Wrote a good chunk of the novel yesterday. Posted up to 25,000 words and have closer to 26,000 on my computer. Chapter 15 Part 3 broke my fucking heart while writing it – my favorite so far except you can tell I ended up at a different place where I started. This thing is going to be a mess to edit.

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I’m going to let you all in on a little secret. I put things off. There are the little things, like “Oh I’ll just email him back later” and then I never do it but there are also the big things like “Oh, I’ll just renew my registration later” and seven months later they tow my car. If it’s something that I’m getting paid for – if it’s a job of some sort – I tend to make a tight schedule and stick to it. If it’s something that requires more than five seconds and does nothing for me financially or professionally – I save it for later. Most of the time “later” means “never”.

The trait has come back to haunt me every once and while but, for the most part, it’s actually a great way to go through life. If shit needs to get done, it’ll get done eventually. Either I do it on my own free will at a later date or somebody forces my hand. But what I discovered is, there’s a lot of shit that doesn’t really need to get done. A lot of things get cancelled. A lot of plans change. A lot of people forget. By waiting until the last minute to do what I “should” be doing – I end up not having to do it all.

Which brings me to my first Discman.

R had this friend her sophomore year in college who was quite possibly the most annoying person I’ve ever met. For some reason she liked the girl which meant that I occasionally had to hang out with her. All of the annoying girl’s friends were obviously annoying as well except this one dude, Wes. He was a cool cat – just chill and laid back and always had some good dope on him and had no problem sharing it with me. Back in college, especially sophomore year, the way to my heart was with a dime bag of Northern Lights.

So whenever I was put in a situation where I’d have to hang out with these guys I’d always seek out Wes, roll a joint and get toh’-up.

One time, in fact, I was having such a good time that I didn’t want to leave when R announced she was heading back. Despite the fact that heading back to R’s place would mean booty for me, I was feeling the dope, having some good conversation about music, most likely, and just wanted to stay mellow. So I told R to go home, I’ll see her tomorrow.

I hung for a bit more but decided eventually it was time to head out as well. I was probably a mile from campus and was just going to walk it. Wes makes sure I’m cool to walk home, if I need anything, and I ask him if I can borrow his discman. I’d love some music on the way home and I’ll return it tomorrow. He reluctantly tells me ok. I look through his CD collection and grab some stoner album – probably Phish, I’d imagine – give him a pound and troop home.

The next day I get up, laze about – don’t return Wes’ Discman.

The next day I go to class, take the Discman with me and tune out the rest of the world as I stomp through campus – I’m liking this Discman thing.

A week passes and I still haven’t returned it. I avoid Wes that weekend.

No emails, no phone calls, no messages delivered through R.

A couple of weeks later I hang out with the dude. He doesn’t say anything. Halfway through our hanging out I say, “Oh yeah – I still have to give you back your Discman.” And he thinks about it for a moment like it wasn’t on his mind the entire night and agrees.

Next time I see him I don’t even bother mentioning it.

A couple of months later R finally realizes that I stole Wes’ Discman. She tells me to return it and I say it’s too late now – it hasn’t been working well anyway. She gets on my shit for breaking it, a fight breaks out and she goes home.

But I still didn’t return it.

It’s not until junior year, after R and I broke up, I haven’t seen Wes for months, that I hear through a chain of people that Wes is pissed at me because I stole his Discman. At this point I could care less, I had no plans to hang with the dude anymore and he never made any attempt to get it back. As far as I was concerned I got a free Discman out of the deal.

Plus, it didn’t matter if he wanted it back at this point or not. It skipped frequently so I bought a new one and threw his out over the summer.

Taxed.