07/19/09 - 1:20 a.m.

I'm tired. I should be sleeping.

But I'm also kind of cranky. Maybe it was that e-mail exchange with my extra-negative friend from college. I argued back -- the case for optimism. But now I have to wait to even see what he says. And of course, it'll be negative.

Why do I get into these arguments that I can't win? A few years ago I decided to stop talking to him altogether. A self-help book even advised that you should avoid negative people. Against my better judgment, I sent him an e-mail. I got a long diatribe back. Sigh. Now I'm trapped in a conversation I don't even want to have.

What I hate is, it's economics. So I can't really ever prove him wrong -- because I don't understand economics. At the same time, based on what I do know: he's way off. Maybe I should just end this argument with an, "Okay, whatever."

But he's still going to write back. And I'm still going to read it.

I just don't have time for this debate.