Like Waiting For Christmas

As the time I find out whether or not I get into the Spain graduate program gets closer and closer (currently 2 days, 16 hours, 54 minutes and 50 seconds and counting...) I'm starting to really feel the gravity of the situation. It's really fully sinking in.

And it's like waiting for freaking Christmas to get here. Uggggghhhhh.

Friday, Friday, Friday. Holy crap, I'm so ready for the day to get here! This day is going to determine my entire future and I'm just ready to know, plain and simple. If I get in, then I'll be moving to Spain and starting a crazy amazing adventure. If I don't get in, then the job hunt will be on and God only knows what paths will open up for me. Where will I end up? Dallas? Boston? Chicago? OKC? Who knows?! Either way, I'm finally going to know (or at least have a bit more of a general idea) what my life is going to be like.

I've been waiting for months for this day to finally come and now that it's here, I'm so damn anxious. 

Can I add another week of vacation?

Seriously folks, I could use a whole extra week of spring break. Not to be all cliché and use tired old phrases, but I could use a vacation to rest from my vacation. Spring Break 2009 ended up being quite the whirlwind tour of the southeastern US. All in all it was an AMAZING time, but man it's hard on your body to go, go, go 24/7 for a week and a half.

Anyway, I can't really do this trip justice just by blabbing on and on with the risk of getting slightly boring. It was way too awesome and I want to toss a few pictures up here to show it rather than just talk about it.

For the first leg of the trip, we had planned on leaving OKC by 2 so that we would get into Memphis, TN by around midnight. However, the best laid plans often fail, especially when it comes to gathering 15 foreigners at a specific time (just as a side note, we started calling ourselves the "United Nations". In addition to having a few Americans, we had people from Spain, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Germany, and Peru. Let's just say I got lots of spanish practice.) So we ended up finally packing up our 4 rental cars and leaving at 7:30. Which meant we got to Memphis at around 4:30 in the morning.

After getting an all-too-short night's sleep, we got up the next day and headed to see the sights of Memphis. 

First item on the agenda was to hit up Beall Street, which is Memphis' big street of music clubs, restaurants, and bars. So here is a group shot of all of us right after having a HUGE meal of delicious bbq. We also were lucky enough to finish dinner right around the time a big St. Patrick's Day parade took place.

And of course, you can't take a trip to Memphis without checking out the home of the King of Rock and Roll. Here Kayla and I are posing in front of the Graceland sign. I can't lie, I've never been a huge Elvis fan, so it wasn't the most exciting part of the trip for me. But it was still cool to see.

The next leg of our trip was a stop in Montgomery, AL. Once again, we pulled into town nice and late, and after driving through non-stop rain, we were ready to hit the sack. But the next day we checked out the very few sights of Montgomery, most of which revolved around Martin Luther King, Jr. and Civil Rights history. Here is the group posed in front of something to do with the capital. It was right across the street from Martin Luther King's church.

And of course, the next stop was the main part of the trip, Panama City Beach, FL. AKA the sight of MTV's Spring Break Beach. So not only was it an amazing beach, but we also were lucky enough to get to see the All American Rejects and Flo Rida in concert completely for free. You can see the big concert stage behind us in this one.

One sad part of this amazing beach is that there were drunk people EVERYWHERE. Which means there were discarded beer cans and bottles all over the beach (which I found out later would be very painful if stepped on). Here is our group on the beach and you can kind of see the litter all over the place.

And then here is a picture just of the guys. Most of the guys I knew really well before the trip, but there were a few that were just acquaintances beforehand. I honestly can't imagine a cooler group of guys to hang out with for 9 days.

The last day was the best day of all with a completely cloudless sky, which made for amazingly blue water and perfect white, sandy beaches. In this picture is Jorge and Gloria from Spain, Kayla who is applying to the same Spain grad program I am, Fiorella from Peru, and me. The five of us spent a ton of quality time together over this trip because we all shared one of the rental cars. What a fun group of people.

The next stop of the trip was New Orleans, which we didn't arrive in until around 1:30 am, in true group fashion. I can't lie, it was kind of a scary city in the early morning hours. But as soon as the sun came up, the city was just as great as all the others we had seen. Here we are early the next morning eating beignets, which are pretty typical NOLA food. They're a french fried doughnut kind of thing and they're pretty similar to funnel cakes.

Of course, New Orleans wasn't without it quirks, as expected. These little painted signs were all over the city, among several other odd things. We never did find the "real" blood.

And then we stumbled upon this big free meal that a church was putting on in honor of St. Joseph's Day. It was cool because we got to try a few other New Orleans' dishes, completely for free this time. And free is always nice, especially when you've been paying for meals for 8 days. This is the group of us sitting on the church lawn enjoying the food.

Next stop: San Antonio, TX. The original plan had included a stop over night in Houston as we wouldn't get there until around 1 or 2 in the morning. But we decided last minute to continue on to San Antonio and didn't get there until 4:30. So typical of us.

But San Antonio is always good for a nice, calm time and we enjoyed ourselves on the Riverwalk and the Alamo. Here we are on the Riverwalk about to take in some fantastic Mexican food.

Last stop: Austin, TX. The original plan was to spend one last night in the Texas state capital, but we were all tired and couldn't imagine spending another night out, so we just made a quick jaunt through. Here we are in one of the University of Texas' bookstores showing our true Sooner spirit.

Of course, Kayla and I weren't satisfied with just holding a few shirts upside down and throwing the Un-Hookem' Horns sign. So we proceeded to walk around the entire store and turn every single removable sign upside-down. And here we are in the aftermath.

Sure, I'll be the first to admit that it sucked for the guy who was working that day. But no one could possibly expect us to sit idly by and do nothing to our arch-enemies. Right?

We were lucky again as we got into Austin just in time to experience South By Southwest, a giant music festival held every year in town at this time. It was really cool to see the crowds that came into town for it, as it fit right in with everyone's mental image of weird Austin. 

So anyway, just like always, we didn't end up leaving Austin until around 11:30 at night, which made for a LONG drive home ending with us pulling into Norman at around 5:30 in the morning. And Jordan was a sleepy boy. And Jordan still hasn't fully recovered.

Anyway, I know this post is getting ridiculously long and I've probably lost you by this point. But all in all it was an amazing trip with an amazing group of people and I can't possibly think of any better way to spend my last spring break.

So Much Good

You know, I would consider myself to be a very contemplative person. I often find myself in my own little world thinking through things and really mulling them over. (Mulling? Who actually uses that word anymore?) And I know that often comes out on this blog, too, as so many of my posts are reflections about the life I lead and turning relatively small situations into huge, mountainous problems. 

And I try not to. Honestly, I do. But I'm nothing if not dramatic.

Anyway, I find myself more and more lately in absolute awe of just how much good there is in my life and in the world in general. Sure, things aren't perfect and they never will be. But I find myself being more and more okay with that.

Here are a few of the good things that I'm currently happy with:

• The HUGE stack of books that I am currently enjoying the crap out of. Seriously, I have some good taste in books.
• The HUGE road trip that I am leaving for in less than 24 hours! Yay! I'm going with about 15 other people, mostly international students (I know, so typical), and we're going to spend a night in Memphis, a night somewhere in Alabama, 3 nights in Panama City, Florida, one in New Orleans, one in San Antonio, and one in Austin. This vacation is probably going to wear me out more than it will relax me, but it is going to be so worth it. A whole week driving across the country with some of the best friends a guy could ask for? Yes, please.
• The fact that I got an email from the University of Alcalá (the school in Spain where I'm applying for grad school) today saying they had received my application and everything looked fine. Sure, it's no acceptance letter, but at least I know I've done everything possible on my side to get everything in on time. It's out of my hands, but surprisingly, I'm not all that stressed out about it. Weird, right?
• The fact that even if I don't get in, I have a college degree that I know will open up doors for me somewhere out there. Will I get a dream job right off the bat? Eh, probably not. But it's exciting to think that I will be starting my life one way or another.
• The fact that my favorite drag queen is in the top 3 on RuPaul's Drag Race. :) Now before you judge, take the time to watch an episode. Sure, it's a mess of a tv show, but it's incredibly entertaining. I'll take it over mainstream reality tv any day.

Anyway, that's really all I've got for now. I guess I'm just in a really good mood lately and I wanted to pass that off to you lovely folks.

Hope all is just as well in your world! And if not, give me a call, I'll try to persuade you in person!

You know you're getting old

....when you get excited about a new pair of slacks. And sadly, I've reached that point in life. Not sure how I feel about that. :/

But seriously, I went with my mom this weekend shopping down at some outlets in old Téjas and got some new stuff. A few new things for work including slacks, shirts, and a tie. And I legitimately want to show them off to people. Didn't I only used to get excited like this about toys and crap like that? When did I get this damn old?

Another sign of these troubled times is that I'm also just as excited about this huge stack of books I am currently working my way through.

They cover a pretty wide range of genres, but they're all books I've either been recommended lately or ones I've glanced at on my lunch break and decided I couldn't live without. So far I've finished The Stupidest Angel, which is one of my new Christopher Moore books, and I'm almost finished with Everything Changes. The Stupidest Angel was really good and it fit right in with Christopher Moore's kind of dirty humor, which is perfect for me. And Everything Changes has been an amazing book as well. Pretty sure the next one I start is going to be Flowers for Algernon, just because it looks like a good one.

Aaaaaannnnnd man this post is boring. My bad guys.

I really wish there was something exciting to talk about. My life is just not exciting in any way, shape, or form these days. Work sucks, but I don't want to keep complaining about that because I know it's about as fun to hear about as it is to go to. I've definitely played that topic out.

However, I did find out that I will know for sure on April 3rd whether or not I got into the Spain program. Which will be nice, because I'm sick of all this uncertainty. It's really getting old. I also know that I am going on a road trip next week for Spring Break, which will be fun in it's own right. Probably more of a stressful trip than I would like because it's going to take a LOT of coordinating. But at least it's a trip away for awhile. Which will be nice.

Oh. My. Gosh. I'm boring myself.

That's it. I'm done. I'll only be back when I have something entertaining to talk about. Which could be awhile.

P.S. I'm kind of thinking about starting a video blog type thing through youtube rather than posting on this. Seems like I could maybe be a tad bit more personal that way. Yet I also don't want to be one of those weird vloggers. Thoughts?

The good times never end

I actually have a ton of great stuff to talk about, but in between coming down with strep throat and trying to get my Spain grad school application off, I haven't exactly had time to sit down and type out all of my thoughts.

But no matter, because my first bit of good news is that my Spain grad school application is officially off to Madrid as we speak! I can't even describe how good it felt to finish that thing and get it sent off. It's been a HUGE monkey on my back for so long now and I've been dreading the deadline for awhile because I knew I would put most of it off until the last second. Which I totally did.

But it's done. And now it's out of my hands. So say an extra prayer or two for me guys, I'm really hoping for this! (if I don't get it, it won't be the end of the world, but this is just the top choice at the moment)

Now on to more fun things. First of all, this last weekend was freaking amazing. For real.

Friday night there was a 90s themed party that a bunch of us went to...and the costumes were awesome. My friend Kayla and I decided to channel early 90s Nickelodeon and dress up like the Blue Barracudas from Legends of the Hidden Temple. And what better way to show you how awesome it was than by tossing a picture up here for you guys? So here you go!

I think we pulled it off pretty well, especially for making our entire costume. And we totally would have kicked ass on Legends of the Hidden Temple.

And as you can see by this picture, we definitely kept the teamwork going throughout the entire night. Hey, if we put that much work into it, we were going to enjoy ourselves.

And here you can see Kayla with some of the other girls that were there. From left to right it's Susana, Gloria, Kayla, and Paz. All of these girls are from Valencia in Spain and they're all hoping that Kayla and I both get accepted into the Spain program.

Saturday night was Colombia Night on campus which included a big cultural show, a nice dinner, and a party afterwards, similar to a Panam party. Or exactly like a Panam party. But anyway,  here are me and some of the guys about to head out to the after party. From L to R, it's Nathan, Dini, me and Marc.

And then here is a huge group of us at the actual party. We all had a great time and it was easily one of my favorite nights lately.

Well, as much as I would love to continue chatting about life in general, I'm supposed to be playing Rock Band over at Erin's right now, so I'm going to head out. But expect a lot more posting now that the application is done! Woo hoo!