly Ripa is all that much fun. How cool was he when he was on Connect With English? Damn, that was some of the best educational programming I've ever seen.

I'm sitting with my books open, trying to figure out whether studying at this hour is effective or not, even though I haven't actually read anything at all. After writing for two and a half hours during a final (that I studied a total of 14 hours in two days for), I was just burnt out. I still am burnt out and am generally incapable of doing anything.

Yesterday, my former life came back to haunt me a little bit. In the middle of the night, Rivers Cuomo's home demo album leaked, taking me back to a time I would rather not relive. If you think I'm awkward now, you should have seen me in middle school when I was really into Weezer. I'd like to think that Rivers is not the only one to have changed in that time, though I'd like to think that I've changed for the better (I know Rivers hasn't). After listening to everything that album had to offer, I thought about how much I enjoyed Weezer. Today, while studying for my final, I listened to the Blue Album as well as parts of Pinkerton. My god, was it all brilliant. Even "Surf Wax America," which is the song that most grates on my nerves, is still so wonderful to me.

The one song that still stops me today the way it did then is "Only in Dreams." You think about songs like "Buddy Holly" or "In the Garage" and then take "Only in Dreams" into consideration, in all of its eight minute glory, and it's hard to fathom this being the same band. Even "Say It Ain't So" seems a little far off; in my mind, nothing in the Weezer catalog can come close to this. The experience I can most closely relate "Only In Dreams" to is "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out." There are a lot of people who would have me murdered for even thinking of that comparison, much less saying it out loud and even less typing it for the world to read over and over, but they're both very moving experiences for me.

I was forced into a harsh realization earlier. Over the last few months, I've really come to realize how important the people in my life are and how deeply I feel for them, but I realized that I don't always say it enough. I'm on a mission, a crusade even. I'm trying to tell all the people I love how much I appreciate their presence in my life. I am truly blessed by those who surround me. In light of all that, here's my PSA:

To the few of you who actually stumble across this and have stuck with me thus far, I love you. You will never know what you mean to me, and though sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we can't physically make the time for one another and we may even drift apart from time to time, I want you to know that you'll always have a special place in my life.