as per usual, summer came and went in such a flurry i can barely remember what happened. a new living situation with new roommates. a trip to miami for the birthday weekend. a couple tori shows. some heartache. some fun times. some drinking...probably a lot of drinking. new hours at work. i feel like i'm still learning a lot, developing month by month, sometimes day by day. the end of summer and the onset of the fall months and i have noticed myself becoming slightly more rational, ever so slightly more clear-headed, and slightly inclined to actively continue developing and advancing the intellectual parts of my brain. i want to also continue learning more from conversation, something i think has come about recently, an active and productive way of having conversations that both entertains and educates.

the first tangible signs of the change in season and the rotation around the sun was felt early this week when the clouds were all gone from the sky and the permeating feeling of humidity could no longer be felt. i remember first noticing it on monday, on kenny's twentieth birthday, as we went to one of the favorite spots to go to anytime but especially on gorgeous days, cafe gardens. the temperature had barely dropped but the change from summer to fall was there. it's exciting for seasons to change, for the sun to move out of one seasonal cluster of constellations and into the next, to remember that our life is a pattern that changes and evolves consistently, constantly. the past two days were the first temperature sign of the change. everyone seems to be in good spirits. i forget what one side of the sun feels like as it compares to the other, completely forgot the months of sweaters over short shorts, firepits over swimming pools, and the comfort of a warm bed over the mild distress of a moist soggy one.

i know gainesville's a tricky one and this tangible change should only last until tomorrow, but soon enough the change will be fully here (at least as fully as it can be in northern florida) and the weeks will be filled with cool sunny days and chilly dry nights. sometimes music sounds that much better with the onset of these months. i claim i'm more of a summer person--and i am insofar as i will take hot and sweat over bitter cold and 40 degrees any day of the year--but i like the overall feeling of comfort, contentedness, and agreeableness that seems to come with the arrival of the cooler fall/winter months.

am i feeling stagnant or comfortable or intentional?

August means going on year six of living in Gainesville, Florida.

Am I stuck with no where to go? Have I developed a life that is too easy and just fulfilling enough? Or do I want to be here because it's the place I need to be and the time I need to be there?

yesterday was so hot like a hot southern day where you picture people sitting on porches in rocking chairs just barely rocking back and forth and savoring any tiny bit of breeze that comes their way. I stood leaning against a pole at Common Grounds next to Coral for abut 15 minutes. When I walked inside my back was soaked and I was dripping droplets of sweat from my forehead as if I just got back from a 30 minute run with Mo. I don't love it but I have a unique appreciation for this type of summer heat.

definitely recommend checking out this blog: Catch Us If You Can

I met these two cool girls in Key West when I went down with my coworkers in March. I did some couchsurfing.com research before the trip to try to meet some cool-seemin' locals. found one of their profile sites, sent a message and she agreed to meet up. i was able to hook her and her roommate/travelbuddy up with a free jet ski tour from the company i work for and we met up again later that night, totally hit it off like old friends. Like when we met up again the 2nd or 3rd day it didn't feel like two girls i had just met, it felt like two girls i'd known for a long time and was visiting on the island.

anyway, they were down in key west spending a few months sleeping at kelly's mother's house, sharing a bed, living rent free and saving every dime they could to go on this 12+ month trip over to UK through asia and into Melbourne. Their journey just started a month ago in mid May and they are currently just out of Turkey. Their blog is pretty damn awesome, great stories, great pictures.

they were all they had been talked up to be, the biscuits at the Original Pizza Place

mosephine recounts our atlanta trip via cell phone pictures.

love sleeping next to kenny, flat out. summer nights, fan whizzing away blowing cool air our way, music coming out muffled from laptop speakers, what would summer be like if i didn't have to come to work every day? overwhelmingly lazy i'd imagine. it was so hot last night so josh unbuttoned his plaid shirt and insisted on us all going to the pool. i didn't particularly care to go to the pool on a sober tuesday night and it was getting late anyway but i can be easily persuaded by josh and kenny and why not go hang out in a pool with them instead of on a front porch. grabbed our second $3.20 bottle of red wine and rode our bikes out to the courtyards pool. relaxing and refreshing. was feelin good.

now i'm sipping on my morning coffee. no matter how many hours of sleep i get the night before i feel i am always craving the coffee in the morning at work. i wait til the last possible minute i can wake up every morning, even tho i set my alarm to give me 45 minutes of wake-up time at home. never happens. never want to get out of bed esp if i got my favorite boy sleeping right next to me.

somehow i find myself the brokest i've been since last summer. don't feel bad about it but semi confused. then again, a trip to new orleans followed by a trip to atlanta and all these new and old vinyl don't come at no cost. do not regret any of it of course but i do hope i can make an extended summer trip develop sometime soon. talking to vera about it, got chicago on the radar, renting a car for long distance ground travel, got maybe a tori show or two on the radar though i might have to end up passing up on a few of those for the sake of a cheaper trip. we shall see. being broke always has an edge of excitement to it. plus it's easy to choose which type of beer to buy at the store

lovelorn is my word of the week. not that i'm feeling particularly lovelorn just a slight bit but it's a particularly useful word i feel.

current favorite thing to eat in the morning: publix brand Raisin, Date, and Walnut instant oatmeal.