I just purchased my plane ticket from Washington, DC to LAX, and from Los Angeles, I fly back into Manila, the Pearl of the Orient. Sitting on the deck, iced coffee melting from the Virginia heat, cigarette in hand, a wave of nostalgia swept over me. There are so many things I'm going to miss about the "Land of the Free":
* The Four Seasons
Winter - the snow; the moment after walking through the bitter cold, then you walk into a building and are blanketed by warmth, warm, warm ,warmth everywhere - that exact moment; sitting inside - reading, writing, art-ing, or listening to Billie Holiday with a cup of coffee - and just watching the snow fall; diving into five-foot snowbanks.
Spring - who wears short shorts? Flowers everywhere. The green green grass, bonfires on Minor field, the general uplifted feeling of a campus waking up from the sleepiness of a long winter, oh and watching the bros flex on the quads.
Summer - being thankful that it's not snowing and you can sit outside and read or just chill; BBQ's; tanning while walking? - yes please.
Fall - the season with the best colors; and best wardrobe - warm enough for skimp, cool enough for boots.
* Hamilton Haunts
The Howard Diner, the smoker's table outside of Opus 1, the 24-hour room in Burke, List Painting Studio
* Freshmen
So impressionable, jailbait. Freshmen of note - Sarah Song, Dani Brockmann, Leigh Pomeranz, and of course: James Keefe, Eli Bunzel, Pat Kennedy, Luke Walsh and Michael Breslin. Thank you all for reminding me of how it is to be young. I would have loved to see each of you grow into yourselves. One day we will meet again, and we will talk and laugh about the good old days.
* The Buffers: Past and Present Bo's
My Hamilton brotherhood. Initiations, New-Bos, concerts, rehearsals, Cotillion, Buffergrams. Chilling with and outshining the other a capella groups =) .
It will take me a while to thank each of you individually for how you have affected my life. So I will just mention a few things that are freshest in my mind that i will miss. Being silly with Zak, my wonder-twin - watching RuPaul's drag race on Muffy, the futon. Picking on the new-bo's lovingly. Coming home to a room of people I love.
One thing I will not miss - coming home to a room of people I love and not being able to get in because the door's locked - Carl...
And the music, man, the music.
I'll really miss you guys.
* Jenny Pistrang, Kate Staykova and all the wonderful people I've been fortunate enough to meet
Among them, Katherine Kuharic, Preetha, Cody Thornton, Caitlin O'Dowd, Erin Hoener, Kate Northway, Ann Horwitz, Nate Fedrizzi. I can write volumes on the wonderful qualities of each of them, but this list is already too long. I love each of you dearly.
* My non Hamilton haunts
NYC- as a city, must I really explain myself? Joanne's apartment, Ate Che's apartment, Ria and John, James and Dave.
Aaron and Alex's Big Gay apartment in DC.
Tita Susan's home in Virginia, which is where I'm at now.
It's funny, there are people who I'm not particularly close to that I know I will remember, if not forever, then for a very long time. Even if I haven't spent the same amount of time with these people as I have with other people on this list, I automatically felt a connection with them, which I hope is mutual. I felt at once, comfortable and at ease. And these people do hold a special place in my heart. Sakhile Matlhare, Matt Breen, Alex Americanos, Alex Benkhart, Amma Owusu, Eugene Nahm to name a few.
I'm sure that when I least expect it, nostalgia will hit and I will find myself reminiscing about any combination of these. I know there are more things I will find myself missing that are not on this list, when that happens, maybe I'll let you know.
Don't get me wrong, there are a countless number of people and things waiting for me in Manila. My family, first of all, my beautiful friends - Crystal, the SoJos, my badminton peeps; my dog Bailey and the other superpets. But it's downright foolish not to look back on the places you've been and the people you've met. These are the things that make you who you are.
In the words of Janet Jackson: "You don't know what you got til it's gone." So don't take anything for granted, and live everyday to the fullest. Life is not only short, it's full of twists so you really don't know where you'll end up tomorrow. But know this, each day you wake up, you're alive - and you get another day at least to keep on keeping on.
* The Four Seasons
Winter - the snow; the moment after walking through the bitter cold, then you walk into a building and are blanketed by warmth, warm, warm ,warmth everywhere - that exact moment; sitting inside - reading, writing, art-ing, or listening to Billie Holiday with a cup of coffee - and just watching the snow fall; diving into five-foot snowbanks.
Spring - who wears short shorts? Flowers everywhere. The green green grass, bonfires on Minor field, the general uplifted feeling of a campus waking up from the sleepiness of a long winter, oh and watching the bros flex on the quads.
Summer - being thankful that it's not snowing and you can sit outside and read or just chill; BBQ's; tanning while walking? - yes please.
Fall - the season with the best colors; and best wardrobe - warm enough for skimp, cool enough for boots.
* Hamilton Haunts
The Howard Diner, the smoker's table outside of Opus 1, the 24-hour room in Burke, List Painting Studio
* Freshmen
So impressionable, jailbait. Freshmen of note - Sarah Song, Dani Brockmann, Leigh Pomeranz, and of course: James Keefe, Eli Bunzel, Pat Kennedy, Luke Walsh and Michael Breslin. Thank you all for reminding me of how it is to be young. I would have loved to see each of you grow into yourselves. One day we will meet again, and we will talk and laugh about the good old days.
* The Buffers: Past and Present Bo's
My Hamilton brotherhood. Initiations, New-Bos, concerts, rehearsals, Cotillion, Buffergrams. Chilling with and outshining the other a capella groups =) .
It will take me a while to thank each of you individually for how you have affected my life. So I will just mention a few things that are freshest in my mind that i will miss. Being silly with Zak, my wonder-twin - watching RuPaul's drag race on Muffy, the futon. Picking on the new-bo's lovingly. Coming home to a room of people I love.
One thing I will not miss - coming home to a room of people I love and not being able to get in because the door's locked - Carl...
And the music, man, the music.
I'll really miss you guys.
* Jenny Pistrang, Kate Staykova and all the wonderful people I've been fortunate enough to meet
Among them, Katherine Kuharic, Preetha, Cody Thornton, Caitlin O'Dowd, Erin Hoener, Kate Northway, Ann Horwitz, Nate Fedrizzi. I can write volumes on the wonderful qualities of each of them, but this list is already too long. I love each of you dearly.
* My non Hamilton haunts
NYC- as a city, must I really explain myself? Joanne's apartment, Ate Che's apartment, Ria and John, James and Dave.
Aaron and Alex's Big Gay apartment in DC.
Tita Susan's home in Virginia, which is where I'm at now.
It's funny, there are people who I'm not particularly close to that I know I will remember, if not forever, then for a very long time. Even if I haven't spent the same amount of time with these people as I have with other people on this list, I automatically felt a connection with them, which I hope is mutual. I felt at once, comfortable and at ease. And these people do hold a special place in my heart. Sakhile Matlhare, Matt Breen, Alex Americanos, Alex Benkhart, Amma Owusu, Eugene Nahm to name a few.
I'm sure that when I least expect it, nostalgia will hit and I will find myself reminiscing about any combination of these. I know there are more things I will find myself missing that are not on this list, when that happens, maybe I'll let you know.
Don't get me wrong, there are a countless number of people and things waiting for me in Manila. My family, first of all, my beautiful friends - Crystal, the SoJos, my badminton peeps; my dog Bailey and the other superpets. But it's downright foolish not to look back on the places you've been and the people you've met. These are the things that make you who you are.
In the words of Janet Jackson: "You don't know what you got til it's gone." So don't take anything for granted, and live everyday to the fullest. Life is not only short, it's full of twists so you really don't know where you'll end up tomorrow. But know this, each day you wake up, you're alive - and you get another day at least to keep on keeping on.
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