The laundry list for today
A few points of business:
Firstly, Full Time Score: USA 2, Mexico 0. With 17 points, the US officially qualifies for Germany 2006. You all have permission to Squee like little schoolgirls at a shoe sale!
Secondly, if you have not done so, go see March of the Penguins. It'll remind you that while we may be the most advanced animals on the planet, we are certainly not the most hardy or remarkable.
Thirdly, if you have not already, go to http://www.redcross.org and do the right thing. Lord knows our "President" has not. If you have already, good for you. Go again. It's that bad.
Business is dispensed with.
Now for reflection:
I went to Davis for the second time since I graduated, the first in over a year. It still feels in many ways like I literally graduated like 5 minutes ago. It also feels like I just moved into the dorms about 6.5 minutes ago. In some ways, time has passed quickly. In other ways, it seems to have passed at 10x speed. I got off the freeway, and took the familiar route back to the old stomping grounds. But, every minute of doing so, I was acutely aware that this was only a visit. Davis, despite the many memories, mostly happy ones, I associate with it, is not home anymore. It DEFINATELY was for 4 years. But no longer. The list of friends their has grown shorter and shorter as people move out and on to bigger and better things. I get progressively older than the median student population, and recognize fewer and fewer faces. New buildings pop up like weeds. And, most of all, I feel less and less like a "college graduate" and more like a "twentysomething" or "working person." I'm not sure what's prompted these changes. I have a few theories:
1. A routine: college life is anything BUT routine. Your M-F is never the same any given week. you don't even have the same schedule day to day. And, there is really no beginning and end to your day, or your week. Schoolwork kinduv hangs over everyone's head 24/7, even if you were like me and just didn't do most of it. Everyone else is so it's not like you can enjoy consant hooky together. These days, despite the routine, I can count on leisure time once the work day ends and when the work week ends. Some people might call it a rut, but I like the certainty of pleasure. It makes work bearable.
2. Friends: I made great friends in Davis. People I will remember the rest of my life, and a few who changed it. I care for them all deeply, but being back home has brought me back to my original circle of friends. These are the guys I grew up with and who were there, day and and day out. They've been there for the best days, the worst days, the ordinary days and the extrordinary days. As special as the people in Davis are, these guys have a special place in my heart that can't be taken by anyone else. Home is where the heart is. We have 18 years worth of memories and were making new ones everyday, and making them in the way that can only be done if you get regular face time, not virtual online time, or visit during long weekends time.
3. Hobbies: Work is lame, school is lamer. Friends rule and hobbies make life interesting. Without the looming headache of school and those guaranteed leisure hours, we're free to pursue hobbies. There's a card shop 10 minutes from my house where I can Magic it up to my heart's content. 15 minutes (when it's not rush hour, 45 minutes during) from my house is the Las Positas College Ultimate team. There are 2 used bookstores 10 minutes from my house and my sister and I share a Netflix subscription. We also have a Plasma TV and hundreds of channels of Digital Cable, including all the soccer, hockey and nature programming I could ask for.
In short, I have moved on. I thought college would be the end all be all of life. But life moves on. It's sad, and I've shed my tears. But things are looking forward now. Whatever is happening now, it's new. For the first time in my life, I think that whatever I'm doing, is actually truly a part of finding out who I am. everything before this has been school, education, structured, predetermined. Now, nothing is for certain. Yes, I have a job and a daily routine and all, but there is no piece of paper I get after 4 years. There is the one I get every two weeks, and that's kinda nice and liberating. Perhaps there are a few surprises out there. And college is not behind me per se. There are still visits to be had, weddings to attend, stories to share and jokes to laugh at. There are just other things, new things, and I'm ok with that.
Firstly, Full Time Score: USA 2, Mexico 0. With 17 points, the US officially qualifies for Germany 2006. You all have permission to Squee like little schoolgirls at a shoe sale!
Secondly, if you have not done so, go see March of the Penguins. It'll remind you that while we may be the most advanced animals on the planet, we are certainly not the most hardy or remarkable.
Thirdly, if you have not already, go to http://www.redcross.org and do the right thing. Lord knows our "President" has not. If you have already, good for you. Go again. It's that bad.
Business is dispensed with.
Now for reflection:
I went to Davis for the second time since I graduated, the first in over a year. It still feels in many ways like I literally graduated like 5 minutes ago. It also feels like I just moved into the dorms about 6.5 minutes ago. In some ways, time has passed quickly. In other ways, it seems to have passed at 10x speed. I got off the freeway, and took the familiar route back to the old stomping grounds. But, every minute of doing so, I was acutely aware that this was only a visit. Davis, despite the many memories, mostly happy ones, I associate with it, is not home anymore. It DEFINATELY was for 4 years. But no longer. The list of friends their has grown shorter and shorter as people move out and on to bigger and better things. I get progressively older than the median student population, and recognize fewer and fewer faces. New buildings pop up like weeds. And, most of all, I feel less and less like a "college graduate" and more like a "twentysomething" or "working person." I'm not sure what's prompted these changes. I have a few theories:
1. A routine: college life is anything BUT routine. Your M-F is never the same any given week. you don't even have the same schedule day to day. And, there is really no beginning and end to your day, or your week. Schoolwork kinduv hangs over everyone's head 24/7, even if you were like me and just didn't do most of it. Everyone else is so it's not like you can enjoy consant hooky together. These days, despite the routine, I can count on leisure time once the work day ends and when the work week ends. Some people might call it a rut, but I like the certainty of pleasure. It makes work bearable.
2. Friends: I made great friends in Davis. People I will remember the rest of my life, and a few who changed it. I care for them all deeply, but being back home has brought me back to my original circle of friends. These are the guys I grew up with and who were there, day and and day out. They've been there for the best days, the worst days, the ordinary days and the extrordinary days. As special as the people in Davis are, these guys have a special place in my heart that can't be taken by anyone else. Home is where the heart is. We have 18 years worth of memories and were making new ones everyday, and making them in the way that can only be done if you get regular face time, not virtual online time, or visit during long weekends time.
3. Hobbies: Work is lame, school is lamer. Friends rule and hobbies make life interesting. Without the looming headache of school and those guaranteed leisure hours, we're free to pursue hobbies. There's a card shop 10 minutes from my house where I can Magic it up to my heart's content. 15 minutes (when it's not rush hour, 45 minutes during) from my house is the Las Positas College Ultimate team. There are 2 used bookstores 10 minutes from my house and my sister and I share a Netflix subscription. We also have a Plasma TV and hundreds of channels of Digital Cable, including all the soccer, hockey and nature programming I could ask for.
In short, I have moved on. I thought college would be the end all be all of life. But life moves on. It's sad, and I've shed my tears. But things are looking forward now. Whatever is happening now, it's new. For the first time in my life, I think that whatever I'm doing, is actually truly a part of finding out who I am. everything before this has been school, education, structured, predetermined. Now, nothing is for certain. Yes, I have a job and a daily routine and all, but there is no piece of paper I get after 4 years. There is the one I get every two weeks, and that's kinda nice and liberating. Perhaps there are a few surprises out there. And college is not behind me per se. There are still visits to be had, weddings to attend, stories to share and jokes to laugh at. There are just other things, new things, and I'm ok with that.