blakerson.com

Today I came home from Austin, and I totally didn't want to leave. I was legitimately sad to wake up in the morning to a quiet campus, a rapidly-emptying dorm, and the end of half of my college career. By the time I left at 2:00, all that remained were ghosts of the previous two years of my existence. There is no evidence that every weekend, my basement lounge played host to heated 8v8 Halo games, no evidence of all the friends who visited my place, no evidence of Tim's residence, no evidence of any of my 4 other awesome suitemates. Maybe I was swayed a little bit by the 'last hurrah' day that went down yesterday with those who remained (myself, Adam, Patrick and his gf Renee). To blatantly steal the entry from Adam's Xanga, because he expressed it flawlessly:

Then, Sally [our name for Patrick], Renee, Blake, and I headed to Zilker Park. I have a new respect for Austin. It was gorgeous between 4:30 and 6, and the view of downtown Austin from Zilker Park is no less than spectacular. I haven't been out in the open in such beauty in as long as I can remember. We played frisbee for about an hour and a half, laughed, and had a genuinely amazing time. I missed Amanda and Mikey, but the four of us just had a blast. It's so beautiful from there. It made me realize how little I'd been outside in the past few years.

From there, we headed to the Uptown Enchilada Bar which, from my understanding, is no more. That was sad. After a brief sidetrack, we ended up at the Logan's down in South Austin. While it was easily the weakest Logan's experience I've ever had, it was still some damn good food. Blake and I had the privatize schools debate with Patrick. I believe it's a good idea from our Ivory Tower, but none of Patrick's explanations seem to assume the fact that 90% of America cares less about education than our families do. Then, we came back to Blanton (circa 8pm) and had some lovely Jack and Coke/Rum and Vanilla Coke along with Cowboy Bebop, Family Guy, and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. We learned a lot about Renee's past. Blake and I also gave her the official Adam Seal of Approval, because we love her and she's good to us and to Sally. We all had a goddamn blast. It was the best end to any semeste I've had in 15 years of education. The day was perfect, the people were perfect, the atmosphere was perfect, and the food and drink(s) were perfect. These are some of the greatest friends I have ever had, have, and could ever hope to have (there are some other great friends out there, don't worry. Just because you weren't here doesn't mean you aren't incredibly important to me).

Everyone's gone now. It was amazing. I love my life. It's a beautiful life. I'm so happy. I love Amanda, and while I'm going to miss my college friends dearly, I'm going to enjoy a mentally relaxing summer and some time with my parents, who love me more than anything and have done an amazing job of raising me. I'm a fucking douche for all the things I did to them in high school. When I look back, there's nothing better that they could have done. I wish I had done "better" by them, although I'm not sure I would find myself anywhere other than a top 5 school in the country. I really wish I'd expressed my gratitude before I turned 19/20. It's painfully sad that the only times I didn't fight with my mother on goddamn Mother's Day in recent years have been the past two years. I love my mother. She's wonderful, and while we may have had our differences (being the two most vocal people in the household), she did everything she could have and I now understand that I couldn't have asked for better. My dad is a wonderful human being and all of my friends (and I) admire him for being such a Southern Gentleman. I'm so lucky to have such parents who have cared about me. Mom, Dad...I'm sorry for the things I may have done. I knew not what I did.

It's been a beautiful day, filled with beautiful events, beautiful people, and beautiful stories. I sit here, halfway done with my undergraduate college career, and I couldn't ask for more. I have been blessed with great friends, a great school, and a great life. The Nexus [Adam's room, our social hub] is disbanded, but it will never be forgotten.

Everyone, it's been a great semester/year/two years. I love you all, however frequently or infrequently you've crossed my path. All of you know who you are (at least inside), and I thank you for everything you've done/said/been. I will never forget you.

Adam puts it flawlessly. The time we all spent together at Zilker Park was truly an artistic moment. It felt as though there were a camera somewhere, filming us together for some Hollywood heart-wrenching coming-of-age story. And it's things like that that make me cringe at the idea that the window for these moments is open only two more years - and the first two went by in a flash. For right now, I don't feel so depressed, because I've had a good day today. But even if it's only for 3 months, I hate saying goodbye to anything - whether it's random acquaintances in the dorms, the dorms themselves, or my best friends. I'm never good at it and I think I never will be.

The last 72 hours have been a little hectic for me. To everyone I promised I'd hang out with, my apologies, but the philosophy studying got the best of me. I seriously bonded with my study group, which consisted of Abby, her floormate Brette, our good friend Taylor, and Christina, who's so dirty she makes me look innocent. Seriously.

Through that time, not only did we actually make up for a whole semester's worth of not reading for philosophy (Plan II secret - we don't actually study), but we all bonded at the same time. The first night ended with us telling secrets over virtually free pizza jacked from Mustache Pete's (local pizza place) after hours. The second night began with a four-hour study break to eat at Hula Hut. The test came and went, and from there it was off to celebratory dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, which I haven't had in years and years. It was just as awesome as I remember. If you haven't been, go - there's one in Austin and one in Grapevine. That was followed by an evening of sand volleyball, which was a blast considering I haven't played since the end of last summer. By the end of all this, I was considerably closer to all of my new study buddies, and it gave me a new friendly look to group studying, because I usually stick to studying solo.

But after volleyball, came my descent into Hell - or Hickville, depending on your view of country music. It was time for us to go out on Saturday night. Instead of heading to 6th, like normal people who just finished all their finals, we decided to hit up Midnight Rodeo. We all went expecting what Midnight Rodeo's known for - a weird combination of hip-hop club music and country line-dancin' junk that strangely attracts college students on the worst possible nights of the week. And that's my proof that Midnight Rodeo alone is the antichrist, because to combine hip-hop, with country, just has to be heresy. But so far, so good. I can do the hip-hop thing and be a wallflower for the country stuff. No problem. Sure enough, once we turn up, we were a smidge wrong about Saturday nights. It was live band night. I was miserable, unhappy and not wanting to have wasted my $10 to follow my friends in the door. I sent out a mass-text to anyone in Austin who had a car in the hopes that someone would have the kindness to come rescue me and get me the hell out of there. Who else but Syed would have answered the call? He showed up a mere 25 minutes later and absolutely refused to let me take him out to eat afterward. The man is just as much a true friend as when we met 6 long school years ago.

Respect, Syed, respect.
To my study group, sorry to ditch you guys, but I had a blast the last 3 days and I can't wait to keep trying new things with you dudes, so long as it involves more fun and sun and less cowboy hats.
And to Midnight Rodeo: I surrender. You won't see me ever again. I don't care how uncool it sounds. Fuck country music.

Do: post your summer plans on Facebook. It's a nifty feature.

Don't: post about the company you're set to work for on your own site. Everyone's favorite Syed lost a summer job at National Instruments because he slammed the company's product on his LJ, and they *somehow* found it and rescinded the job offer. It's unfortunate, and perhaps unfair, but it's definitely legal, so be careful, kiddos.

The Austin smoking ban passed. Granted, I'm not a smoker, I don't like smoke and it irritates my eyes and I don't like the way it smells, but this really will mess things up for Austin's famed nightlife. In the words of Eddie Izzard, "and soon, no drinking, no talking, and no having fun."

This just might make Austin uncool. :(