It had been a hectic ten days for me here in the little cubicle assigned to me at Blogcritics' HQ.  I had a huge pile of CDs to review stacked up on my desk that threatened to topple over if I even looked at them, no less grabbed one to play.  

With a crazy schedule outside of this site taking place next week, I went into SuperCritic mode.  Fuelled in equal parts by the lousy vending machine coffee (it's not so bad if you load it up with those flavored non-dairy creamers) and the always-giddy thrill of discovering new acts, I busted at least one of my humps to get through every single one of them by Friday afternoon, taking time off only for contractually obligated food and bathroom breaks. 

Some reviews came easier than others, but dagburnit, I got every single one of them done in time.  With nothing left in the hopper, I decided to sneak out of here a little early and get a head start on my weekend.  Everyone else here does, and I figured I'd earned it.  The only problem is that, to get to the back door in this joint, you've gotta go through the mail room.  Completely out of habit, I glanced over and noticed a package sticking out of my mailbox.  

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

The CD was the self-titled debut from Everybody Else, a trio from L.A. that I had been looking forward to hearing for a while.  I decided to head back to my desk, load it up onto my iPod so I could give it a cursory listen on the train home, and get out of Dodge. But as I was ripping the CD, I was beset by my customary complete lack of patience and hit the play button.