A Perfect Match

"Love: the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." -Mark Twain

The Weddings

I like to refer to 2012 as the Year of Love.  For some reason this has been the year of many weddings for the people closest to me.  My string of weddings started at Sam and Lauren's wedding I attended last summer in San Diego. Things really revved up in late 2011 when my cousin Rino got married to Jessica, then there was Ricardo and Kate's wedding just weeks ago in early April, Oscar and Clarita's Wedding this April, and Herbert's April Wedding.  Add to that my friend Ita's upcoming wedding in the fall, my brother's upcoming wedding in October and my friend Juan Carlos's recent engagement and it makes sense why I call this the year of love.  To put this in context, I had been to approximately three weddings total over the past ten years before this.

Oscar and Clarita's Wedding

In late April, I attended my friends Oscar and Clarita's wedding in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I was honored to had been asked to be a groomsman. They both live in Austin, but decided to have a destination wedding which made me very happy.   I had been to Puerto Rico a few times in the past, but it had been many years since and there was still a lot I had not taken in. Plus, who doesn't want to go back to Puerto Rico?

My Oscar Story

I met Oscar freshman year at Cornell.  We hit it off right away and it didn't take long for us to figure out we had a lot in common.  He was a Mexican-American from San Antonio, Texas, went to Boys State, loved football, the Spurs, and we both had the same birthday. We were also different in many ways, but we got along great. People actually thought we were related at times. We ended up living in the same dorm freshman year and we had many adventures during our college years.  From trips to Daytona Beach, Miami, to a Spurs game in San Antonio and a trip to Monterrey, Mx to visit his family. I even spent a summer at Cornell where he was kind enough to let me join the meal plan at his fraternity.  Oscar is good person and the quintessential nice and hard working guy.  He was a great student who, unlike me, always put his studies first, and was and is the kind of person without an ounce of malice in his body. It is easy to get along with Oscar, something you will hear many of his friends say.

Freshman Year at Cornell

Post-College

After college, I went out on my own path and didn't keep in that great of contact with a lot of my friends including Oscar.  He moved to Austin to make use of his engineering degree.  About 5 years later when I was a vagrant with a law degree in DC trying to figure out what my next step was, Oscar invited me into his home in Austin to study for my Texas bar exam.  I remember being so impressed with what an adult he had become with a home, stable career, investments and a very cool car.  It meant a lot that he was willing to help me out like that.  My temporary stay eventually became a more permanent one and it was great being able to pick up our friendship where it left off.  I eventually found my own place, but Austin became my new home.

I was quickly impressed with the mad salsa and golf skills Oscar had gained since college.  It even spurred me to take some lessons of my own for salsa, which sadly did not overcome my two left feet and weak sense of rhythm.  Golf I'm still working on.  I'll never forget when he first introduced me to his girlfriend Clarita.  She became a friend of mine in an instant and we got along really great. Clarita also became quick friends with my friend Christina.  As Oscar and Clarita's relationship grew, I could not believe the transformation I witnessed in both of them.  The were perfect complements for one another.   Oscar and Clarita became a formidable force who was always doing something to better themselves as a unit.  I was in awe watching how supportive they were of each other as Clarita was taking on new business ventures and Oscar was doing things like training for triathlons.  They both even influenced my eating habits for the better.  My most pleasant observation was how happy they both seemed around each other and how well they meshed.

I was very happy to hear the news that they had become engaged.  Oscar gave me an interesting primer on diamonds soon after and considering Ricardo and I also talked about that part of the process, I'm happy I know who to ask if I ever needed one. They were very organized in their wedding planning and made sure to get an early start.

The Wedding Shower

Before the wedding, Oscar and Clarita had a Wedding Shower in Austin that I attended with my friend Christina.  We had a good time and even got to meet some nice and interesting people.  Here are my Facebook Photos and Flickr Photos from the event.  The reason I have two links is that I tend to only put a few photos on Facebook and all of them on Flickr, but if you are from the web, you can probably only visit my Flickr photos.

At the Wedding Shower

The Wedding in Puerto Rico

I would have usually taken more time for a trip to Puerto Rico, but I was supposed to have a trial when I got back, so I had to cut it short to a Thursday - Sunday trip.  The trial later got moved, but my tickets were already purchased.   I left on a Thursday morning and the flight wasn't too bad, but I probably shouldn't have stayed up the night before packing and making sure my house was presentable for my sisters and cousins who were coming into Austin that weekend to spend time together.

When I arrived I was picked up from the airport by the mother of an old friend.  I hadn't seen her in many years and it was nice to spend time with her and try some authentic Puerto Rican food.  She was exactly how I remember.  I always appreciate how good some people can be to you.  It made for a good start to my trip.

By the time I arrived in Old San Juan, I had already missed the rehearsal at the Cathedral of San Juan where they were getting married the following day.  I was staying at Hotel El Convento, which was a very nice place where the reception would be held. The guys filled me in on what I had to do as a groomsman and it seemed manageable.  I met a few new friends and worked on learning as many names of friends and family as possible.  By the end of the trip I had most of them down.

That night was the rehearsal dinner at a nice restaurant.  We had our own private room upstairs and an endless supply of wine that seemed to refill the glasses on their own.  The maid of honor/sister of the bride, Sarita, did her toast speech.  It was heartfelt and moving and had most people in tears. It was the emotional insight into their close relationship.   Then the best man Danny, Oscar's best friend since he was little, did his speech and I agreed with every word.  A lot of family members stood up to share a few kind words.  It was so wonderful how much the all accepted each other into their respective families.  Oscar's sister put it best when she declared that they were a perfect match. Oscar even got up and said a few kind words.  I also got to meet the cousin of the bride, Blayre, who is also an attorney in Austin.  It is always fun to meet attorneys.  Then there was a slideshow that Sarita put together for Clarita and Oscar.  It had photos set to music starting from when they were babies until the present day.  It was so good you would think a professional had done it.  My first thought was, wow, I don't even have that many pictures of myself growing up. I felt so privileged to have been a part of the experience.

Clarita and Oscar listening to Sarita's Maid of Honor Speech.

After dinner that night the guys had drinks at this dive bar near the hotel.  It was Oscar, Danny, Chris, Alex and myself.  This is where I got to really meet Chris, who was a friend of Oscar's from San Antonio.  We got along with great. It was nice to be able to hang out with Oscar before his big wedding day and they filled me in on what they had been up to the nights before.  I was introduced to this beer called Medalla, which from what I can tell is a Puerto Rican beer.  It was my light beer of choice that weekend when I wasn't drinking Vodka soda.  I miss my Maker's and coke, but I'm trying hard to stay away from coke so I had to move to whiskey on the rocks.

Danny and Alex chatting at my favorite dive bar.

The following day, on Friday, was the big day and there wasn't much going on until 3pm when the groomsmen had to meet up before the 5pm wedding.  The girls got up early to get their hair and makeup done and Oscar was running around trying to make sure all the last minute items were taken care of.  I decided to take a personal walking tour of Old San Juan.  I walked the streets and found my way to El Morro.  I had been there once before, but this time I feel like I really took in the history.  It was a relaxing afternoon with the perfect breeze and sunshine. People were flying kites and enjoying the day. There is a nice peaceful calm about sightseeing in a foreign place all alone.

When I returned to the hotel, I helped Oscar out with some minor things and even steamed and ironed his suit and shirt while he was getting ready.  It feels good to help out in any way you can.  They had reserved a hotel room for the groomsmen where we had sandwiches and beer and where we finished getting ready in our tuxes.   It was fun and a nice touch.  Oscar's friend Ish was also there and it was fun to hang out with him.

Here I am right before the wedding.

Before we knew it, it was time for the wedding.  The highlight of the trip.  The Cathedral was grand and it had been some time since I had been to a Catholic wedding.  The small flask in my jacket didn't show, but the idea of having it was probably better than being able to drink from it. As a groomsman, I had a great view of the action.  There was a small orchestra playing the walking in music and this just cemented my view that they need to be at every wedding. The groomsmen stood in line next to Oscar at the front of the church. The moment Clarita came walking into the Church in her wedding dress was one I would not forget. The light coming in the back door added to the grandeur of the moment.  Oscar was quite overcome with emotion, a feeling that was contagious and moving.  He pulled himself together as her father brought them together and the mass ceremony began.  We then moved to sit down in the first row of pews and up in front of the church were the bride and groom and the best man and maid of honor.  It was a very nice mass and everything seemed to go so perfectly.  This definitely had all the trappings of a Catholic wedding.  I had met the priest at rehearsal dinner and really liked him.  He did a great job officiating the ceremony and it made me understand why it meant so much to bring him to PR for the wedding.  For some reason I never feel a marriage is official until the bride and groom kiss, though I'm sure there is a marriage certificate that would differ with me.  Once the priest declared that Oscar kissed the bride, they both kissed and then walked out as man and wife having taken their vows and wearing their new wedding rings. It was the type of church wedding I would imagine when I think about church weddings.

This was the same priest that married many other family members in Clarita's family.

After the wedding, it was time for wedding party pictures.  The bride and groom also went through their set of photos with friends and family and more family and then a few more with different variations of family.  I bet they never smiled so much in their life, but that had good reason to on this day.  We then proceeded to the reception for cocktail hour while the bride and groom went off to do more pictures.  I got to visit with many people and even made a few new friends. I also got to visit some some of Oscar's cousins from Mexico Chivis and Claudia. They were both so nice to me and I liked them a lot. It gave the opportunity to practice my Spanish.

After filling up on mojitos,  it was time for the dinner reception.  We all walked in as our names were announced and then came the bride and groom to much applause.  They had even prepared a dance for everyone that was impressive.  There was the usual dinner which tasted great and then time for the toasts, which were of tequila shots instead of champagne which was a nice touch.  Both Sarita and Danny did more than just reprise their speeches from the night before and their words were really touching.  Danny's words about Clarita were really sincere.  Clarita's younger brother Yayo got to do the final cheers as we all took our shots.

The rest of the night involved dancing the night away as the band played some great music.  It was probably the first time I've been to a wedding with a wedding band. I think it is more fun to dance in rented clothes because don't have to worry about keeping them nice and neat.

One of my favorite moments of the night was when the mariachi band came in.  They played some great songs, but then out of nowhere, they pulled out a mic and Clarita started singing as a surprise gift to Oscar.  I knew about her past as an amazing singer (a small part of the list of her many accomplishments), but man was I impressed when she started singing a song to Oscar.  It was remarkable and everyone cheered.  When the song was over and people started chanting, "otra, otra," so she sang another song, unrehearsed and I was even more blown away.  Oscar married a gifted woman with many talents.

There was the traditional bouquet and garter toss toward the end of the night and I did not catch the garter upholding my streak of getting very lucky or maybe just being sure to stand near the back  The wedding cake tasted great and I definitely made good use of the open bar that night.

After the reception, a group of us went out to the bars and had quite the epic night.   At one point we even ran into Puerto Rican celebrity Benicio Del Toro at a local dive bar.  I did not bother him for a photo, but it felt cool to be in the same bar as him.  The night ended right before the sun came up in the hotel hot tub where I was probably more sleepy than inebriated.

During the trip I feel like I got to know Oscar's best friend Danny better.  He is a great guy, was the perfect best man, and we had a lot of fun.  Clarita's sister Sarita brought her friend Chrystal to the wedding and she was quite the character and I enjoyed her company.  I don't think I've ever met a person originally from Wisconsin that was quite like her. She loved salsa dancing.  Sarita I had first met when Oscar and Clarita started dating.  Our first meeting did not go well, as we did not get along at all for reasons I don't even remember.  The next time we hung out we got along well, but it wasn't until the wedding that I felt like I really got to know her.  She was as cool as her sister Clarita had always said.  We had a lot of fun and had some great conversations.  You could see how hard she worked to be a great maid of honor for her sister.  I was happy we all got along so great because things are so much more fun when in the company of good friends.

Saturday morning was a day in which they had fun events planned for us.  We took a shuttle to a brunch at a restaurant over looking the beach which had an amazing view. The food was great too, but the atmosphere was perfect for being on a tropical island.

The groom and groomsmen at brunch.

Then we were off to El Yunque Rainforest on a tour bus.  I had never been before.  I enjoyed the the trip to the Rainforest a lot and was so impressed with the nature, the trees, the mountains and the views.  We even got to see a waterfall. 

When we got back from the Rainforest tour, it was our final night in town, so we all went out for one last dinner with authentic Puertorican food and then went out and had drinks. Since it was a Saturday night, we hit up the main bar strip in Old San Juan.  There were so many people, but I forgot how young the drinking age was there because a lot of them seemed so young.  As the night progressed, we ended up at a salsa bar where I witnessed some impressive salsa dancers.  It is times that like that motivate me to learn to salsa dance.

That is how they roll.

The next morning as Oscar and Clarita headed off for their honeymoon, I flew back to Austin with only memories and pictures.  I ended up being on the same flight as Clarita and Sarita's parents and enjoyed visiting with them.  It was an amazing vacation and a wonderful wedding.  I had such a great time.  I didn't even make it to the beach, or to see the algae that lit up at night, but I didn't care.   I enjoyed myself very much and am so very happy for Oscar and Clarita. The best part was how happy they looked.

Trip Photos

If you want the short version of the photos from my PR trip, check out my Facebook photos and if you want the longer version, here are my more complete Flickr photos.  I look forward to seeing the professional photos and maybe one day the wedding video.

Herbert's wedding

The very same weekend I was in Puerto Rico, my college best friend Herbert got married to his fiance Carolina in California.  I was sad that I missed such an important event, but I was happy that I got to celebrate with him in NYC the month before.  I hope they enjoyed my gift.  I talked to Herbert after the wedding and he gave me an update on how great the wedding went and it sounded like he and my friends who went, Jorge and Juan, had a great time catching up. I wish Herbert and Carolina all the happiness in the world and hope to finally get together with all of the old college gang at Juan Carlos' Wedding next year, which I hope might also be in Puerto Rico.

Well that about does it for me and weddings until my brother's wedding in October.  It is so wonderful to see such great things happening to your close friends and seeing them going through the different important milestones in their lives.  I would not have anticipated this when we were all just kids hanging out as college freshmen.  We have come very far in the decade since.  2012 has been such a happy year and I hope it continues.

passionate

A Lovely Wedding

"This 4th of February will be the mightiest day in the history of our lives, the holiest; the most generous toward us both -- for it makes of two fractional lives a whole; it gives to two purposeless lives a work; doubles the strength of each whereby to perform it; it gives to two questioning natures a reason for living; something to live for; it will give a new gladness to the sunshine, a new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth, a new mystery to life; Livy it will give a new revelation to love, a new depth to sorrow, a new impulse to worship. In that day the scales will fall from our eyes; we shall look upon a new world. Speed it!"

- An excerpt of a letter from Samuel Clemens (better known as Mark Twain) to his wife Olivia Langdon five months before their wedding. Thanks to Mark and Ashley for introducing me to this passage at their wedding.

On April 13, 2012, my best friend Ricardo married a wonderful woman named Kate in Austin, Texas.   It was one of the most beautiful weddings I had ever been to and was truly a testament to the hard work they put into it.  It was a fitting celebration of their relationship, love and commitment.

I was honored to have been selected as Ricardo's best man.  I had never been a best man before and I did not take the privilege lightly.  The wedding was also a big moment for me because I was watching my best friend who I had known since we were little taking what I consider to be the most important step in his life.  The feelings of joy, pride and admiration continue to fill me.


I was lucky enough to have been kept apprise of stories about the trials of some of the planning process, but it wasn't until the big day did I fully recognize the amazing feat that Ricardo and Kate pulled off.  The wedding was absolutely gorgeous, with the outdoor gardens as the backdrop and the perfectly set tables with carefully selected flower arrangements.  It was the perfect tribute to their union.  I was happy to play a small role in helping select the whiskey for the event, and that was an experience in itself that I'll never forgot.  


The wedding was on a Friday in April here in Austin, TX at a very nice sculpture garden. Thursday evening was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner, Friday the wedding, and Saturday, an assortment of enjoyable events the couple planned in Austin for their guests.


I was given the wedding rings during the rehearsal to hold on to.  I felt very important to be able to hold for 24 hours to the symbols of their love that they will wear for the rest of their lives.  Needless to say, I took special care of them.  At the rehearsal dinner I was able to meet Kate's family, who were some of the nicest people I had ever met.  I'm always impressed by very smart, thoughtful and caring people.  I also got to meet Kate's little sister and Maid of Honor Emily.  She was as sweet as described and had an air of gentle kindness about her.  I also got to spend time with Ricardo's family who I hadn't seen in quite some time and who have always been so great to me over the years.  I especially enjoyed seeing how happy they looked to be celebrating their son's marriage.


One of my favorite parts of the wedding was that so many friends I hadn't seen in so many years gathered together for this great occasion.  It was a pleasure catching up on people's stories and great lives.  Kids, careers and love. There was a lot of reminiscing about old times.  I enjoyed my time with friends like Juan, his wife Vanessa, Jerry, his girlfriend Leonor, Carlos, his girlfriend Isis, Brad, his wife Rose, Itamar, his fiance Kelly, Ben, J.R., Sam and Rebecca.  I even got to meet a lot of Ricardo and Kate's friends and co-workers.

My dear friend Christina accompanied me as my date and I was very lucky to have her there celebrating with me.  Even though she had only met some of my friends briefly in the past, she got along so great with them. It is always advisable to have a person that can class you up.

My duties during the wedding were easy, I had to walk up to the alter, stand, smile and hand the rings to the officiant. I did my best to knock it out of the park knowing that I and the Maid of Honor were setting the background for the event unfolding before us.  The string orchestra they had playing was superb and something I think every wedding should have. There was nothing like the moment of the bride coming out and watching the groom set his eyes on his wife to be in her beautiful white dress.  Kate looked stunning and you could really see the joy in Ricardo's eyes and the awe in the audience.  There were two readings which were both poetic and humorous.  Kate's friend has the most enchanting British accent that made her words sound even more profound and Sandy's recital of Ricardo's selection really captured the humor.


The highlight, of course, was when the couple was pronounced man and wife and they shared their first kiss as a married couple before they walked down the aisle together. There was such a great feeling of happiness and joy in the air.

After the ceremony, there was a cocktail hour and reception.  I was a bit nervous because I would be sharing my best man toast/speech, so I tried not to drink too much.  In the end, it ended up going well, but there is always the feeling that you could do better or have said more.  Since the speech captured a lot of my feelings about Ricardo and Kate, I decided I'd share an excerpt here which is a rough estimation of what I tried to say.

[Click’s champagne glass] I hope everyone is having a great evening tonight. For those of you that I haven’t met, my name is Marty and I am the incredibly lucky person who is honored to be Ricardo’s best man. I first want to congratulate the parents of these two wonderful people for having raised such caring, thoughtful and accomplished individuals.

 Kate you look absolutely amazing today.   Ricardo you look sharp as ever my friend. You two look so great together and I hope you remember this moment always.

 I also want to take a second to say thanks to all the friends of the bride and groom that made it out to celebrate. As the old saying goes, “tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.” And judging by the many of you that I know, that statement couldn’t be more true. 

Now my original plan was to just play it by year, but instead I decided to prepare a few quick words. I have been friends with Ricardo since we were in the second grade which Ricardo likes to refer to as his “glory years.” Growing up, Ricardo and I did a lot of things together like defending our lunchtime pington champion status, an elementary game that is basically just badminton with small tennis rackets. It was the beginning of a great team. As we got older, we even once decided to do a magic show in the 6th grade with the tricks we learned from his father. Since Ricardo was the magician, in retrospect I guess my role was more of the lovely assistant who got to point to stuff. The show almost got canceled when we almost burned his house down when we plugged in the “magic radio” into a power outlet making it explode. We have come a long way since then. I could talk to you all about memories at length, from various summer camps away from home, his love for 80s music, our trips to Valley Bowl, the hyadus club lunch meetings or even our one comical attempt at cruising on 10th street. But I would be remiss to not mention high school cross-examination debate.  Ricardo was so talented that our senior year a school even violated its own rules to allow him to be a judge. There was no question Ricardo would become a great lawyer. 

Ricardo, you have been a friend, competitor, mentor and role model my entire life. You taught me important lessons like how to play chess while talking smack, tell an interesting story, but most important about the value of loyalty and friendship.

Now being the best friend of the groom for so long, there may have been a time or two over the years that we talked about women and relationships while drinking. There is one story I’d like to share. One time when we were younger, Ricardo shared with me what he thought was important in relationships. He said, “the ideal couple are NOT two people that need each other to be strong, but instead two independently strong people that are now stronger because they are together.” He was wise even then. But the thing that I really took to heart was when he summed it up what he was looking for by saying, “the most important thing for me is that I find a woman who is lovely.”

 Kate, you are one of the loveliest people I have ever known. From my experience, Kate really understands Ricardo for who he is and when you factor that in with her kindness, her warmth, and her patience, it brings me great joy to know that Ricardo has found the lovely woman he was always looking for. 

Kate, You two really do make a great team. You have definitely found the smart, funny and charming guy. I’m proud of you Ricardo for finding and marrying someone as smart, thoughtful and beautiful as Kate. 

May you never forget that you are each other's greatest gifts. I would now like to propose a toast to Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo and Kate [last name]. [lifts glass] Here’s to their happiness and all of yours. Cheers!

Emily, the Maid of Honor, went up and did her speech after and it was great, heartfelt and funny.  The memorable part for me was when I learned that Kate was a formerly a vegetarian before she met Ricardo.  After the speeches, I felt a lot better, and the rest of the night we just danced the night away with Ricardo and Kate and had a great time.
 
As the night came to a close, everyone lined up and threw flower petals as the bride and groom entered their gateaway car.  It was a fun send off.


Considering the night was still relatively young and we were all dressed up, a group of us headed to the W hotel bar downtown to have a few drinks.  It was a fun night of hanging out, talking about the wedding, sharing old stories and creating new ones.

The next morning there was a brunch cruise on Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake.  It was my first time on Town Lake and I enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere as the Beatles played in the background.  

My friend Sam whose wedding I attended last summer in San Diego stayed with me for the weekend.  It was great getting to spend time with him and catching up.  That Saturday night there was a beer social event at the Gingerman downtown for all the wedding guests.  The beer selection was great and I got to see even more friends that didn't make it to the wedding.  It was a perfect way to end the weekend and a lot of fun. 

I put a lot of my photos on Facebook, but here are more of my photos of the weekend on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyadus/sets/72157629463251444/



It was an amazing weekend I'll never forget. I am very happy for Ricardo and Kate.  There is something about being able to look back on a person's life and see them in your mind's eye as a young kid  and watching through the years what he has done, what he has accomplished and ultimately how he ended up finding the love of his life.   I know this isn't the end of the story, much more like the middle, but it has a storybook feel to it.

absolutely honored

Trivial

"Why is it trivia? People call it trivia because they know nothing and they are embarrassed about it." - Robbie Coltrane 

On Saturday, I attended a bar trivia contest called Geeks Who Drink, well more specifically, Geek Bowl VI.   There were approximately 146 teams consisting of six members a piece competing in eight rounds of trivia while we drank beer. It ended up being a pretty cool high school reunion, where I competed with Rick, Brad, and Ita who went to high school with me. Rick's friend Cindy also joined in the fun.  We kept losing our 6th player and in the end we just decided to compete with 5.  The name of our team was “Quiz in my Pants.” They sat us next to "Quizzed in my Pants."  We were pretty sure that we had no shot, so we decided to enjoy our time and our beer.  It was quite the pageant, which included a dance-off, comedy and the Team America National Anthem "Fuck Yeah."

 Once the competition started, we were actually doing a lot better than we expected. There was a point early on when we really thought we had a shot at the $7000 of prize money. We did really well at the music round and the movie round. I had a great time and think I might actually try bar trivia again considering the good experience. Some of my favorite memories of the night included conversations about wedding cakes and gorillas.  Here is our team below:

This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday and my dad is coming to town to visit and watch the game. I am not sure who to cheer for. Last time the Giants played the Patriots I cheered for the Giants because they were such an underdog. They ended up winning and this year we are once again a huge underdog. I think I'm going to cheer for them again.  No matter who plays, I always enjoy a good Superbowl party.

This weekend I started going through old summer camp photos from when I was a kid and by kid I mean my late Jr. high and early high school years. I met some very remarkable people from other states at these summer nerd camps and I used to keep up with a lot of them by writing letters. This was before the Internet and Facebook so it didn't take long before we drifted apart. I have a handful of friends that I was able to reconnect with later in life either through keeping up, Facebook or running randomly into each other. I always seemed to have a Grease-like summer girlfriend or crushes at these camps that will always hold a special place in my heart. It was probably my first introduction to how impossible long distance relationships could be.

As I went through the pictures, so many memories came back to the surface, and so many people I'd totally forgotten about.  I wonder how they are doing now. It would be great to see how everyone turned out. I don't know most of their last names and it would be a bit weird to contact someone via Facebook 17 years later. I will say, how very lucky I was to be able to attend these summer camps. I learned so many important lessons from being on my own, living in a dorm, forming social relationships with people I just met, and being able to reinvent myself with new people. Also, it was a lot of fun. It was the last time I played capture the flag.

It was also the first time I had left South Texas and found myself in places where people were predominately white. It was probably the first time I felt different yet I was able to form friendships with a diverse group of people. It really reenforced the idea that everyone is the same and should be judged by their character. At one camp called JBA, we would have these dances.  I didn't dance in real life, but I danced my heart out at summer camps.  I remember making them play one of my Spanish songs. --- Taking a step back, Saturday I was listening to music on my computer when "Me Estoy Enamorado" by La Mafia started playing.  It brought on my trip down memory lane. --- So I had them play this song at the dance so that I could slow dance with a girl I liked. I don't remember who I was dancing with, but I remember that it felt great. Anytime I hear Counting Crows, Hootie and Blowfish or Green Day Dookie, it brings back those memories too.

At one camp, we took a day trip to a water park and even until today, it was probably the most fun at a water park I have ever had.  Those camps also got me in the habit of blogging/journaling.  The first time I left, I had a friend from home that I would write letters to each day telling her about everything that was going.  The next year I started writing letters again and decided to just keep the letters as a journal so that I could remember what happened.  From then on out, I started journaling when I want on trips.  I need to find those journals, which I might actually have somewhere in my parent's attic.  As you can tell, at some point during college, that habit became this blog.

good memories

A Good Start

"Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath.  Today, we are a pious and exemplary community.  Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever."  -Mark Twain

Ok, I think I figured out how to network my blog and Facebook.  I did kind of like it in the notes section better, but I guess I'll test this out and see how or if it works.  I know, exciting stuff.

The new year has started well.  We are almost a month in and since I didn't make any resolutions, I'm happy to say that I haven't failed to keep any.  Though, if I were to be honest, had I made any, I probably would have violated each one by now. 

Work has kept me busy and has been particularly interesting. I've also started to take on a lot of small projects around my house that I have been putting off.  I still haven't found a final setup for organizing my computer room/office, but I'm working on it.  I'm still trying to sell off some old items that are just taking up space to clear up some room in my garage. I've spent a lot of time working on organizing my iTunes music library on my computer, but I don't know why since I seem to listen to the radio more than music on my iPhone/iPod.  I ran into a few mix cds I had from college and that inspired to me to put some playlists together and discover some new music. I used to love making mix-tapes (well mix-cds).  It was like you were creating this emotional journey and even listening to them now brings back sometimes great and sometimes sad memories. Austin is the live music capital of the world and I need to be taking advantage of it more.  The first step is to get more up to date on what it out there beyond the Top 40 stuff.

One or my project goals for the first half of the year is to finally get another full sized bed for my guestroom so that friends can have a more comfortable place to stay when they are in Austin. I had one temporarily in there, but my goal is to make it one of those rooms where it looks like a ghost lives there, but that doubles as a great place for someone to feel at home.  I'm starting to really enjoy having my own house, but there always seems to be so much to do.  Also, a reminder to any of my friends, if you are ever in Austin, you have a place to stay.

Now that I have adequately buried the lead, I have great news.  Adding to the 2012 year of love theme, another friend of mine has joined the bandwagon of getting married. One of my best friends from college Herbert is getting married in April in California.  I am ecstatic at the news and have been looking forward to this news for quite some time.  Seriously, 3 weddings in the month of April is a bit much.  When Herbert and I talked about the news, we could not believe that it has now been 10 years since we graduated college.  College! 10 Years! Time really flies, but is great to see how far my friends have come, both professionally and personally.  I'm so very proud of all of them.  I have one more friend from college that I think might pop the question this year as well, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

Life has been very quiet. I feel like I have been on hiatus, but I don't know from what. I have all my travel plans set for Puerto Rico, but that is still some time away.  Wicked has started playing in Austin again, but since I have already seen it, I don't have plans to see it again. I have been itching to see a play or musical.  I had really wanted to see Spring Awakening, but I missed it again when it was in Austin in September, probably because I was distracted.  I saw the preview episode for the new show on NBC called Smash. It looks like it is going to be great.


Because 2011 was somewhat of an emotional roller coaster, right now I think I'm okay with just walking around the park enjoying the sights, hey, maybe I'll even take in a show.  The thing is that you can't walk past Magic Mountain and not want to get in line, so I'm sure it is only a matter of time. It is probably worth it waiting for one you will really enjoy.  I also should focus on keeping away from that food court.  Sometimes it is nice to take the time to stop and remember that it is great to live in a theme park.

Florida