...Why Not....

Here is the final stretch of school before Thanksgiving break and there is nothing more exciting then knowing I am done. With almost being done and actually being able to come home is the issue that all the teachers are assigning projects and tests for this week. Even with the hours of studying that I am supposed to be doing, I still find time to slack off and talk to my friends. Now that we are so close to break, our main conversations consist of what we are going to be doing when we get home. Besides the family time, we are already setting aside our plans for Friday and Saturday night. These conversations help speed up these last few days as well as distract me from the work load I have. I can believe it is so soon, but I'm certainly glad it is. A few of my friends are going to be able to make the trip back, which sucks for all of us. As friends we all feed off of each other and very rarely are we found apart. I'm not sure how the group is going to act when we are missing key elements. I try and talk to everyone as much as possible, but I tend to spend extra time with these friends because I guess I miss them the most and wont be able to see them for a lot longer. Could always be worse thou, one of my friends is already traveling abroad and wont be back till May. Facebook will most likely be the only form of conversation between me and him for a while.

Lately I have been getting a lot of different gifts in the mail from both friends and family. I've realized the ease of the mail center at Trinity comes in handy when you need to pick up stuff. I also have been busy making packages for people at home. Sending mom some Trinity attire definitely gets me in good when I need cash. Ive sent my family an assortment of shirts, hats, jackets and other Trinity Gear. They cant get enough mugs or blankets that say Trinity for the house.

BiteThat Bullet

As the year goes on, I tend to forget what home looks like. I cant remember the feeling of my bed or even the smell of my mother's cooking. I've forgotten the taste of an In-N-Out burger and replaced it with the taste of a "Chicken Butter Biscuit" from WHATABURGER. Who knows how my house is looking at this moment. I've spent significant periods of time trying to think back to how my room looked when I left it and if it will look the same when I arrive home. I've even forgotten what Los Angeles weather is, but more importantly, I have forgotten what Los Angeles is.

Days are passing slower and slower now that we are almost done with first semester. All my friends are in the midst of midterms and research projects. Very few of them have time to talk on the phone, but it isn't too bad. I've been busy myself, football is getting tougher and tougher as we try to make a run to the playoffs. A good friend of mine is pledging to a frat at the University of Southern California. None of my friends have been able to get in touch with him for about a month. He returns texts and calls at 3 in the morning. He apologizes for being so busy during the day, but if he isnt in class he has to be somewhere for his pledge. It was getting frustrating because I know he cant be that busy, but then I received a call from him. He was on his way home at 4 in the morning his time from a frat function. He was calling me to give me an update on everything thats been happening, again apologize he has been so busy, and also find out how I have been. He told me how he barely gets 4-5 hours of sleep a night and that his grades have been suffering. He is used to getting straight A's in highschool to not passing a class. His parents want him to quit the frat, but with 2 weeks left in pledging he cant. He wont be able to call me again for a while because supposedly these next few days are going to be his busiest, combining frat stuff with midterms. Come Thanksgiving though, he promised he'd be able to hang out. It was kind of crazy imaging my friend doing his own thing and being too busy for the rest of us. It kind of hurt being replaced, but I guess I'm doing the same thing here.

The other friends have been doing their own things, some playing sports, others getting involved in frats, and some just making new friends. Its impossible to talk to everyone everyday, but its impossible not to talk to anyone while your gone. Its obvious that we are all busy, but not so busy to never talk.

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New Times and Old Times

"Life isnt measured by the amount of breaths you take, but instead by the moments that take your breath away."


As school moves on, many kids returned home for semester break, but some of the less fortunate ones stayed here on campus. I had to stay on campus because of our football game, which we won by 40 points. With no classes on Friday, most of us had a free weekend on campus just to chill and catch up on that is so necessary sleep. It was nice to hang out with friends on campus with out all the havoc of school work. Bryden McClure and I had a little get together by Beze on Monday, which was quite the event. Many familiar faces stopped by and some new ones too. It was a great opportunity to meet some fellow students. I also had an all day Wii tournament in my room Sunday night, which again was an adventure. It felt like my whole hall was pushing into my room. One would think that these adventures here on campus might make me over look my old memories from my high school, but on the contrary it made me want to reminisce even more.

I recommend that every once in a while to keep from becoming over whelmed that you take a break from the Trinity life. Go on Facebook and look through old pictures of friends, past crushes, and even past enemies and hope they are having a rough time. I enjoy doing this while in class, it makes me feel better about myself when I'm sitting in a boring lecture spending time writing on people's walls. Of course you can only do this when you're in a class that a computer is acceptable, but regardless don't feel afraid to get on Facebook while listening to a teacher talk. We are teenagers, multitasking is a gift and we must use it to our advantage while we can. I love me a little bit of "Facebook-ing" while in marketing.

I've also gotten into looking on Youtube for old memories of my high school times. Just recently one of my friends reminded me of a pillow fight we help on campus during high school. During my marketing class, I simply closed my notes and opened up Firefox. Searched for the pillow fight on facebook and it almost made me cry right there. As soon as class let out, I texted an old peer and reminded him of the video, which made him laugh.

Between Facebook and Youtube I might not pass all my classes. I do know that I will be able to keep in touch with my friends thou. I do know that with Youtube, I wont forget the pillow fight and will be able to talk to my friends about it for as long as necessary.



HERE IS THE LINK IF YOU ARE INTERESTED...
H-W PILLOW FIGHT (part 1)

Hype on Skype

"Cant wait to see you"


As the days turn into weeks and weeks into months, I never expected to see any of my friends before I went back home in December. Whats nice about making new friends in college is that you quickly learn that you're not the only one with problems. Sometimes hearing other people's problems actually makes you feel better about yours. Some kids are harassed by parents calling every hour on the hour, while others are so homesick they make their parents fly out here to bring them some old blanket. Some kids miss their friends so much they cant stop complaining about how San Antonio sucks when they live like 2 hours away. Some kids are so over anxious to start new in college, you cant help but laugh at how nervous they are when a teacher calls on them. Whats also nice about your new friends is you learn from their mistakes and sometimes even a few new tricks to help cope with being gone. One of these nice tricks is something called "skype" aka a video chat service. Many kids knew what it was before college, I just heard about it a few weeks ago and think I found a new toy.

Its insane the amount of free time we as students have, especially at the late hours of 12:30am on ward. Now when my roommate falls asleep, he usually is snoring, but I still feel slightly rude opening and closing the door to make a phone call. Instead of doing that, I usually just text or BBM(blackberry messaging) because its much quieter and I can talk to more people. At the same time it cant get much less social than that, I could be talking to anyone who is holding the phone. My friends on the east coast are usually asleep and my friends on the west coast are still doing work. I almost gave up with texting altogether, but this program "skype' is the answer to my problems. With "skype" I video chat with a bunch of different people and if I want, I can even put my friend from University of Penn and from University of Southern California together in the same place and talk to them both at the same time. Its not quite the same as actually being together, but its a lot closer when you actually see them. I see my girlfriend probably the most, but I can almost talk to anyone. Now I can see my girlfriend, which anyone who is in the midst of a long distant realize how amazinglying important this is. Its definitely a treat when I can see her, even if its over the internet. So many people at Trinity have it that in reality I can talk to my suite mates in the room next to me if I like. I use it almost everyday and i love it. I recommend it to anyone who is long distant from any friend, any family, and any loved one.

Where Did The Summer Go?

When school ended, college didn't seem so soon. We all agreed that these next two and a half months would be spent with every single one of us together. Two and a half months, that's about 70 something days and not one minute would be wasted. We'd hit the beach at least once a week, party hard everyday, and if we couldn't party at the very least see a movie. Of course this was only with the close friends, but i still had so many other friends I made over the past four years. I'd talk to them and we all made promises that we would at least have to do lunch one of these next few days. These plans all seemed so realistic till graduation came and everyone had to hang with the family who traveled hundreds of miles to come see them. I could wait a day to see my friends, but the next day we were all exhausted. I had a football game which two of my friends came to, but left at halftime so I couldn't even say "what's up." The last four years, my mother and I never went on vacation, but she seemed to want to make it up to me by scheduling 5 different vacations during my last summer before college. One of my best friends was leaving in three days to BC for summer school. So much for spending everyday together. I calculated that after all my vacations and previous obligations, I had about three and a half weeks of actual summer in Los Angeles. Well one of my friends left a week into summer, two others were both going on vacation for two weeks, which left my last good friend and me together. Its hard to complain to anyone when your mom is taking you to Mexico, New Orleans, San Fran, Arizona, and Palos Verdes, but as much as I wanted to spend time with her, I knew I had only so much time with my friends. On top of that, I leave for college two weeks early for football? Needless to say, I spent not even half my summer with my friends, but as a wise man once said, "Friendship and Geography have nothing in common, so if you're friends now no distance can change that."

Arriving at Trinity wasn't as bad as I could of thought, but the heat does resemble something like hell. The second I stepped on campus, I called home to let momma know. As soon as i finished packing and had a few minutes to myself I made sure to call all the homies. Told everyone how hot it was, asked how that party was that I missed, and talked about some other useless information. I had to go and meet the team in 3 minutes so I told them I'd call them later, but that didn't happen. With the time change and being exhausted from the heat I simply passed out early. This was the start of the rest of my life, but it felt more like the end of my life as I knew it.

Here we are about a month into school and by now everyone is settled into college life. Some of us are happy to be here while some are so homesick they prefer to never be in their own room because it just depresses them. I wouldn't say I was homesick, but i do miss home sometimes. I love the freedom and the fact I'm meeting so many people. I do miss how simple and easy home is, as well as my girlfriend and all my best friends. Like anything in life, I've realized college is a give and take. Best time of my life? Potentially, but right now, no. One thing I have grown to learn is time can be used very well and it can be used not so well. I started by sleeping everyday instead of doing work or communicating with friends, but now I do some homework and make an effort to call at least one person from home. I reserved Sundays for my momma and most my nights during the week for friends. I usually will call my mom more than just Sundays and if I'm walking from class with no one I will call a close friend. Every conversation starts the same, but we evolve from the "how are classes" till eventually we are reminiscing about the crazy things we've done. We compare our new schools to high school. My friends telling me how they meet a kid who reminds them of me or how I need to hurry up and visit because the females are all so pretty. Recently I started making plans with them for when I get home this December and how much trouble we are about to cause when we get back. Is not seeing them slash talking to them everyday hard? Of course, but I do the best I can and make it work.