I'm reading Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, and boy is it depressing, albeit very well written. It's about a man named Gregor who wakes up one day to find himself transformed into what Kafka calls "a monstrous vermin." From this point on, his family (with the exception of his sweet younger sister) views him as nothing but this and forces him to stay in his room, completely rejected. As my sister put it, he has the uncanny ability to make people feel miserable. Either way, it's still a good short story. I'm going to finish it, tears or no!

In other news, Jason and I had a great time on his birthday, which was this past Wednesday. He suggested canoeing for the day before the Green Day concert that I had bought tickets to, so we traveled up to the Shenandoah River and rented a canoe. We traversed the river for about 3.5 miles, which took us just under an hour. It was relaxing, peaceful, and fun; we want to make an entire day of it, perhaps in September.
The Green Day concert was fantastic; they brought lots of fans on stage throughout various parts of the performance, and even let one sing the entirety of "Longview." The lead singer gave this particular fan one of their guitars, too! Even better is the fact that Green Day sounds great live. They played a lot of their old school material, which J and I were thrilled about!

Last night, Soheil, Laura G., Nicki and I went to this bar/restaurant called Spyder Kellys in Clarendon for happy hour. That was fun; they have a different happy hour special every night of the week, and the food is good and cheap. Last night was $3 margaritas, $3 craft beers and $2 bud lites.

Today I have been relaxing with tea, my book, Pandora radio, and some noodles that I made for lunch. I am in a slightly depressed mood, probably due to the combination of the book, the rain (which I actually like), and the fact that I'm working tonight. Sometimes that happens to me; after being off for a few days, I'm bummed when I finally have to return to work. I'll get over it as soon as I get into the shift, though. I've grown used to the pattern, which fortunately has almost completely faded.

Not much else to say, except that I'm looking forward to my first steak-broiling experience on Sunday-- Nicki and I are having a surprise dinner for Jake at my place, and I'm cooking steaks for him and Jason (since I had promised to make Jason one also for his bday). We'll see how it goes! =P We're also going put-put golfing, which should be fun!