Fuck. I was going through deleting spam I got super fast and I accidentally deleted two comments on the last post. Sorry about that Jeddy and Stern. Hope you guys will still want to be my friend :(

My camera ran out of battery from just sitting there for months. The one with commentary is from Henry’s camera, the last two were from mine when I got just enough battery to shoot a couple minutes of footage. Enjoy!

First off, happy birthday to my little brother Franklin. He turns 17 today. Hope you have a good one, dinner at Cafe 101 with your friends as usual, no doubt? Haha

I ate out alone for the first time today. I don’t think I’ve ever done that. I’ve always thought of it as an anti-social thing. If I didn’t have anyone to eat with, I’d just take it to go. Today, however, I was feeling adventurous. I got out early from my programming class so I trekked over to the Burger King on the northwest side of campus.

The guy behind the register asks, “For here or to go?” I reply, “For here.” I get the tray and I sit at one of the tables. The restaurant is empty. I put my bag down and I spot a Daily Texan someone left. I reach over and open it up. It was probably the best lunch I’ve had in a long time. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had Burger King in one or two months, and it’s my favorite fast food place. They need to build one close to south campus. It was really pensive, just quietly studying the newspaper while I had my two burgers (I was hungry). I think I’ll do that more often when I get a chance. Eating by oneself isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

In much more important news, rank 1 Texas takes on Missouri tomorrow. Hook ‘em. There’s all this balderdash about how there have been four other number 1’s this year and how they were all upset. Well, Texas isn’t like those other weaklings. Especially that USC losing to who was it again? I can’t even remember which team it was they were so obscure. ESPN Game Day has been setting up on the front lawn of the tower for the past three days, that will be exciting to see on the telly tomorrow.

I read somewhere an important fact about self image. The way you see yourself may be different from the way others see you. That makes me think a lot. My friend recently told me I care too much what others think. Upon soul searching, she’s right. All it did was take a couple drinks for me to realize. We’re all social creatures, no? How we appear to others impacts our interactions with others. I like to meet people who are open and friendly on first impression, but I find myself doing the exactly opposite when I meet people sometimes. I’m so hypocritical sometimes, I say I hate these qualities, but I end up showing them occassionally. What was the point of this meaningless string of thoughts? I just want the reader to look deep inside. What do people truly think of you? Is that different from how you feel? I ask myself that sometimes during calculus. Which explains my abysmal score on the last test.

Summer is officially over tomorrow, with the first day of fall classes at the University of Texas. Pat and I moved out of Duren last Tuesday morning. I moved into my new dorm at Moore-Hill on Sunday. These past two days have been hectic as hell, according to an official UT document, with the “masses coming in.” And yeah, campus is alive now. Summer was really mellow, not that many people, but now upperclassmen are here, the fall freshmen are here, people I haven’t seen in years are here.

My last final was calculus on Monday night, August 18th. Pat and I decided to move out the next morning at 8. When I finished my final, we started packing up and we were thinking, “What if we left Austin right now?” It was 10 pm when we got the crazy idea. We finished packing the car around 1:30, and did a final sweep and left Duren around 1:50 am. I was hyped for driving, getting the most out of my official summer break. On the way down the elevator, coming up to the second floor where we lived we saw Gee-Wey! We hadn’t seen him since CYC 05, and a couple reunions after that! It was surreal, 2 am and of all the people coming up the elevator was Gee-Wey! we drove and got to Houston around 4:30 am, Pat ended up getting home around 5 am. The week went by way too fast, just catching up with old friends. I also hit up Westheimer with Jonathan Saturday night before the Sunday I move back to Austin.

The last Saturday night before school started, everyone showed out, but cops were smart about it and swooped in early. They kicked everyone out of the parking lot, and of course we just went to another parking lot but they kept following us. Everyone was at the Burlington Coat Factory on Highway 6, and two cop cars actually blocked off Westheimer so people could get out of the parking lot. People just trying to go home from a night on the town were blocked up. It was funny, video coming soon, as soon as Jonathan figures out how to “rip” the video. Yeah, I purposely used quotation marks there.

I had an engineering meeting for the people who fulfilled the summer contract on Monday, and it was exciting. I looked at my degree plans and wow I am so glad I took summer because I only have to take 14 hours this semester instead of 16. Every semester I will be taking 16, but I’m already a step ahead because I took calc and chem in the summer. In the fall, I’ll be taking intro to aerospace engineering, intro to comp sci for engineering, intro to philosophy, calc II, and physics for engineering. Should be a nice workload. I’ve mulled it over while I was showering in the Moore-Hill community baths, and I’ve decided I really want to work hard in college. I always hear from people that I had so much potential in high school, and I could have been top 10 if I tried. And you know what, these next four years, I’m gonna try.

I’ve seen some people walking around with Cockrell Engineering shirts on, and they look like the top 10 type from Bellaire; where are the ladies? I want to meet people who aren’t just all about studying and know to have some fun. That’s my biggest worry, but everyone who went through the summer contract is totally cool, they all better stay in engineering.

I got my grades from summer, C in chemistry, B in calculus, and A in American studies, that puts my GPA up to 3.0. But American studies doesn’t count towards my engineering degree, if only I had known, I would have taken mythology over the summer. My social studies credit has been fulfilled through the American History AP, I just need to do Texas history before I graduate. I’m optimistic about the fall semester, with 400 people classes, I’m sure there will be someone who can help me with physics. I’m going to have to learn to love physics because I will be taking many more semesters of it.

Today I did an interview with Longhorn Confidential, which is the UT blogging program. They interviewed me about my interests and personal life. Blogging for UT will be a fun experience, but the only down side is that I don’t get to design my own page. We’ll see what the masta can whip up ;). The blogs get to be featured on the front page of the UT website, so I guess that’s kind of special. I just need to be more active around campus, and we’ll see what happens.

It’s been blistering in Austin these past couple days, mixed with rain. I walked a bit today for the interview and to catch lunch with some old friends, I was drenched in sweat. I look out my window and I see a light drizzle. Strange. Good luck with school, everyone!