I guess a good place to start would be high school graduation. I didn't really think it was that big of a deal cause my parents always told me that I was gonna graduate high school and go to college, so it was kind of a given. But the summer after graduation was the shit. Hella graduation parties, girls being interested in me outta nowhere lol, cruisin with Hector and Steve listening to Recovery or Ring-a-Ling-a-Ling-Ling, etc. etc. But eventually I had to leave Milwaukee which led to:
The Kellie and Jandro Era
SCE was a great way to kick off my college career cause it was here where I became best friends with Jandro, starting dating Kellie and got 9 college credits. Jandro and I never really talked at King so it's weird that we became such good friends afterwards, but I'm glad we did. And Kellie and I went through a lot together --good and bad-- but I was definitely able to learn a lot from and grow from our relationship. Being in a new environment with my 2 best friends by my side made freshman year that much easier. There were so many memorable moments we shared.. Tthe first time I ever got drunk and did pushups on Bascom Hill was with them lol. And one of my favorite moments of all time was when we went to Six Flags. Going to my favorite place in the world with my 2 favorite people was awesome. That's also part of the reason why I haven't been back since cause I know that it'll be hard for me to have a better time than I did that day. Shit was great and I was really happy but everything all kind of ended abruptly. I think it was only a month or two after Kellie and I broke up (for the 2nd time) that Jandro decided he wanted to join the Air Force during our sophomore year. And I was sad af, honestly. They were both huge parts of my life and sources of my happiness, so losing both were really hard for me at first, but I obviously got over it eventually. All good things come an end (a theme for this note), but I'm lucky enough to still keep in contact with both of them cause they're both people who I've shared a lot with and have each had huge impacts on my life...
The Summer of 2010
Soooo many good moments from this summer. Me, Hector and Steve tried to do the gallon challenge and failed miserably lol. Paul had a couple of surprisingly awesome parties at the smallest, jankiest 2-floor apartment I've ever seen. And the best night of all was spent at 2sweet and George Webb's with Scoop Squad and friends. That night was easily the best time I've ever had while sober, and I can honestly remember hoping that it would never end. As with the 1st era, obviously the summer had to come to an end and I had to go back to Madison for school and whatnot but with the end of the summer marked the last time I regularly hung out with pretty much everyone that I kicked it with that summer. It's hard to really say why this happened, but I'm assuming it's because as we all continued to change and grow certain things and people become more/less important to each of us. Regardless, I definitely cherish and miss these moments cause this summer for me began with a failed internship in Boston and I was pretty down when I returned home to Milwaukee. But I miss and appreciate everyone I spent time with because they all helped me to forget about the bad stuff and just enjoy life and look ahead to the future, which takes me to:
The Wilson Street Era
From the summer of 2010 to the summer of 2012 I lived at 348 W. Wilson St. Apt. 2 which included 6 different people, 2 cats, and a hamster. Dorm life is kind of laid out for you. There's meals made for you, there's tons of people to hang out with, and classes are all within walking distance. So moving to an apartment after freshman year was definitely a change for me as I really started to make the transition from a kid to a man. Since I lived there for 2 years there's obviously a bunch of memories. It was here where I became really close with John and Noel to the point where I consider them to be like family to me now. It was here where I watched the Packers win Superbowl XLV. And it was here where I started smoking regularly lol. But easily my favorite memory while living there was Halloween 2010.
The actual night of Halloween was fun (although it could have ended a lot better lol) but the next day, forever known as "the tampon incident", was the best part. Definitely one of the funniest and nastiest things I've ever been a part of lmao. There were tons of good times throughout these 2 years which had a lot to do with the fact that I was living with some of my best friends. Buuuut there were also some not-so-good times, too. Jandro leaving for the Air Force (bad for me, good for him), my bike got stolen, Noel's fooly ass moved out and made things more expensive for everyone and because she moved out we unfortunately had to live with this weird ass dude named Vignesh who was awkward af and never wanted to pay any bills nshit (thanks Noel lol).. And of course, it was here where I met a girl who, outside of my family, has had the biggest impact on my life thus far:
The Allison Era
I'll preface this by saying that I don't regret dating or meeting her, cause at the end of the day it was with her that I learned the most about myself and made the most personal growth, regardless of all the bull shit that happened along the way. Let's take a step back to the summer of 2011. Hector met Allison somehow (at a party, I think) and they immediately hit it off and became friends. Randomly one night they came up to Madison cause she was looking to buy a car up here and they ended up crashing at my place, and the rest is kind of history. We all became really good friends and that summer was probably the best of all. It was almost like deja vu to the summer of '09 cause I had a bunch of fun with my white girlfriend and Puerto Rican best friend by my side, but just with 2 different people lol. The relationship started out great. We had great conversations, great sex, and great chemistry blah blah blah but things really started to go downhill once she moved in with us at Wilson St. from Milwaukee (the winter of '12, I believe). Dating someone is one thing, but living with them is a whole nother animal, man, and I learned that shit first hand. You know how they always say if you surround yourself with good people good things will happen? Well some of the worst moments of my life happened while she was around lol. Once we started living together, the passion that our relationship was based around began to fade like an outro, and the relationship was never as good as it was the summer we first met. But for some reason (stubbornness, maybe-- my dad tells me that I was "pussy whipped" but I like to think that I was blinded by love lol) neither of us were willing to let go and we kept trying to make it work and eventually got our own place at 2422 E. Johnson (summer of 2012). Shit sucked lol. Everything was an argument and all the simplest things were hard. blah blah blah fast forward to December/January-ish and we decided to take "a break" which thankfully turned permanent. After she moved back to Milwaukee in January, we still talked occasionally, but mostly because she owed me money and I wanted to know when I would get it back lol. In June we ended up talking for the first time in a few months and we started hanging out again.
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I'll preface this part of the story by saying there's no way of knowing that things would end as badly as they did lol. Whenever I told people this part they would ask "Why were you even hanging out with her?", which is a good question in hindsight, but there's no way anyone could have seen this coming.—
Alright, so when she first moved to Madison with me at Wilson St. she needed someone to take her place at her Milwaukee apartment and Zack eventually did. So all 3 of us knew her old roommates who were having a going away party that night in June. And the party was great. Zack and I won all 8 games of beer pong we played. There were a lot of attractive females, lots of food, lots of liquor, a pool.. just a bunch of good stuff. But of course, all good things come to an end. At like 2am, she ended up getting into a fight with one of the girls there and we were all told to leave. We eventually got back to her place where she blamed me for the fight and started talkin a whole bunch of bull shit lol to the point where she wanted me to leave. I was apparently moving too slowly for her so she started throwing shoes and cups and glasses and whatever she could find at me. Zack was in the middle just confused as shit lol. blah blah blah we argued and yelled for a good hour and her downstairs neighbor eventually called the cops and I got arrested for trespassing, spent 5 long ass hours in jail,lost my wallet (in her apartment which she presumably stole), lost my left thumb nail, and had to go to court and pay a $100 ticket. And I lost my lovepeaceskeet&cheese hoodie, too, which I'm probably the most upset about today lol.
I haven't seen or heard from her since. I've always heard people use the term "closure" and how important it is to them, but I never really understood it until now. Since our 'friendship' ended so abruptly that Father's Day with a big argument, my arrest, and her owing me a shit ton of money, it still feels like nothing was resolved. I definitely don't want her back or anything like that, but it would've been nice to at least have some closure.. But yeah, that was that. Literally the worst way to end an era lol but it has led to:
My Final Semester
Literally the very next day I had to come back to Madison and start my work for the PEOPLE Program as a summer counselor, which is the most stressful job of outside the POTUS lol. It was here were I met a ton of really cool people (shoutout to the Trinity) and also where it was further reaffirmed to me that I wanted to work with kids somehow. Although it was stressful, I loved every second of it, and the same goes for my job at East. I feel like if teaching doesn't pan out for me that I also wouldn't mind being an advisor or a counselor or principal.. just something where I'd be in a position to have a positive impact in kids' lives and futures. This semester I finally moved out of 2422 and into a new place on 9 N. Baldwin St. which I love cause my bedroom is dope, there's a washer/dryer in the kitchen and there's a bar right next door lol. I also stopped smoking this semester and put in the most effort I ever have school wise. Like I lived at the library lol. My plan was to leave college with my first 4.0 since 6th grade and, while it looks like that probably won't happen, I'm at least leaving with the satisfaction of knowing that I tried as hard as I could have and put my best foot forward.
I've been lucky to even have this opportunity and I definitely don’t plan on wasting it. In these 9 semesters I’ve lived with 12 different people; bought a cat and a hamster; worked at a casino, the chemistry building, I've been a janitor, a tutor for elementary and high school students and worked at Camp Randall and became friends with Ron Dayne lol; was lucky enough to go to one of the 3 Rose Bowl losses; take and learn from a variety of courses; and meet a bunch of new people and hopefully at least some of them will become lifelong friends. My amazing, 4 and a half year college journey is now over, but I can honestly say that the best is still to come
