"The time has come for colds and overcoats...

...We're quiet on the ride,
we're all just waiting to get home.
Another week away, my greatest fear.
I need the smell of summer,
I need its noises in my ears.
If looks could really kill,
then my profession would be staring.
Please know we do this cause we care
and not for the thrill.
Collect calls to home
to tell them that I realize
that everyone who lives will someday die
and die alone..."

- Brand New
I Will Play My Game Beneath the Spin Light


Long walks across campus on a cold night are a fun and interesting way to catch colds. Interviews in the rain are also good times. I'm not complaining though, because, frankly, I haven't accomplished as much on a single day in months than I did yesterday.

I also started smiling for the weirdest reasons this weekend...

I think it's because I had a great weekend. Aside from the obvious Thursday to Friday block of debauchery, I met some new people and got a large amount of work done (not exactly fun, but fulfilling). There's also one more thing, which was a pleasant surprise: my parents came to visit.

I used to have this "get out of home, get away from the parental unit" mentality, but somewhere in the midst of being so far away, both parties learn how much they really appreciate short moments of family ecstasy.

Whereas I used to argue endlessly with my mother over the smallest things, now all we do is smile when we're near. And my father still gets so down, but now he's re-growing up and learning to cope with life when my mother is far away.

I like seeing him grown up, because then when he's with her, they're both like little kids. It's endearing, I promise. It reminds me of the time all of the time my father took my brothers and me to the Insights Science Museum for a HUGE exhibit called "The History of Video Games".

It was right after we moved back to the Rio Grande Valley [link might break eventually], and my mother was still living in El Paso. We were up visiting her, and he was just trying not to be sad that we would leave soon. He didn't realize how many classic arcade games would be at the exhibit, and once he saw Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. right next to each other, he was in hog heaven...

...he slowly let his mind slip from his worries, and just had fun. He also kicked all our asses at those games, but we've since gotten better. But, that wasn't the highlight of the day.

You see, our dad used to talk and talk about this game he loved more than any other game in the world. It was called Pengo and it was a puzzle/adventure game that involved pushing blocks of ice around to kill enemies, and maneuver around a map. When one of my brothers found that game for him at the exhibit, he welled up and all but bawled in happiness.

Being a kid...or rather, feeling like a kid again...it's a nice feeling. I'm slowly slipping away from my childhood mindsets, and finding myself more worried about everyday tasks than about having fun. Every now and then I get a small break from that, and I just. Smile.

"When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things..."

- 1 Corinthians 13:11

I'm not big on the good book anymore, but I have my reasons. Still, sometimes it reaches people in a manner that reflects into all our lives. At any rate, it always reminds me of this webcomic that used the quote in the very last slate they ever printed:

Machall

It was a bittersweet moment. They printed it right after graduating from college. They though they would never be able to do the comic again...but, a year later they started anew. Now they are back in full swing, running Three Panel Soul. Sometimes, you don't always have to keep the childish things bottled up...

...I think taking a swig every now and then is good for your health.
So, Cheers! Kanpai! Bottom's Up!
Now, I gotta get back to homework...



Over and Out,

David


p.s. all classes were canceled this morning due to inclement weather conditions (a.k.a Ice Storm). Texas fear the cold, so we get a day off. It's good, because now I get to read my Poe, watch more TV and never leave the apartment...until tomorrow. This is why I love winter.