Whew!

So I finally had some time to breathe after the beast that was Grad Week. Hello again dear readers. In case you didn't know, I finally graduated from West Point!! Wow it feels so weird being done. I don't miss the institution so much, but I really do miss my friends. My high school friends are great and all, but I've just grown up so much in the past four years that I can't really relate to them as much as I did in the past. To be honest, the thing I'm looking forward to most this summer is my road trip down the East Coast with some of my West Point friends later this summer-- that should be a blast.

So what is this new second lieutenant up to these days? Well, a whole lot of nothing really. For my first few days home, I literally did nothing but slug out as I was just way too exhausted from Grad Week to do anything. I've recently linked up with my best friend who just finished ROTC at USF and we've been going on runs together in the mornings while I do circuit workouts at home in the evening with the hopes that such workouts will put us in good shape for our respective BOLCs.

I've also met up with some old acquaintances such as one of my coworkers whom I worked with when I worked down at the pool. We actually went mini golfing today and ran into a rising cow and his parents. It was kind of neat and really shows how small the world is. I'm meeting up with her again tomorrow to go watch a movie-- anything to kill the time.

I also had dinner with my aunt and her family today and it was the first time my aunt and cousin legally bought me a beer. Still kind of weird though.

My 22nd birthday was also yesterday. It was cool for a variety of reasons:

1) I got free breakfast at Denny's
2) I'm now on the old man PT scale
3) I got to hang out with some old friends and now a Las Vegas trip next weekend is in the works.

All in all, Summer 2011should be a blast. West Point is finally over and life is seemingly finally beginning.

On Graduation Ceremony Practice

So I would've blogged yesterday May 19, 2011, but I was out with my parents all day and couldn't find the time to do so-- I'll blog now, but expect another blog later tonight too.

Yesterday we had our Graduation Ceremony Practice, which, surprisingly everyone was willing to undergo. I think my classmates and I are all getting really antsy and just want to graduate already. We practiced queuing up, taking our seats, and some people even got to practice getting their diplomas/commissioning certificate (not everyone go to do it because after the first few, you sort of got the gist of it). The most surreal part was when the Class President said "Graduating Class, DISMISSED!" and we all pretended to have thrown our hats in the air as is customary-- at that point, I realized "Oh wow, this is it!"

To close the practice, we heard General Martin Dempsey, Chief of Staff of the Army, give us a few words of encouragement about us entering into the officer corps. He showed us this cheesy video about us joining this "indestructible army," which is pretty standard Army promo material. What really got to me though was his talk on his three key tasks while serving as Chief of Staff of the Army: discipline, fitness, and trust. The first two are pretty self explanatory, but the last one got to me. He said something about how as an officer, or as a soldier in general, you have to have a lot of trust in a lot of people, whether it be your buddy next to you in a firefight, the medical folks who treat you when you're wounded, or even the support groups available in the unfortunate event something terrible happens. I really never thought about it that way, and I hope I can earn people's trust. It was kind of cool that he said he trusts us, and I hope I can live to that.

The commandant also spoke to us about how there are three types of people with jobs out there: the guys who have to do something (i.e. "I have to work a McDonald's"), the guys who are something (i.e. "I am an officer in the Army") and the guys who have the privilege of doing something (i.e. "I'm privileged to help these folks out") The comm said he fell into the middle ground as a new lieutenant, but hoped that in the future, we would all fall into the latter category, because it's not about us but about the folks we serve. I'll keep that in mind as I continue my career.

After the Graduation Ceremony Practice, I ran some errands and now I'm back. I can't believe I graduate tomorrow (tomorrow being May 21, 2011). So surreal...

"And the First Class is soo short...!"

So here we are folks: Grad Week for the Class of 2011. This last week of the semester serves as the transition phase from West Point the academic institution to Fort West Point the military training institution. As you may or may not know, West Point conducts most of its military training over the summer, and Grad Week is a time when the Summer Garrison Regiment (aka the cadets who help monitor the many different military trainings going on during the summer) settles in. Grad Week also serves as the time when the seniors (aka First Class Cadets or "firsties") start moving out of their rooms in preparation for graduation on Saturday. Most, if not all, grades have already been locked in by this time, so cadets should know if they're graduating. Somehow, I made it and will be graduating on time (finals or "TEEs" for Term End Examinations went fine for me-- nothing to write home about, though I did miscalculate what to study for on my Civil War Era America exam; who knew both essays I had to write would be on Reconstruction, a subject I glazed over while studying?)

I'm going to miss the many "And the First Class is soo short...!" quips in the Mess Hall. Every so often, the Mess Hall guy (formally known as the Brigade Adjutant) announces these little quips in addition to his normal every day announcements to remind everyone how short of a time the firsties have left until graduation. Today's was "And the First Class is so short....! (Response: How short are they!?) The First Class is so short they have fewer hours until graduation than the yuks (aka sophomores) have weeks at the academy!" It's finally all starting to set in. My parents come up Wednesday morning while my sister comes up Thursday. Only a few parades and moving out of my room separate me from graduation.

I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't a little bit anxious though. West Point flew by so fast. I hope I can do well as an officer-- only time will tell.

PS
Oh also, during Grad Week, we're waking up at 4:30AM every day to practice parading. Normally I'd be upset at this, as I hate waking up early to begin with (I normally wake up at 6:30am, so I'm up 2 hours earlier than normal), but I'm just way too excited for graduation. Only 5 days out!

It's May 2011

Today is May 1, 2011. I say again, 2011. That means graduation is 20 days away. Who would've thought that this time would finally come? I can still remember back in July 2007 thinking that May 2011 was light years away-- and now it's finally here.

Tomorrow I start my last week of undergraduate education. There's not much left in this school year in terms of actual learning though. Some highlights of this week include submitting my senior thesis and this Model UN thing we're doing in my International Relations class. We're basically pretending we're the UN Security Council discussing Libya. I get to play South Africa, so you can imagine that I'll be bringing in a soccer ball and a vuvuzela to our little mock UN cession tomorrow. Overall, it should be fun.

I also defend my thesis on Friday May 6, 2011. I still don't have any idea on what to call it, so if you have any suggestions for me, feel free to post: my senior thesis topic is the American Airborne on Sicily during WWII.

Wow-- it's already May 2011. Just wow.

Special Olympics

Today, I volunteered for the Special Olympics. While West Point hosts the Hudson Valley Regional Special Olympics every year, this is only my second time volunteering for it. I must say, it was a blast: the weather was gorgeous, the people were friendly, and I feel the entire event was generally well executed.

The athlete I was escorting is diagnosed with autism, but it didn't change who he is as a person. Like every teenage guy, he was still chasing girls and hoping to beat others in sports. His family was also very supportive of him. I can't say for sure, but I think they were Dominican-- they spoke Spanish amongst each other alot and even thought I knew Spanish! I seem to get that alot-- every country I've visited, I've been confused for a native. Little do they know I only fluently know English and can barely speak Portuguese or Tagalog.

All in all a good day. My thesis is due on Monday, so I'll probably be working on that later tonight. Almost there! It's May starting tomorrow.

On Leadership

So I'm pretty upset right now. I don't normally like to complain about West Point. For the most part, I can say confidently that I've enjoyed my time here. Even through all the tough times here, I can say I've made the best of it all.

Well, fast forward to second semester of firstie year, a time when one would think would be the best time for a cadet. To be fair, firstie year has been a blast-- I've gotten to go out a whole lot more, got to truly meet people, and learned a whole lot. I'd like to take this time now to blog about leadership.

I'm no army officer or anything and I'm just a cadet (for now), but I was always under the impression that officers had to take care of their subordinates. Well, recently it seems as if I've been marked as a bad cadet all because of MX. Don't get me wrong: I really wanted to like MX after reading up on it in the Redbook (see previous post). I'm a little anxious about taking command of a platoon, so I was really looking forward to all the officer development stuff that MX was supposed to teach.

Anyway, good news is that I passed MX with a C. Not exactly where I wanted to be, but passing nonetheless. That should have removed me from Academic Flag status, as MX was the only reason I was on Flag status to begin with. Knowing that, I put in for pass for this weekend and was initially approved with the caveat that I still had to submit an Exception to Policy Memo, which is just like it sounds: a request to bend the rules for a specific reason. I didn't think I had to submit one because I felt I wasn't flagged anymore. Here's what the officer in charge of me replied back with:

"CitizenJEZ,

Commanders flag and lift flags as per USCC Card 501 para 1 and USCC 351-2 para 104, sub-para K, 6, f and g.

LTC X, or myself or SFC Y as her agents can lift your flag.  Our stated requirement for lifting the flag was to be passing at 15 wk grades; since it isn't 15 wk grades, I'm not inclined to lift your flag yet.  I'm not about to waste my time placing and lifting flags on cadets based on their whims about whether or not to submit their MX400 assignments or perform their other duties.  See below for my original e-mail traffic on this topic.  Please do not inform me as to your current status; I decide it, therefore, I am well aware:  See you file in TIS (HTML); you are indeed flagged.  Guess I'll have to deny that pass.

-Officer That Approves CitizenJEZ's Passes"

I suppose he got the wrong impression of me telling him that I didn't think I had to submit an Exception to Policy Memo. Nonetheless, my pass has been denied. The worst part of it all? 15 week grades are due sometime next week I believe, so he totally denied my pass out of spite. Where is the whole "quick to praise, but slow to reprimand" aspect I hear so often preached? When I sought this officer's advice on how to go about dealing with my MX issues, he flat out ignored my request. However, when I try to stand up for what I believed was correct, the officer plays the rank game with me and I inevitably lose.

Where's the leadership in all of this? I'm trying to keep an open mind about this all and see his point of view, but I'm just not seeing it right now. Hopefully ten years from now I'll be able to think back to this point and be like "Wow, he was right the entire time!" but for now, I just don't see it.

Oh well-- I'm helping out with the Special Olympics tomorrow anyway, so I wouldn't have the time to go on pass. Also, my thesis is almost done, so even though I got punked by an officer, I still think overall I'm doing well. I'm for sure going to graduate, and at this point, May 21, 2011 couldn't get here any sooner.

Cadets Always Win.

PS
Ok, seriously this time-- I will try my best to blog every day. I've just been busy over the past few weeks.

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy"

Or for you non-brutal types: "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning how to dance in the rain."

I had a heart-to-heart with my 100th Night Date today about 100th Night. Our last night together was less than optimal. I was upset because it appeared that she was unappreciative of my efforts for that weekend. Before we drifted off to bed, I asked her what she thought of the weekend, expecting to hear nothing but "it was great" as a sign of social tact. On the contrary, she told me exactly what she thought, but ended it all with "I still had a great time."

So yes, I really was upset over it, but I was a little girl about it all and became passive aggressive our last night together and didn't express how I really felt. Funny because I vented to my best friend about it on my drive back to West Point and the first song that played on the radio as I was driving back was "Fuck You" by Cee Lo Green. Perfectly apt given the situation no? I then talked to my roommate about what happened, about some of her concerns over the weekend and he told me that you can't expect everyone you hang out with to act like a cadet and that you have to be able to adjust to their abilities. One of my date's concerns was that she felt that everything was rushed. I didn't think so, but I suppose its because I'm used to having everything planned out to the minute whereas she was more used to going with the flow. Given that it was supposed to be a relaxing weekend, and given that I did stress out over missing hard times, I suppose a mix of both should have been in order.

Getting that off my chest was good and I think my relationship with my 100th Night Date is better off because of it. I think that this is one lesson that will serve me well in the future. I can't just dwell on the fact that my well thought out plan wasn't unfurling as it should or that the storm was coming. I need to be able to survive first contact with the enemy, learn how to dance in the rain, and learn to just have fun and still win.

All in all though, to be completely honest, I did have a blast over 100th Night Weekend, inaccurate planning and grumpiness and all. It has definitely made me even more jaded that's for sure. Graduation Day couldn't come any slower!

100th Night. 100th Night Complete. Please be seated.

So the deed is done: 100th Night Weekend is official over and what a weekend it was. It's always nice to see a well planned plan executed successfully, even if not everything went according to plan.

100th Night Weekend started innocently enough with a regular school day. It was rainy that morning, so I guess you can thank the Class of 2011 for "making it rain" that day. To be fair, I did spend quite a bit this past weekend (more than a months salary, but my monthly salary isn't very much to begin with, so don't let that fool you). Nonetheless, it was still a fun weekend.

The Secretary of Defense came and spoke to us that afternoon and talked about how we were entering a military that's the most capable since ever basically, but also very stressed because of all the demands placed on it. I really like Secretary Gates because it seems that he genuinely cares for the troops, a feeling I never felt for Secretary Rumsfeld.

After hearing Secretary Gates speak, I was done for the day. I wasn't scheduled to meet with my 100th Night Date until about 5:00pm, so I spent a bit of time in the room getting ready, packing, and cleaning. It's pretty funny to note that my roommate and I cleaned the most we've ever cleaned that afternoon simply because we'd have company (i.e.girls) over. Our room looked pretty spic and span at the end of it all.

I then left the barracks to go up to my car. Along the way, it started raining again, and as I neared my car (about a mile away from where I live-- up hill too) the rain had turned into snow flakes. Luckily, as time would tell, it would be a great weekend and it only snowed that afternoon/early evening.

So I get to the train station and meet up with my date on the train. As it was a Friday evening, the train was pretty packed, but probably not as packed as it could have been due to the crappy weather. I was pretty tired at this time, so I dozed off on the train for a little bit. Before you know it, we were at Grand Central Terminal. While there, we picked out a bottle of pinot grigio and a fruit tart to share after dinner that night.

Speaking of dinner, we went to the Top of the Tower Restaurant. I read reviews on it saying that the view was gorgeous but the food was mediocre, so I didn't expect too much, but I was pleasantly surprised. The view was great! At 26 stories up, and every table right next to the window, every diner has a commanding view of the sights of the East River. The food was also very good-- I had short ribs as an appetizer and salmon as the main course while my date had muscles as an appetizer and gnocchi. I was laughing at my date's misfortune as she tried one of the peppers included with her muscles-- a little too spicy for her I suppose. I don't do spicy food well at all (I sweat profusely, even with mildly spicy stuff), so I flat out refused.

That evening, we didn't do much but enjoy each other's company over dessert and wine. A pleasant experience for all.

The next day, Saturday February 26, 2011, we woke up bright and early in order to get to my date's 10am hair appointment down in Chelsea. I'm so glad I have a smart phone now, as it's GPS feature has saved me more times than I can count. It didn't take too long for my date to get her hair done, and she looked ravishing afterward and you could see that even getting her hair done gave her a great boost of confidence. After that, we decided to get lunch. I was in the mood for Korean, Korean Ramen in particular as I developed a love/hate relationship with it after my trip to South Korea this past summer (a story for another day, maybe off the record), but we decided to settle for Vietnamese food instead.

Still having some time to kill, I was somehow dragged into window shopping. As my date looked at clothes, I thought it was kinda funny seeing other guys in the women's department searching around for a chair to sit on while carrying bags in both hands. Yo comprendo.

Finally it was time to go to West Point. We were both tired, so we both were under the impression that we would both fall asleep on the train. I kept up my end of the bargain and did fall asleep, but my date was so anxious for the event that she stayed up the entire train ride up/played with the little kid from across the aisle. Great-- a five-year old kid has more game than I do...

At West Point, after changing, my date got to meet my roommate, his girlfriend, and all of my other friends as well. First, we all took photos, as is customary, of which I still have to show my mom. I'll probably forward her those photos after I type up this blog. Before dinner actually started, we had a cocktail social hour, which was a good idea, but poorly executed I think. It was very crowded, and I felt like I was in a club more than I felt like I was in a formal setting. It is kind of funny seeing college aged kids like myself pretending to be older. All I was missing was my pocket watch, cane, top hat, and monocle. Lots of fun now that I think about it.

Dinner was nothing to write home about, as it was the same "formal food" we've eaten at every other formal weekend I've had at West Point. As is customary, we also had a guest speaker, this time it was GEN Cody, former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. He acknowledged that many of us really didn't care what he was going to talk about, as we all just wanted to go back out and have a good time, so he kept it short, sweet, and very humorous. He was right-- I don't remember what he said, but I know he said it well and he kept my attention.

After dinner, it was time for the 100th Night Show. For those of you who don't know, the 100th Night Show is a musical written, directed, produced, and acted out by firsties with a lot of inside jokes poking fun at our time at West Point. I thought it was just ok-- I've seen the 100th Night Show for other classes and I thought other classes' show had better singing and acting overall. Nonetheless, it was MY class's show and I'm glad I got to see it.

Following the show, it was time for a nice, quiet ride back to the city. We had a transfer before getting into the city though, but after that transfer, I was out the entire time. We didn't get back to the room until past 1 in the morning. Way too tired from the day's events, my date and I just passed out asleep.

Overall, 100th Night Weekend was a blast as it truly showed that our time at West Point is slowly drawing to a close. It really isn't about the fancy clothes, the hot dates, the rings or any of that-- all of that is just icing on the cake. West Point is about the bonds and friendships you form with your fellow classmates and it is truly an experience that cannot be replicated at any other institution I think. I know that at our 20 year reunion, we all will probably draw upon our 100th Night experiences with fond memories and laugh.

(This was definitely my longest blog to date-- a lot happened, and I wanted to write it all down)

100th Night!

What do you know? Today, February 9, 2011 is literally 100 nights away from graduation (graduation day is May 21, 2011). With that said, actual 100th Night Weekend is really closer to 85th Night, but its whatever. Semantics.

I also had a pretty eventful yesterday in terms of Facebook status updates. Here were my statuses yesterday:

Your message (Subject: Battle Command Essay Submission) was deleted without being read on Tuesday, February 08, 2011 10:58:50 AM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).

I love MX.

MX (short for MX400) is a class on officership that is a legitiamte 2.0 credit hour class here at West Point. It's really a hit or miss kind of class: sometimes you get a good instructor and it'll be a great time where one can gain valuable perspective on what it means to be an officer but other times (arguably often times) you get a crappy instructor and the class is a waste of your time. I fall into the latter category. I had an assignment due for the class on "battle command" (whatever the heck that means! I still don't know what "battle command" is exactly) and so I submitted it via email, as per my instructor's guidance. Whenever I submit stuff via email to instructors, I always add a read receipt to it just so I know he received it. Much to my surprise/amusement, I get the above notification sent to me. Shows how much this instructor cares about the class right?

So I try to order graduation invites, and I get an error: "Sorry, you are not in the Class of 2011." This does not bode well for me.

I also received an email last night telling me that graduation invitations are now available for purchase. Having some extra time between not studying and dicking around, I decided to go over to the website and check it out. Much to my surprise, I didn't have access to the website because "I am not in the Class of 2011." I am in the Class of 2011. Go figure.

 I also had my first day of intramural swim practice today. I'm coaching the team, but I still do the workouts too for my own benefit and man was I smoked! By the time spring break rolls around, I'll be in the best shape of my life!

Wow

A lot of Old Grads (i.e. West Point alumni) tell me to start taking photos now, because Firstie year will be over before I know it. I'm really starting to believe them now. In a few days, I'll find out where I'll be stationed upon commissioning in May. This is really an exciting time. I've been talking to quite a few people, trying to get some advice into where I want to post. So far, it's been back and forth between Ft. Hood, TX and Ft. Bragg, NC. I'm not sure if I can get to Ft. Bragg based on my class rank within the Infantry order of merit, but we'll see. From what I've gathered, it's still a good match for what I want to do.

I'm also working hard (or hardly working) on my senior thesis. I'm going to write about how Operation Husky served as reality check for the airborne paratroopers. Really, I just love everything airborne, and thought writing about them would be cool. I guess it's kind of neat to read up on them, but I could do without the actually writing part of a thesis. Let's hope I can do well in this-- if I don't write a decent thesis, I may not graduate on time!

Yesterday, I drove to Connecticut and let me tell you, driving through there at night is quite the trip. With the state routes so secluded and winding through dense woods, it can be a little creepy and a little "Blair Witch"-esque. It is a nice drive though, especially at night with no other cars on the road. It almost makes you feel like you're a race car driver.

I got back to West Point pretty late last night (around 3:00am) and got "randomly" searched at the gates by the MPs. I'm sure the MP just saw the cadet base decals on my car and decided to snipe me. How do I know this? Well, there was a car right ahead of me and he didn't get randomly searched. I thought at first maybe because I was coming in so late they would search whoever would come in at that time, but again, I was searched and the person in front of me was not.

The MP was pretty cool about it though. As he filled in his paperwork, I used the portapotty right next to where I had my car parked during the search, and by the time I got out, he was almost done and I was on my way. It must suck working graveyard as an MP: it was cold out, no cars really coming through, and overall just boring. I hope those guys stay warm.

Today was a lazy day of watching episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, playing Final Fantasy VII, and watching "Surviving the Cut: Ranger School" on youtube.

I'm getting excited for things to come.

Cadets Always Win (?)

So today, I almost had a heart attack.

Not really. But I did almost lose my driver's license. Well, to be fair, I did, but someone found it. Apparently, it fell in the snow (probably on Sunday night when I used my car last) and someone found it. My iPod fell in the snow that day as well (don't worry-- it still works), and my driver's license must have been on my lap when it fell out (you have to show ID to get back on base). I only realized that I was missing my driver's license because I was actually in the library today doing work today for my senior thesis. When using WIFI here at West Point, you need to use your military ID to log into the system. I usually put my driver's license behind my military ID and today, I realized it wasn't there.

In any event, some guy messaged me saying he has it and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. Cadets Always Win.

Or do they? I may have alienated a very good friend of mine today. I overreacted because of another past, romantic event, which we shouldn't delve too deep into here. We'll see if I can salvage this.

Oh and I just noticed I got five views from Denmark today. That's pretty neat. Hey, if you enjoy my blog, feel free to say hello, lest I consider you anonymous readers creepier than you already are, as all I do is just write my thoughts to end the day.

Doing Too Much

Just to clarify, these thoughts you are about to read occurred on January 3, 2011. I missed the 12:00am deadline and couldn't publish it before the date changed. Whoops.

Anyway, over Christmas Break, I did not work out. At all. Realizing that I've gotten quite chubby, I, like many other individuals, decided to start working out as part of my New Years Resolution (we'll see how long this lasts). So I go to the gym and stupidly run at the same speed and intensity I was running when I was consistently working out (last November). Big mistake. 50 minutes into my hour long run, my shoes came undone, so I paused the treadmill to tie my shoe. However, when I resumed, my left leg was killing me, particularly my knee, so anything faster than 4.0mph was causing me to limp run. Wasn't worth it, so I just walked for 10 minutes. I was Doing Too Much.

Don't worry, I did get an ab workout in: always time for that.

Speaking of Doing Too Much, I was chatting with a friend about her experiences with West Point cadets. As a cadet myself, I have my own biases, so it was pleasant to hear hers. Many of her points were points I have heard said by others: that we're cocky and that we're stuck in the past. I tried to be a devil's advocate and offer a pro-West Point opinion, and offered my group of friends as a counter to her assertion that many of us are cocky, but until she meets them, she'll never know.

Good to know she's my 100th Night date right?

Speaking of 100th Night, I have to start planning for it. School starts up soon too, and I have a ton of other stuff to also work on (Honor Committee stuff-- I'm on the Honor Committee, setting up our room, getting jacked and tan, etc). Am I Doing Too Much? Only time will tell.

Clean Slate

"Citizen JEZ, you said you would write on your thoughts at the end of the day. Why are you writing now?"

Good question. Tonight, I have to fly back to West Point, so I'm not sure if I can blog tonight, as I'll be hanging around SFO. I did find out that SFO offers free wifi now, but I think my time would be better spent monitoring my flight status.

I just checked my schedule for next semester online. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. For those of you who are unfamiliar, unlike a normal school, at West Point, your schedule is pretty much picked for you. Sure, you have your academic major (I'm a history major myself), but there are a bunch of other classes you have to take (like international relations for example, which I'm taking this semester). The cool thing with having your schedule picked for you is you don't have to constantly refresh your browser hoping that you got in to that class you wanted.

Yeah, it's like high school. I get it.

However, my high school wasn't on the block system, and West Point is. With that said, I don't start until 3rd hour (9:50am) on Day 1's and I'm done by lunch (10:45am) on Day 2's. My Day 2's will be pretty full in the afternoon though because I have lab pretty much every day, but I guess it comes with the territory.

It is unfortunate though that I have to write the dreaded Sosh Paper and my Senior Thesis both in the same semester. The Sosh Paper is the 20 page paper we have to write for our International Relations class and there's a whole event catered to the event of just turning that in: more on that at another time.

I love the start of the school year, and the year in general. So much promise and so much potential in just having a Clean Slate. Hopefully I can capitalize on it all.

::Edit 5:41PM PST January 1, 2011::
My dad just woke me up in order to get ready for my flight back to New York tonight. My flight doesn't leave until 11:00pm, so I'm not sure why I had to be up so early-- I was planning on waking myself up at 6:00. Oh well.

I get so nervous the moments before I have to fly back. I'm not sure why. Maybe I get used to the fact that I'm "home." I sort of forget that life as I know it is different now: no more waking up in my own room, no more having my own bathroom, no more having to decide what to wear every day. Well, all in time I guess-- in five months, actually, I'll be done with school and will be out on my own. Weird.

It's just so weird that my room still has calendars from June 2007 up as if I never left the place. I wonder if I'll ever change them.

Oh, and don't think that I've just been lazy in changing calendars-- that's partially the reason why I haven't changed them, but not totally. But that's a story for another day too.

Lastly, for some weird reason, I have Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight" stuck in my head. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'd want to know that in the future when I reread all of this.