Cue "Pomp and Circumstance." It's Graduation time.

Last night and tonight I attended Graduation events for my brother.

Last night was the Baccalaureate Mass which was coincidentally held at Holy Spirit Catholic Church where my brother and I went to elementary & middle school. As I was walking out of the Church, I eyed my friends Alan and Nathan. I haven't seen Nathan Adcock is such a long time, however he still remains one of the most handsome guys I know. And one of the nicest. I think my crush on him is everlasting. Alan, however, needs to cut his hair.

I went outside to join my family. My brother's friends and their families were all out there too and they managed to take a photo of him and his friends who also went to Holy Spirit in the same order as an old photo of them from the 8th grade. I have to say, it was cute. I took a picture with my brother too and I managed to get him to put his arm around me. It was bro/sis moment. One that doesn't occur too often.

At the Graduation tonight, I felt really proud of my brother. He and I haven't always got along, but I've always been proud of him. I was filming and the zoom on the camera allowed me to see him smiling, which is a rare occasion. I like it when I see him smile. If you knew my brother, you would know what I'm talking about. He smiles in pictures now. It's actually amusing.

After the ceremony, we were walking around with him as he tried to find his friends, and girls kept yelling out to him, trying to get his attention. "Juanito!!! Juan!!!" they cried. Weird. What was even weirder was that he introduced my mom and I to 3 of them. I think they were his friend Tanner's stepsister and her friends.

Something else that I experienced during both evenings were all the mothers of my brother's friends coming up to me and saying things like "I can't believe you're all grown up!", "Hey gorgeous! Look at you!", "How's New York?! I can't believe you're up there!". I did the smiling and nodding and replied "I'm good! New York's awesome! Congratulations!" It brought back memories from when I would go to my brother's little league games and eat snow cones and be adored by all the mothers cause I'm "such a sweet, pretty girl."

These events aren't so bad after all.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

G-unit is in town. And they're both sick. Which means I haven't been able to play tourist (yes in my hometown, but it's fun).

Juan's Baccalaureate Mass is tonight and his Graduation is tomorrow night. He's moving to Austin next week I think.

Speaking of Austin, Maggie is going to Austin City Limits with me!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!! Soooooooooooooo excited. Gonna be sooooooooooo much fun. And you're still soooooooooooo jealous.

Was that obnoxious enough?

I miss my friends.

Where are my friends?

I want to go to Schlitterbahn. Who wants in?

PLAY OUTSIDE!!!!!!!! PLAY BALL OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!

I've come to a few conclusions:

1. Summer nights in Texas are really nice.
2. Playing with my dog is a lot of fun when it's not 100 million degrees outside.
3. My backyard is really big and really cool and really scary at night. But a cool kind of scary.
4. My dog gave me love bites on my wrist while we were playing and I think they would make really cool scars because they're 3 lines in a row. My mom tends to disagree. Eh.
5. The full moon tonight is super cool.
6. I think I saw the Big Dipper tonight. Or maybe it was the Little Dipper. Either way it was a Dipper.
7. In the mind of my dog, me putting flip-flops on = play outside!!!!! play ball outside!!!!!

It's too darn hot

Last night, as I was watching the Desperate Housewives finale, I received a phone call. Coincidently from a desperate (haha, get it?) Maggie & Joe. I was put on the dreaded speaker phone and asked the question "Annnnna!! Are you in New York?" Which made me sad, thanks, cause I'm not!! My 2 lovely friends needed a place to stay. And then they asked where Avalon was. And I got jealous cause I wanted to wander the city with them and go to Avalon and dance at the place where Britney sang "Toxic" live. Tear. But then I got a text late in the evening from Maggie that indicated to me that they were ok.

Today I successfully drove Downtown (yay for me!) in order to register for Spanish classes at UNAM. I had to take 4 tests to figure out where they should put me. As of now, I'm in a level 4 intensive class. But that could all change if there aren't enough students signed up. At least I have something to do now. But the building is located in Hemisfair Park across from La Villita and only a short walk to the Tower of America. And I guess I never realized how pretty it is down there and I really wish I had a digital camera to show you all. It's really nice.

But it's also TOO DARN HOT!!!!!!!! I went outside with my dog to play for a little bit and the 2 of us almost passed out. 90 Degrees today. I'm not used to this anymore. Makes me lackadaisical.

Hot damn you should have felt the groove

It's official. I'm going.









Annnnnnnnd you're jealous.

Hey Laura! You and Pablo have been assigned to my Envision Team

The Office: San Antonio.

Today I went to my mom's office to help out with some filing and what not. All of the sudden one of the other brokers in the office comes in to tell her that she and my dad have been assigned to her Envision Team. They have to make 10 reports each of something blah blah blah. If you make 10, you get a flatscreen for your computer. The winning team is treated to a steak dinner at the manager's house. It was like something right out of The Office. I started laughing out loud. When the lady left I told my mom why I was laughing and she was like "yea, I remember you telling me about that show. Well, if you work here all summer, be prepared to laugh alot."

Awesome.

Friday, I'm in love.

Ok so only my 3rd night back and I'm already rolling my eyes at the population of San Antonio.

On nights when I have nothing to do but I really want to get out of the house, I go to my precious Borders to listen to music and people watch. And tonight was one of those nights. I went straight for the music section as I always do and as I'm browsing, I spot these 4 (I'm guessing high school/just graduated) girls. Fake Louis Vuitton toting, smug "I think I'm better than you cause I have a fake louis vuitton" girls. I cringed at the sight of them. And they're also those girls who talk really loud and obnoxiously so you notice them. Ewww I cringe some more just thinking about it. And the sad thing is, those girls are all over San Antonio. And I just got here and I still have 3 1/2 months left. *cringe*

In other news, there was a shooting at The Quarry this afternoon, a place that I hang out at quite a bit when I'm here. Sad thing is that's not the first time something like this has happened. In response to this my mom sarcastically said "I'm so glad that you left dangerous New York to come home this summer." My mom's a funny lady.

And I love you so let's watch the flowers grow

"When I first held you
I was cold
A melting snowman
I was told
But there was no-one there to hold
Before I swore that
I would be alone forever more
Wow, look at you now
Flowers in the window
It's such a lovely day
And I'm glad that
You feel the same
'Cause to stand up in the crowd
You are one in a million
And I love you so let's
Watch the flowers grow
There is no reason to feel bad
But there are many seasons
To feel glad, sad, mad
It's just a bunch of feelings
That we have to hold
But I am here to help you
With the load
Wow, look at you now
Flowers in the window
It's such a lovely day
And I'm glad that
You feel the same
'Cause to stand up in the crowd
You are one in a million
And I love you so let's
Watch the flowers grow
So now we're here and
Now is fine
So far away from there
And there is time, time, time
To plant new seeds and
Watch them grow
So there'll be
Flowers in the window when we go
Wow, look at you now
Flowers in the window
It's such a lovely day
And I'm glad that
You feel the same
'Cause to stand up in the crowd
You are one in a million
And I love you so let's
Watch the flowers grow
Wow, look at you now
Flowers in the window
It's such a lovely day
And I'm glad that
You feel the same
'Cause to stand up in the crowd
You are one in a million
And I love you so let's
Watch the flowers grow
Let's watch the flowers grow"
- Travis

So this is my new favorite song and Ian did very good with putting this on the mix he made for me.

Today was very bittersweet. The only real sweet part is that I'm going home tomorrow and I haven't been home since winter break. I miss my family, I miss my dog, I miss my bed.

But the bitter part came with all the goodbyes I had today. And now I feel like Justin C. did last year. Had to say goodbye to people as if I may not see them for a long time. And usually goodbyes are spread out because everyone finishes exams at different times. But I said bye to pretty much all my close friends today. And surprisingly I didn't shed a tear. After my muisc history exam I said bye to Justin, Mike, and Rebecca. And while I do love Mike and Justin, Rebecca was a hard goodbye. She and I have so many connections and little bonds it's ridiculous. And other than Maggie, she really is my only other girl friend at NYU. And while I was at Joe's, she sent me the most awesome text that almost made me cry. So yea I'm gonna miss you girl. But we will stay friends. I really have no doubt about that. Hey, you gotta have someone there with you to roll your eyes at boys.

After I "finished packing" I headed on down to Cliff Street to see Joe, Byron, and Jonah. We watched Independence Day and made oh so much fun of everything. The Spurs dominated over the Sonics. Byron pretty much ate an entire tub of ice cream by himself. And then I had to say bye to people again. I'll miss Joe. He never fails to make me smile. He is the only one who can ever really have my flannel. And then there's Jonah. What can you say about Jonah except he's from Seattle and his poor Sonics are losing. I'll miss his hugs. And seeing movies at Cantor with him. And Byron may come to San Antonio with his dad this summer!!!! Yay!!!

One thing that didn't happen during any of my goodbyes was crying. But then I got back to my dorm and I started talking to Nina and I lost it. And then I started listening to "Flowers In The Window" by Travis and I was ok again. It's such a pretty song. It plays at the end of Saved! and it just makes me happy.

But anyways, the real point of this post was to be my sign-off from New York. You'll be hearing my tales of summer from San Antonio soon enough. So stay tuned kids.

"Hell, I still love you New York" - Ryan Adams

Smilodon's are cool.

After last night, I have a new love of the Discovery Channel and shows like "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" narrated by Stockard Channing.
Saturday May 14, 7pm Central time - Alien Planet
Mom will be excited.

You can't actually eat a theme.

Ladies and gentlemen. I present to you my last week in my favorite city:
5/5 - Cosmos and the Earth final; Say bye to Maggie :( ; Sara's 2 hour O.C. bash!
5/6 - Pack like my life depends on it; Music history paper writing.
5/7 - Do anything that I may have forgotten to do in the city this year; TheHitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with my Cliff Streeters; Party? Try to hook up with my super crush? Who knows...
5/8 - More Music history paper!!!!!!! Continuation of point #1 from 5/7
5/9 - Study for Music history final.
5/10 - Music history final; packing; saying goodbyes. :(
5/11 - Home.

This summer:
I'm taking a black & white darkroom photography class at the Southwest School of Arts & Crafts.
I'm going to try to get a job at AMC. Hopefully SOMEONE will hire me this summer.
I'm going to swim laps at the pool for my workout.
I'm going to eat better.
I'm not going to be white but have a golden tan.
I'm going to fly up to New York and spend a few days lying on the beach in East Hampton soaking up the sun and smelling like sunscreen.
I'm going to be a Southern girl & wear my straw cowboy hat & drive up to Gruene & eat their delicous hamburgers...mmmmmmm.
I'm going to be happy.

And the Spurs are going to win the NBA playoffs.

And now, excerpts from Professor Bishai's Theory 2 end of semester plan as read by Christopher Walken (actually I just think that if you had Chris Walken say anything Bisahi said it would be amusing, but whatever):
*NOTE - the language contained here will probably never make it into a new text book, but is simply meant to supplement and illuminate the more thorough language of your text book. Take for instance, the definition for a theme given immediately below. A theme is not literally a main course of, say, Thanksgiving dinner. You can't actually eat a theme.
*Descending 2nd (circle of 5ths grouped by two chords) - rolling down a hill like a fool
*Ascending 2nd (I'm So Excited) - Dog's mind: "He's going for the leash...?! No. He's going for the leash...?! No. He's going for the leash...?!"
*Ascending 2nd (nothing comes to mind) - one lemon...! two lemons...! three...cherries [raspberry]

I had my Music Theory final today. And I got sad as I handed my paper to Bishai. I'm not going to have him as a teacher anymore, even if I do stay. Tear...he's a funny, insane man. And if anyone can somehow convince him to give us The Dueling Accountant, you will be my BFF.

Daft punk is playing at my house.

I like that song

My goal for last night was to read Moliere's "Tartuffe" and get a start on my Music History paper and do laundry.
Instead, Maggie and I tried to sync up our computers with "Sandstorm." We ended up being a couple of seconds off and proceeded to dance. We were joined by Ian (Lincoln) and started to crack cascarones on each other's heads. Then we were joined by Joe, Byron, Sara, and their friend Joe and we finished off the cascarones. Once Maggie and Ian left, the 5 of hung around and talked (well, Joe, Sara, and Joe talked about Cranford). My craving for tater tots started to grow and everyone agreed to a trip to the infamous Crif Dogs. And by some miracle we were able to get a taxi van.

At Crif Dogs I decided to get both a hot dog and tater tots and the hot dog reminded me why I don't eat those more often. Along Came Polly was playing on the tv there and even though we were all commenting on how bad that movie was, we continued to gawk at the tv until we realized how lame that was. Sophie's came next.

As we walked into Sophie's, I was filled with excitement to discover that the Spurs game was playing on the tv. Manu Ginobili was being interviewed at halftime and I turned to Joe and said "That's the love of my life. His name is Manu Ginobili" to which Joe replied "I bet he has a big DICK!" I love Joe. If I leave, I will come back to the city just to have a dance party with him.

I came home a little tired and really just wanting to collapse in bed when I looked at my floor and saw it covered in confetti. That's the bad thing about cracking cascarones outside of a place like NIOSA. You actually have to clean it yourself.

P.S. When I woke up Saturday morning, my legs were sore. I have never become sore from dancing. But I find this to be an accomplishment. You dance so much, that you hurt the next morning. Awesome.

P.P.S. Spurs won.