From Low to High (With a Dramatic OC Sing-a-long Ending)

I'm home and sitting in my bed.

I left Taylor around 7:15pm earlier today (Friday, May 16th). I had just eaten dinner with a few friends and hugged goodbye. Driving away, I was hit with the change that college brings. Many of my close friends are graduating. DC dinners and sleepy chapels will be replaced with weddings and once-a-year reunions. I look forward to my last action-packed year but the end is clearly in sight and I wonder why I have to leave. If it was natural, I would stay in college for many years more.

I fill my driving time with NPR's This American Life podcast. Ira Glass is the host of this weekly radio show in which they elegantly tell stories (of normal American people). The show gets pegged as uppity, hipster fodder at times (probably for good reason) but I love it. It fills my "more refined" media intake slot perfectly. As I was taking the Brighton exit on my little trip home, Ira Glass told a story of how he loves to watch The OC with his wife and every time they watch it, they sing along to the California intro song. Coincidentally, this episode was a taping of a live show in which they featured the band, Mates of State. Mates of State (who just so happens to have a cover of the song on one of the later OC soundtracks) started playing the song and the whole audience sang along to California. In this beautiful mixture of high and low art (or however you want to label those), I was first reminded of one of the major reasons I love summer, media. I love reading books. I love journaling. I love watching television series and movies. I love writing about it. My goal is to be proactive about that whole process. The song also made me realize the summer was going to be good (how that connection came, I have no idea). That I can relax. That I can see friends here. That I can prepare for the next year. And that next year was going to be really good.

I'm happy to be where I'm at and I'm happy to rest for a little while. Here's to a good summer.