Spaghettios for Breakfast

After a few hours of sleep I found myself awake again, cleaning and condensing my dorm room for move-out. My stomach grumbled and I realized I’d have to walk down to a restaurant if I wanted breakfast. I got resourceful, though, and remembered a can of Spaghettios that my friend Lizz gave me when she moved out.

“Do you want these?” she asked. “I don’t want to bring home anything more than I have to.”

I’d wisely taken the Spaghettios, and that’s how I found myself munching on the contents of a room temperature can of Spaghettios at nine o’clock in the morning, surrounded by the rubble of my torn-apart room.

I think it’s just now occurring to me that my junior year of college is over. I’m a senior in college now. Isn’t that weird? It went so unbelievably fast.

Peace and Quiet

My dear friend Josh K. and I sat in his room for a few minutes at the end of the night and talked about the end of the year. We'd moved a few loads of stuff to our new rooms in Comstock Hall and, after our long day, we were indescribably tired. We had Josh's door wide open and we listened to the startling sound of total quiet in the dorms. Even in the middle of the night in the dorms there is always somebody stirring or doing something or making even just a little bit of noise. Tonight there was nothing. It was sort of weird.

“It’s kind of exciting,” Josh said. “I mean, it’s sad to go, but we’ve got this whole new thing starting.”

We said goodnight and then I hit the shower. I stayed under the spray for twenty minutes, soaking in the steaming hot water and letting the grime of the day wash swiftly away. It’s almost three o’clock now and I’m going to hit the bed. I’m betting that by the time the clock strikes three I’ll have already slipped away to sleep, ready for another bustling moving day – and this time it’ll be my crazy moving day.

Pioneer Hall Closed

Pioneer Hall officially closed tonight at 8 p.m. At 7:50 the last of my forty-six residents checked out of the building. I was standing at the front desk finishing paperwork as Anthony, our dear Hall Director, got on the intercom system for the building.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Pioneer Hall is now closed,” Anthony said, his voice echoing from the speakers in the hall, bouncing off the walls of the barren hallways.

What beautiful words, I thought. It’s officially over.

The anxious energy broke among the staff and, wearily but gladly, we headed to Anthony’s apartment for some post-checkout feasting. We curled into Anthony’s living room, sprawled on couches and the floor, eating homemade, delicious lasagna, a fresh caesar salad, and garlic bread. I looked around at the twelve faces and thought, “This is the last time we’ll be gathered just like this.” Laughter, music, funny staff “Most Likely To…” awards, and plenty of hugs finished off the end-of-the-year party.

After spending most of the day checking out resident after resident and sitting in my room cleaning up for my own move-out and copying hundreds of songs (literally) onto my laptop, it was the perfect way to finish the day.

Brand New Laptop

After Mom's birthday dinner we all made a quick trip to Best Buy and, finally, we bought my new laptop! I’m using my beautiful new Toshiba Satellite to write this. The laptop has a DVD player, lots of memory, and works very, very quickly. My little Satellite has a snappy silver-and-black casing and actually looks quite stylish. I am totally and utterly in love with it.

Tonight I downloaded iTunes which is a popular program that allows you to download songs for just 99 cents each. I can see that this is going to be a very tempting way to spend cash. I’ve already bought four new songs.

It’s almost midnight and I’m going to hit the sack. I have to be up early so I can return to the U of M tomorrow and finish checking out my residents. Then, by Sunday night, I have to move out of my room and into my new place. Lots of action, very little time.

I’m completely convinced I’m going to have an awesome summer.