Ah, that sentimental moment has arrived. The fireworks are over, the celebrations dead, and everyone has left town and scattered in their various directions. 
I'm left in limbo before it's off to Japan. It's a pretty lonely limbo since my A-town friends are working and in school, my Austin friends are working or scattered around the world, my JA family is mostly in Tokyo, and my sleep schedule is out of whack so I can't even talk to most people.
I'd love to sum up 4 years of my life with lots of tidy little paragraphs about the experiences I had, the places I went, the friends I've had and all that, but really, I spent the last 4 years doing just that on this site. I covered my personal growth, my identity crises, my major relationships, all that sort of stuff.
But I neglected to mention the little things - the things I shouldn't forget but ultimately will. The things that become habit, that become the source of inside jokes. Maybe somewhere out of that some other reader can draw some conclusions about who I've been and who I've become, but the rest of this entry is mostly for my own records. I've learned over the last 4 years, above all else, that my brain has filled its information capacity. Back when I was 16 I could interview a guy like Angel Munoz and transcribe the entire thing from my own memory - no tape recorders, nothing. Now I can't remember the chapter of Catch-22 I re-read last night. I will, like a slowed-down Alzheimer's patient, eventually forget everything and I only hope that my own writing will jog my memory.
The list of little things that owned:
-Being on a Halo team with Mikey, Adam, Tim and Patrick. And other guys from our dorm, for a while. While we're at it:
-Friday Night Halo in the dorms
-and the late-night Wan Fu runs that inevitably followed
-Getting a BMW and driving it thoroughly through the beautiful scenery of Austin. I'll never get enough of it.
-Being on stage at the Texas Revue (UT's talent show)
-Unlimited free cookies in the Plan II office
-Having a cute girlfriend on occasion (I miss that)
-Coming home to nights and nights in a-town of Starbucks and Thomas's house
-Coffee date with Monica - I know you're reading this Mo, it meant a bunch. :)
-JA meetings: walking into a room full of welcoming people who know you - that's the best.
-Learning to eat sushi - from that icky first bite that I choked down, with An Lee looking on laughing, to trying to impress girl-of-the-moment Charlene by trying 'scary' things like urchin, to teaching people proper technique two years later. I'm used to the food by now - hell, it was something of a comfort in Tokyo - but the experience of going to a sushi place is still as exciting as ever.
-JA club parties - I love the clubs, I love being surrounded by my friends, I love being in charge, and I loved being around the girls who came to our parties.
-Austin's restaurants. Oh man, so much goodness that I'll miss so much.
-Walking to class. Not taking a bus to class, not driving to class, walking. I've gained weight since school's been over. And when I lived in Spain and had to walk 45 minutes to school in the morning? Lost a ton o' weight. That was the best shape I'd been in in a long, long, long time.
-My workout regimen: DDR at Einstein's for 50c/4 songs.
-Having a roommate who was as much of an internet geek as I was - the many nights of Adult Swim and forum surfing was well-appreciated, Tim.
-The times I surprised people by speaking a foreign language.
-The advent of Facebook - I would be mildly socially retarded without the ability to keep track of people.
-I really liked tabling for organizations - you know, manning a table and handing out flyers. Sounds stupid, but I liked the quick little bites of interaction with lots of different kinds of people.
-Downing a Starbucks Doubleshot to stay on top of my game in my law class as a junior. That class rocked.
-Hook-ups. Girls I hooked up with, you rule.
-Stopping by the office of my 'godfather,' one Professor Jose Luis Montiel, only to stay for hours on end. And temporarily work as his secretary. And get him coffee. And talk with him. He wound up being the one who really truly landed me my JET position. On top of that, he was my mentor in Spain. He tried to teach me much in the ways of the value of people and of hard work and faith, but all I really got from him what is the value of a person can be. And in all quantities immeasurable, Montiel is the richest man I've ever known.
-The House of Guys - Plan II had its own house, and it was host to an unbelievable amount of "oh, that's college for you" moments. I still kept my shirt from the Graffiti Party.
-Saying "Hi, I'm Blake" to every friend I've made at this place - all 483 of you. Thanks a bunch. :D