'i woke up in the middle of the night...'

i've managed to steal away a little alone time here at the filling station in kansas city- among my favourite coffee shops ever. the last two days have been a bit chaotic to say the least. each day seems like an eternity and yet it's gone so quickly. i'm going to do my best to relax today and not worry about anything that's going down tonight (which would be me playing the music at my sister's wedding). it's been a very fun trip, though, and aleksa and katelyn (who came with us) seem to be having a lot of fun and it's been so nice to be away from chicago for a while (as short as the duration is). i'm flush with money (for now, anyway) and it's been nice to be on a trip and do pretty much anything i've felt like doing and not having to worry about money as i saved $300 for this trip, not including my share of the stipend that my dad gave us.
every time i come back to kansas city my experience seems to be completely different from the previous time. last time was not very nostalgic and neither is this time. i kind of feel the things about this town that i am used to remembering are kind of slipping away. kind of sad, but also probably to be expected and probably to continue as i get older. it has been fun seeing things through the eyes of the people we brought with us- so much about it that we find so humdrum that we probably shouldn't.
one thing about weddings that i always find so fascinating is the sheer number of relatives who come out who you forget about. so many.
i'm looking forward to getting home tomorrow- i hope that we don't get as late of a start. i could honestly do with another day away, but them's the breaks! it'd be so nice to be able to go to the brunch that my parents are throwing tomorrow and just relax for the rest of the day before hitting the road, but it's just not in the cards. i'm fairly certain that i should be fine from the whole financial standpoint- something i've been pretty worried about as i was hoping against hope that i'd have some money to pay my credit card bill for my train ticket and also have the $100 that i'm missing out on from not working today or tomorrow. i suppose if that doesn't quite pan out it doesn't quite pan out. big deal. financial stress time is beginning- i've got stefanie's birthday in mid-november (as well as another wedding a few days before that- in chicago fortunately), my dad's birthday in december and then, of course, christmas. somehow i have to save enough money to buy gifts, come to kansas city and have fun and hopefully not be completely destitute when i get back. the silver lining is that two of the days i'll be here i wouldn't have been working anyway even if i stayed in chicago for the holiday. plus right when i get back i have two extra shifts that i signed up for, so i should be golden- kind of a 'hit the ground running' situation, but it'll be fine. the new year will be all about looking for a new job. i've been looking already, but i feel like once the holidays are over is when i'll be able to really put in all of my effort. i might lay the groundwork before i leave town.
i suppose that that's enough for now. end of transmission.