December 2004

now this year is over.

And I'm glad. I haven't been much of a fan of 2004. I'm not going to make this entry as long as the other end of the year one, but it's going to be informative.

I started off this year coming back to Arizona to go to school in the desert once again. I'd have to say, meeting people that semester was pretty amazing. There were so many people that I've already talked about in my end of the school year entry, that have truly made an impact on me. The summer was pretty uneventful when comparing it to the previous summer, except the road trip that I took was one of the craziest and funnest things I have ever done. And the next semester was so relaxing to the point that I almost forgot about school. I guess talking about 2004 this way makes it seem like it was grand and full of fun, but there was too much commotion to ever remember this year as being one of the best.

This year really was the first time that I found out how crazy some people can be.

And how dishonest and whacked out in the head they can be too. No need to elaborate.

At the start of summer, Nick left town for San Diego. Over the past year or so, we'd been playing music and creating some crazy music that I didn't want to stop making. But it had to be put to an end, or at least a very long hiatus. I spent pretty much half of my last summer with this kid, just jammin' and doing stupid juvenile crimes. Sometime in the near future though, I want to go out there and just jam and record for a few weeks; it really would put a nice seal on chapter that me and him created.

I felt that as the months wore on, I was drifting away from my friends in Phoenix. Especially during the last semester when I didn't come up to Phoenix that many times, I felt that it was getting hard to hang out with some of those folks, or just that I didn't feel like I was wanted as much. I probably didn't keep in touch with them as much as I should have, so that could have been my fault entirely.

In November, Eamon's family moved to Massachusetts, which means that he would not get to come back to Phoenix that often at all. I hung out with this kid all the time last summer in Nick's absence. It really was starting to bother me how much things were changing back at home, and I really didn't feel like I wanted to come back to Phoenix for winter break.

But there was good to be found in this break.

To say it quickly, this break has been an incredible amount of fun. I no longer feel displaced from my old friends (and in fact, I might be even strengthening relationships) and I've come realize that people leave and come all the time. It sucks at first, but it's something that I can move past.

And good to be found this semester.

There have been a select few people this semester that have really made me feel like Tucson is home (even though, I still never want to say that). When I first was on my floor, I didn't even really want to give my floor a chance; I just wanted to hang out with my old floor. But after a while, I ended up liking the foolishness of my floor a lot better. People like Jon and Will, who are always willing (no pun intended) to get food in the middle of the night or go to Phoenix just for pizza, have made the floor just plain rock. Spontaneity is awesome. But then there are some folks on the lower level that make me feel like I've known them forever, like Connor and Amanda. I remember I didn't really know Connor that well (other than the fact that he resembled Jesus), but we both liked this one band, and so we took a road trip together to see them. And since then, the rest has been this semester of idiocy and nonsense. Even after the semester, we kicked it in his hometown of San Manuel and went into an abandoned smelter. And then there's the blonde, water-polo playing girl from the Orange Country, Amanda, who didn't come out of her room until October. But since then, she's been as sociable and entertaining as ever (especially when she has deep thoughts about things--blondes, deep thoughts, they mix kinda funny). This is why I look forward to the next semester. There is much fun to be had.

So, farewell 2004. You've been a pretty big pain in the ass, but with a lot of drugs to ease the pain.

And without further adieu, here's to the new year... the year of 2005.

There aren't many better "feel good" songs than Counting Crows - Mr. Jones.