Day 3: Return to Austin

I forgot to mention a few things. 4 beers and 3 shots of vodka later. Vomiting Mexican food in the toilet. Sleeping on the bathroom floor. Being carried to my bed by K. Refusing to drink water. Yelling out Kerryck's name as loud as I can. Shooing Evan away. Kicking Mai out of mybed.

Fist bumps that turn into snails. Fist bumps that turn into turkeys. High fives that turn into jellyfish.

Doing one last one on Skype for good times sake. Recording the video of them eating hot sauce with no sound because I had my earphones in. The faces, but not the voices on my video phone. Somewhat cinematic with Mai moving her mac around so that I can see the faces of those who are talking.

Missing the heatwave.

Being back in Austin, living out of a backpack, and missing those guys like crazy. I just need to get settled here; need/want things to pick up bad.

Day 80-90 Click click, saddle up, see you on the moon

Wrapped up all my work at Palm on Friday. Said many goodbyes. Didn't say many goodbyes.

Been packing all weekend. Making mixtapes. Crying my little heart out. Cleaning. God, I'll miss this place. And especially the people who I've had the great pleasure of being friends with during my stay here. Mai, Kerryck, Evan, Eric, Geetanjali, Robert, Teddy, etc.

It's definitely easier being left being than it is actually leaving. I could stand to spend another week here -- I can stand to move out here again in the future.

Grounders with the Canucks. Lava Monster. Scattegories in scattegories and winning all the time. Scrabble, Skipbo. Going to G's house and eating lovely Indian food. Picking plums from the trees in the back. Gazing at the stars, looking for the Perseid Meteor Shower. Teddy, with arms crossed, pointing out all of the constellations that he knows. Scorpio, Cassiopeia, the Big and Small Dippers. Looking for shooting stars in the night sky so that we could get our wish. Going to Yosemite, climbing up the rocks to the waterfall. Climbing up 600 steps to get to the top of Vernal Falls. And the thunderstorm at that level was beautiful. We couldn't swim cause the rapids were too fast.

Playing horse with Mai and Kerryck and Eric and always losing. Playing a violent made up basketball game at the elementary school late at night. Kerryck's brother visiting for a week. Getting drunk a few times and sharing a mattress with him at night. Sleepless nights for the rest. Bryce and Kerry Jones. Drunk dialing. Irish poker, Ring of Fire, beer pong.

Never have I ever only when there are girls in the room. When it's a bunch of dudes, it's 5 - drive. Start your car and vroom, vroom, vroom. Vroom or Eek? Irish car bombs (2 of them) and getting so wastedface with Robert, Teddy, Kerryck, and Jeff Mei. I threw up all over my shoes in a park while Jeff poured water on them because he said they were "too pretty" to ruin. Then I washed in the washing machine next morning cause they smelled like vomit.

Being bridal carried ("princess-carried") because I couldn't walk. Slept on the floor with a trash can next to me just in case. Kerryck on the other side. No feelings then. Gayest game of beer pong ever. Lots of gyrating, asking about lists. Sucking at beer pong, but winning my second match. Second Irish car bomb put me over the edge.

Going up to San Francisco to see the fireworks on the 4th of July. Nice ride up on the train in the back car with the bikes. 5 of us there. Cold and jealous. Long walk back to the Caltrain.

The trip to L.A. To the Kodak, Grauman's Theater, Santa Monica Beach/Pier, and Venice Beach.

Terry taking me to her favorite restaurant in SF. And then taking me to the bridge. Her sense of direction is the worse, but it was a nice meander through the city. Driving through the cute town of Sausalito before heading back down and stopping at a little lookout where single men waited patiently in their cars... for something. Or someone.

Many hours playing Killer/Thirteen. And then playing Catte where the winner of the round asks the losers of the round a truth. What's your kill count, who would you fly out to visit, your most embarrassing moment, someone you regret wanting to sleep with, etc.

Soccer games on a Friday night. Hating playing soccer, but ending up scoring a few goals and liking it. Geetanjali and the dinosaur woman we saw. My stomach was hurting from all the laughter.

Very important meetings in Heisman, where we'd listen to music and play board games.

The beach outing I planned. Burying Dustin Picasso in the sand, getting a brilliant half day off work.

Watching Wicked at the Orpheum and dressing up for that. Watching Laura Marling at the Great American Music Hall. Watching Inception twice. The first time with "the twitter guy" was less enjoyable then the second time around.

Meeting someone who was infatuated by me. Wanting to take me out on a date, feeling my leg up, wanting to go to dinner and a spa as well. Turning him down, ignoring him. Catherine, Mai, and Evan all worried about me, sticking around the coffee shop just to make sure everything's okay.

The quietest last weekend of the summer. No partying, everyone just doing there own thing. Eric in San Diego. Kerryck com o pae dele. Evan with Kayla in SF. Very quiet send off. Unlike the ones we did for Jeff Mei, Robert, Ted, and G. It's quiet but it feels very resolute.

I've made mixes for the three and I'm giving it to them.

I take in one last glance at the beautiful hills visible from my balcony. And I think back to those moments when I first saw them. How I couldn't get over them. The landscape all beautiful and stuff. Then I soon realized that Sunnyvale was pretty much the shittiest place in the world. The Burbs - not at all exciting. And then I was lonely and though I went up to the city, it was no fun doing it alone.

And then I met people and I soon realized very quickly that it isn't where you are, but who you're with that makes life enjoyable. Jesus, this is such a sentimental post. I just can't help it though.

I hated them at first. I thought they were annoying and being a cynical little bitch. But then, ending up really enjoying their company a lot. Essentially needing their company now.

I wonder if I'll ever see these people again?

Anyways, though I'm devastated to leave this place. And to leave all of these great people behind, I'm excited to resume life in Texas - in Austin.

Sometimes though, I just wish that I lived closer to them. They're all in the midwest area. Urbana-Champaign, Lansing, Waterloo. And then G's in Berkeley. My Gigi. My penis.

Jesus.

Tomorrow's it. Click click, saddle up, see you on the moon then. I hope I can do another one of these stream of consciousness type recollections. It's just been so damn good here.

Day 77-79: Half Day at Santa Cruz

Quick post. Took an HR-sponsored VP-approved half day to go to Four Mile Beach in Santa Cruz with the other Palm interns. It was such a blast.

But since I'm so tired, I'm not expanding beyond that. I'll try to in tomorrow's post. Night all!

Day 76: Ain't gonna be golden

Me and co-worker Erica checking out the Palm Summer Tour at the HP campus in Palo Alto.

Last week, I had to write a job description for my position to be used to find my replacement once I go back to school. What that means is that they (my dept) see that a position like mine is necessary, right? This is a good thing.

It's so strange. I'm finally getting into the groove of things, but I'll be leaving in 2 weeks. Nine more work days, and I'm done with Palm for the summer.

Today, I was in a foul mood for the first time all summer. I'm not sure why, but I was. Like angry foul. Not sad foul.

Fourteen days... 2 weeks, and I'm back in Texas. I just can't believe it.

Day 62-75: Two Weeks Left

As usual, I'm missing Texas real bad. But I've definitely grown comfortable with the lifestyle here in Silicon Valley. And I've grown quite attached to all the people I've become friends with. I tell them that it's kind of like The Breakfast Club. We all, by sheer luck or coincidence, have been put into the same environment. In the end, we're all friends, though whether or not we will continue to be friends in the future is uncertain. By the end of the summer, people will be moving back to Illinois, Toronto, Texas, and some will remain in the Bay Area. It makes me kind of sad to think about that.

Now on a lighter note, I have been having a lot of fun here. Last Sunday, August 1, I saw Wicked at the Orpheum Theater in SF with Boyce, Teddy, Geets and her boyfriend, Rohan. It was a wonderful production. The sets, the actors, the songs -- all stellar. I finally got to hear those songs everyone in high school used to sing all the damn time.

Kerryck's brother, Bryce, also came last weekend on 7/31. It was his 18th birthday that day, and Mai, Eric, and I took care of him while his brother worked (yes, on a Saturday -- it was absolutely ridiculous). He's a good guy. Though they look nothing alike, they sure do act alike. It's amusing. Anyways, today we sent Bryce off at SFO. It's back to Canada for him.

And yesterday, I went to Yosemite National Park with Geetanjali, her family, Teddy and Shirley, Robert, Quinn and his +2 (Andrew and Laura). Though, I'm not the most outdoorsy person and though it was irritating getting into the park with all of the traffic, I was definitely glad I went. It's a gorgeous place.

We hiked maybe 5 miles total and we went to two waterfalls. One was Vernal Falls. I forget the other's name. There wasn't a lot of water flow since it's the end of the summer, but I hear it's really great in the spring time. In order to get up to Vernal Falls, we had to climb up 600 steps. It was tough! But the top was definitely worth it. There was a thunderstorm and I saw rain in Calif. for the first time since coming out here. It was so refreshing.

Just to wrap this up: I love Geetanjali's family and family friends. They fed us lunch and dinner. By the end of the day, I called her mom and one of the other women "Auntie." Man, could they not contain themselves. I'm just so charming!