friends

the chairs all are empty the last guest has gone
the candles burn lower and lower
and sputter on and on
but after the last guest departed
haunting the smoke laden air
remaineth a lingering presence
the ghose of good fellowship rare
Friends, friends, friends
You and I will be
whether in fair or in dark stormy weather
we'll stand or we'll fall together.

That's about the best way I can describe it. Nothing like a good ole SAE song to define something for ya. Like I said it was nice to be back home and here is my blog on my buddies.

I didn't even seem like I was gone but a day or two. It is odd how nothing ever changes when you're with true friends. Seeing everybody was great. Love you guys. PA.

the 5 o 5.

So as some of you may know I went back home this weekend for my birthday. I have a ton of stuff to talk about, but I know this probably won't be read unless I break it up into small parts. So this post will be about the family, the next about the friends, and then the last will be about V for Vendetta...it was great, then I might throw down with a post just about the 5 o 5 in general.

It felt so good to be home again. It had been two months and boy was I home sick. I didn't think I would miss everything so much. Seeing my Mom at the airport was great, nothing like the first thing you do back home, being giving your mom a hug. Seeing my sister was also great, you don't realize how close you are to a sibling till you don't see them everyday. And seeing Dad was of course great as well, we got to go to a game in the best basketball arena and one of my favorite places in the world, the PIT (unfortunately the lobos didn't make it to that round).

Just sitting around and watching TV was very relaxing for me, I was surrounded by the people I love and it is a better feeling then you realize. So without getting too mushy, sit back and think of how important your family is to you cause when you're gone for a prolonged period of time, you come to realize they're importance.

So kids stay tuned for details on my adventure in the 5o5, cause there's more to come.

house keeping issues...

So I get to go home tomorrow and I'm so excited you have no idea, but there are some other things I got to get out there:

Does anybody know who Mr. Bean is? Well I found him, that's right, he bags my groceries at Tom Thumb in Irving. I will never change grocery stores cause it's too damn funny I want to go shopping everyday....damn he's funny.

The whole pay it forward thing...I had a response from an older wiser SAE on that, he said he leaves his change in the vending machines when he gets something...cause seriously how cool is it when you find change! So I did it today I had to make copies for a presentation I had today and I left $.50 in the copy machine at the library...the equivelent to 5 copies, it's not a big deal but just think how awesome that will be for a stressed out coed when they find it!

Now for the deep stuff (you know you can't go that long on here without me getting all deep on ya). Be HAPPY, don't be what others want you to be. Why are we all here anyway...[insert answer here] no matter what you put, nobody really knows. So in our short time here on Earth be happy, if that means getting an MBA, do it! If it means dropping out of school and writing songs, do it! If it means....whatever you get the point, do it and do it now cause that's all you have that you can reallly count on--the now.

pay it forward

Ya I know it was a movie, with a novel idea, but try it. Do something for someone, something they aren't expecting, something they aren't asking for, something nice. Do it not for them, nor for yourself, do it in hopes that it will make their day better and maybe encourage them to do something for someone else.


There is so much that people have to be miserable about, I'd mention the stuff but uh...it's not that kinda posting. Sometimes all they need is a little piece of humanity that tells or shows them how awesome life really is.


So if someone has done something nice for you recently, pay it forward. Or be the one that starts that chain of pleasantness, it'll make your day too.

"don't you think life would be awfully boring if the good times were all that we had?"-Pat Green.

uh it's wet

Ok...un...I'm from New Mexico and have never seen rain like this. I was just wondering, can I drown out here. Ya, ya I can. It seriously has been raining for like 30 straight hours, I don't think it rains any 30 hours in NM. Last night I got up at like 5am and looked out side to see what was so loud and I thought I was inside a tornado (never seen one before). I couldn't see across the parking lot and there was rain going sideways...frickin' sideways! The thunder was so loud that all the cars owned by my idiot neighboors, had their alarms going off every 15 seconds. I may be a sweetie pie, but good thing I'm not made of sugar...I'd be screwed.

NW st, UW-mil...I love it!

We are currently in the midst of the greatest 4 sports days of the year! Currently Kansas is down by 10 to Bradley, Texas (my national champion pick) is down at the half to Penn, UConn had to make a 35-9 run to squeeze out a victory against Albany. It just doesn't get any better than this.

College football needs to take note of the growing popularity of college basketball (the new American pastime) and do a tournament. Just think USC gets upset in the first round by some po dunk, ass backwards, team with more than one direction in their name, how awesome would that be? Now of course USC would probably win. But that's not what sport is all about. Sport is the ultimate reality show, these young men--I'm actually older than all of them now--must compete on the grandest of stages, at the highest level and leave their hearts and souls on the field.

March Madness, simply the greatest thing in the world for a sports fan, besides for the early games I missed on Thursday (I went to beautiful San Antonio and hung out on the river walk...quite possibly the most genious attraction a city has ever come up with) I have seen all of the games. Oh shit...school, I wonder if the University of Dallas gives "hey I was watching Northwestern state make their dreams come true at the buzzer" passes. Cause damn I need one!

So to recap...The first weekend of the mens college basketball tournament is by far the best 4 consecutive days of the year, EVERY YEAR!

the hardest thing I've ever done.

I got to thinking today about how difficult it is being on your own. So I began to ponder what was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, here are my thoughts, as I know them to be true, in chronological order: Well I would assume that the day I was born had to be pretty rough. I'm sure being born was definitely the hardest thing I had ever done. Well it was my first day of life so I guess any activity would have to be the hardest thing I've ever done. So what's next?...I guess we can clump together things like; learning to communicate (talk), learning to walk, learning to tie my shoes and all of that stuff when you're a little kid. Even though I don't remember any of those moments I'm sure at that point they were the hardest things I'd ever done. Now we're getting into the stuff I remember. My first crappy memory is when I found out my grandma died, I was like 6 or 7. I didn't understand all that stuff yet, and getting over that was definitely the hardest thing I'd ever done. Well I was never really peer pressured that much, and didn't have much trouble fitting in, so I guess I get to luckily skip those times that most people have. For the sake of time and humility I will just clump all the sports teams that said I was a step to slow or just a needed a little more skill. Taking those disappointments were the hardest things I'd ever done. [Just a side note: I started every game my senior year in soccer for a top ranked team...GET IT!] High School was a breeze...I didn't even read a book and graduated in the top 10% of my class. Seriously, what the hell are we doing in America that shouldn't be possible? Finishing my pledge ship at SAE, ya that was hard, boy was that hard. I don't think I can even count the number of times I was close to quitting. But I didn't. That semester was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Calculus...I HATE CALCULUS. NO, REALLY. I HATE CALCULUS!!!!! Heart break, yes ladies, guys go through it too. That night seemed like the longest day ever. I didn't think I could ever feel that way and didn't think I'd ever be better. That was the hardest thing I'd ever done. I'm going to group the next two together; graduating and my alumni ceremony. My alumni ceremony was one of those moments that you need to sit back and take everything in. It was a hard night for me, to leave my boys. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done.

So what's left?...You guessed it, moving to Irving. This has been a rough six weeks, I got nobody to play with, I got no job, and I got no dogs to wrestle with. I moved out here with only my determination, enthusiasm, and my perseverance. This is the hardest thing I've ever done.

In retrospect, I can tie my shoes, I'm pretty proficient at walking, I was a late bloomer athletically, I became a member of the greatest fraternity in the world, I PASSED CALCULUS, and I graduated. So I guess this too will pass...didn't someone famous say that? I'll beat this too like everything else, but F$%K this is the hardest thing I've ever done.

let me see what I can see

{transitioning from one guitar to the next, the lighting changes, the crowd sways from side to side in anticipation...following the slow guitar melody to start the song...}

Set me free
Set me free
I need a little more room to breath
And the freedom to do what I please
mama set me free
set me free
set me free
let me see what I can see
have mercy on a boy like me mama set me free

And at that point in the concert I was free. I moved out here to start my life and "see what I can see". I moved out here with the intention of doing things on my own with out the ease of Albuquerque and the help of anyone else. I enjoy the fact that if I fail or succeed it will be due to me and only me.
On Thursday night I skipped class, and the rathskeller, for a better opportunity. Reckless Kelly was playing at a bar in Denton (about 40 mins north of Irving) and I had to go see em' play. I figured finally the chance to see a Texas country band in Texas, I'm there. They played for quite some time maybe close to 2 hours and it was a great show. They played lots of songs I knew at an intimate venue of about 200 people.
You would think that moving only 10 hours away and staying, generally in the same region there wouldn't be much of a culture change...wrong. I was in culture shock for the first part of the evening. Honestly who told Texans that huge ass belt buckles your name carved in your belt was 'in style', I smell an episode of Queer eye for the Texan guy (although I'm pretty sure gay guys aren't allowed in Texas). It was acutally quite amusing to watch all of the 'cowboys' at this place. They would have definetly been made fun of back home, but here they were the norm. I didn't stick out, I don't think, but I definetly was not in "Texan" attire.
But the treat for me at the 'Rockin' Rodeo' (actual name of the place) was not the music nor the experience although, both were pretty great, but the girl. Yes ladies and gentleman Uncle Dick found himself a date last night. By the time 'set me free' came on I was already free, it was a poetic moment for me. I was here on my own with this amazing girl and ya I'm free. Free in the sense that life on my own has begun. Now it's only been one date so I'm not thinking all serious or anything but being there with her was a begining that I won't soon forget.
As I sit here and listening to music, kinda studying and watching the planes take-off outside my balcony...set me free!