Summertime (it's when the living's easy) - Post Collegiate Depression Part 4

So I graduated from college. I decided not to walk. Didn't want to make a big hullabaloo over a little thing like a bachelor's degree. So now that college was done it was time for me to go home. I ended up back at Kahneeta because, well, I needed the money. Life is expensive. The only thing was that it was not where I wanted to be. I wanted to be anywhere but there. I began putting in applications all over the world. Mostly just all over the country, but I put some applications in in Europe too.

All while this was going on I was doing my normal thing and doing what I could to enjoy life. Going to parties, hanging out with the friends. All in all I was really enjoying myself, even if I wasn't where I wanted to be. I just had to figure out where I wanted to be. So at one point my ex-girlfriend gave me a call and invited me to go to a wedding with her. I decided that that would be alright so I agreed to go. I guess later that night she called again, I was blacked out, and I agreed to hang out with her the Thursday before the wedding. Well that didn't happen (how could it, I don't even remember talking to her) and she got upset with me. She gave me one of those calls at like midnight where she refused to speak. Turns out I'm not very patient with people who call me up and then say nothing so I hung up on her. She proceeded to call me about 100 times over the next couple of days. Some people may think that I'm exaggerating, but I'm not; she seriously called me about every 5 minutes for the whole freaking weekend. So in the end I did not go to the wedding with her on Monday. I haven't seen her in years now, but she stills calls every couple of months, usually drunk, to ask if she can stay with me while she's in Portland. I say okay and then she doesn't come and the cycle starts all over again.


Soon after this my friend Cruz decided that he too wanted to move. He'd always wanted to live in Santa Barbara, so I told him I'd take a road trip down to Santa Barbara with him to see if I wanted to move there. Jake decided that he too would go with us on our road trip. So we went down to Santa Barbara on the 4th of July. A lot of fun is what it was. We stayed in a cheap hotel and drank an awful lot. I also met my future roommates and partied it up with them. Ah the beautiful girls of the Milpad. But more on them later.


After the trip was over my life began to get a little bit more complicated. And it all started with a trip to the Warped Tour. Well, it actually started when Jake broke up with his girlfriend Kalei a couple of months before. I'd always had a crush on her, but she was usually dating one of my friends. Makes it a little awkward to make a move. But after they broke up I decided that I would make a move. Unfortunately it was also at the time where I could finally make a move that I decided that I was moving to Santa Barbara. What happened was we got back from Santa Barbara and immediately had to go into work. So Cruz and I put in our notices that day. The next day at work I was lamenting the fact that I was going to have to miss the Warped Tour because it was happening at The Gorge. Well after work we went to a party at Kalei's house and found out that in the morning they were going to the Warped Tour in Portland (I never understood why it was so hit and miss as to whether there would be a Portland show or not, but 2004 was a hit.) So in the morning the road trip began. Jeremiah, Cruz, Jesse (Jeremiah's little brother), and I were in one car with Matt, Aften, Kalei, and I don't remember her name were in the other vehicle. We rocked some music and (due to cellular technology) kept good tabs on our fellow car. We eventually made it to the concert (I don't actually remember what the venue name is, this was before I lived in Portland remember).


While at the concert we were able to do all sorts of things. Cruz and I played ATV Offroad Fury 3 before it ever became available for sale (remember when Playstation was cool?). We also managed to smoke a joint (I had the papers, random guy without a piece had weed, together we had a good time). Flogging Molly were the best performers of the day. Atmosphere's free style was one of the worst I've ever heard, although the rest of the set was pretty good. It was cool to see NOFX too.


After the concert we decided that it'd be cool to stay in Portland for the night and go back to Madras in the morning. We were all trying to think of places to stay when it hit me, my sister lived in Hillsboro. And as an added bous she worked at a hotel (the hotel will come into play later on as well). So I gave her a call and she pulled some strings and said we could stay there at a discount. So after getting lost on the way there (Washington is the wrong way) we finally arrived in the lobby. So we checked in and went to our room. I called one bed and Jeremiah called the other. Kalei said she wanted to sleep with me (not really so much because she liked me but more because Jeremiah had been trying to date and had gotten a little overbearing about it). Next it was time to get some beer and food. So girl whose name I don't remember and I went to the store and got way more beer than we could even drink in a night. Later the other guys went out to get a ridiculous amount of food. After drinking some and gorging ourselves, as well as smoking another joint (while I was on the phone with my sister who asked me as a special favor to not do drugs at the hotel), it was time to go to bed. So we went to sleep. So Kalei and I slept in the spoon position and the only interruption was me rolling over and smacking her in the face. Also early in the morning I woke up and was extremely thirsty. I found a cup with water already in it and took a swig. It tasted awful and so I poured it out, rinsed out the cup, and got myself some proper water. In the morning Kalei was quite distressed by the fact that she couldn't find her contacts. It then dawned on me that I'd drank the saline solution and then poured her contacts down the drain. We checked out and headed back home.


So the rest of the month was a sort of blur of partying and work. Most of the partying happened at Aften's place, but there were various other parties that were memorable. Like Jake's 21st birthday at Cruz's sister's house. Everyone had a good time (except Kalei who was still dealing with getting over Jake and drank until she passed out on a couch, and Mike Meeves who had to be asked to leave for acting like an idiot). Then there was mine and Cruz's going awa party in Jeremiah's shed. I had an awesome time, so awesome in fact that I got drunk enough that I left my wallet somewhere and it was stolen. This was less than a week before I was supposed to move to Santa Barbara and find a job. A very difficult thing to do without a social security card. The night after the going away party (maybe two night's) we attended yet another party. Cruz and I decided that it was a water only affair (summer binges make you dehydrated and it's good to take a night to recover). Just after midnight Kalei asked me if I wanted to go back to Aften's place (where she had her own bed) and I of course accepted her offer. Also after midnight it was my birthday. So happy birthday to me I got with a hot girl just days before moving out of the state. I'd say it was bittersweet. I pretty much tried to spend the rest of my time in Madras hanging out with Kalei, which became awkward only on the night that I met up with Jake and I made a point of not mentioning that Kalei and I had gotten involved.


Then, two days before the end of July (and after a to Corvallis to say goodbye to Stever and Marjorie) Cruz and I set out for Santa Barbara.