Hi ya'll!
It's been nearly 5 months since I wrote my last blog.
I do not know where to begin, so I'll start off with an overview of my summer.
After school ended in mid-may, I flew out to Colorado with my family for my brother's graduation. I enjoyed my short visit and loved catching up with old friends and observing the ever-changing FoCo Utopia; expansive shopping centers crowd the tree-lined boulevards and patches of suburban housing developments conveniently guard the perimeter of these areas. ISH.
Following my trip, I came back home to Rochester with my family and relaxed for an entire week and a half. For so long, I had longed the comfort and familiarity of home. To little surprise, I was anything but satisfied. Rochester is and will always be BORING. I sat around and caught up on as many TV shows as possible (it took me no more than three days to do that). To further my boredom, my friend Lisa and I resorted to our sewer rat tactics of freshmen year. GOOD TIMES.
Eventually, my time in Rochester came to a end and I headed back up to Minneapolis to begin summer training for Orientation. That was HELL. We trained for 14 hours every day during a two week time frame where we were expected to study and pass exams with at least a 90%, practice the POP production 4 hours daily, and function healthily regardless of all of our sleep deprivation. In the end, it paid off. I loved every moment of Orientation. I strengthened some great bonds with many of my coworkers and I was able to impact the lives of first-year students. Could I ask for a greater reward? No
In early July, I had a huge birthday celebration for 20th. Over 30 people showed up for my dinner at Figlio's and several other came to hang out with me at Lake Calhoun. Although, people stressed e out and annoyed me with their drama, I still had an awesome time. I value birthdays so much, so the support and love I received was very meaningful! Thank you!!!
Following orientation, we had a closure BBQ at Lisa's. I hadn't cried in so long. I don't know what came over me, but i cried uncontrollably in the arms of my co-workers. For some reason, I couldn't stop. Everytime someone walked up the stairs and faded from close proximity, my tears became thicker and saltier. Talka bout a downer, right? This episode certainly dampered my mood for the rest of the evening, but proved the fact that I am human being with emotions. Later that evening, I pondered the root of my emotional outburst and determined my fear of abandonment accounts for most of what happened that day, but the rest of me figures I just need a good outpour of emotion every good while.
In the midst of all of these fabulous endeavours, I spent time all over the Twin Cities at parades and festivals: Gay Pride '09, A Taste of Minnesota, and Grand Old Days. I also traveled to Duluth and Stillwater and was overwhelemed by the charm and character of those two cities.
This week, I'll be going to Iowa with Alice and Dana (two co-workers) to visit Anna and Alice's friends. Afterwards, we're going to meet up with some other OL's and drive to Colorado! I'm ecstatic.
All of this has been great, but the thing I value the most is how introspective I have become. Instead of treading through nostalgia every few week and publishing it on here, I've kept it all hidden from the world I think i'm just figuring some things out. After all, all I'm interested in is what's real: real people and real things.
Summer of '09 you have been great to me. I can't wait to see what lies ahead as I wrap up these next few weeks of freedom and introspect.
