A day of "firsts", but none for me thanks

Today signifies two events of the year, neither of which affects me. Tuesday marks not only the first day of fall but also the first day of classes at Poly for Fall Quarter. Even though I don't really "celebrate" either anymore, I just thought I'd comment on them a little.

The first is the Fall Equinox, which if I hadn't heard about on CNN this morning would've totally slipped my mind. Why? Well, today it was sunny and 100 degrees in San Jose, not quite the fall weather I remember. Get ready for a trip down memory lane, because here we go...

Fall to me is one of the four seasons of the year. That sounds like a really silly thing to say. "Of course Matt, everyone knows that there are 4 seasons." Well, I'd say the same thing before I moved to California. Out here, we get two seasons: rainy and sunny. The rainy season (or winter as it's called out here) encompasses November to February or so and consists of off and on rain, sometimes for days at a time. It can get pretty torrential at times, but nothing like the thunderstorms back east. Then, for the rest of the year it's the same weather everyday with just variations in temperature. I got to admit, it gets a LITTLE boring.

I miss fall; it's a great time of year. I remember all the leaves changing color, the temperatures dropping, the rain, and all the hauling and burning of leaves once they've blown down. Those were good times. I've always been a workaholic, so cleaning up leaves was always a ton of fun. We had some huge trees both at our house in GP and the cottage. All it took was one good rain or wind storm and they all came tumbling down. The lawns would go from their late summer yellowish-green to a checkered pattern of yellow, red, orange, and brown. Out come the rakes, the leaf blower, the tarps. If we were at the cottage, the fire was started (we can still burn leaves there).

I mean I've lived out west for 4 years now, but I still can't shake the mental feeling that it should be getting colder and leaves should be falling. I'm sorry, but sweating here in 100 degrees is NOT my kind of first day of fall. Winter is just as strange; without snow, it's just not winter to me. Again, I'm used to it by now, but I'm not sure if you can every shake the seasons after living through them all your childhood.

On the otherhand, I'm sure those who move to places that actually have weather (i.e. Nikki) will have the opposite experience. I'm sure come November she'll be having a great time with the snow, but for now at least she gets to see how great fall is (or at least I hope she thinks so).

What else was today? Oh yea, the first day of school...or not haha. At least for me. I've already gotten over the idea of not being in school anymore (at least until grad school), but just thinking that today is the first day back is a little weird. I feel like I'm behind a little bit; I forgot to get my books, I don't know where my classes are, I didn't move in all my stuff, I haven't gotten my hours at work...oh wait, I'm free! I guess I'm happy to be out and done, but the academic part of me still misses it. Someday I'll go back, but for now I'm having a great time just being out on my own. Even though I can study all day and night, I was born to work and I'm living the dream right now.

For all those still in school, I wish you guys all good luck. Believe me, I KNOW how tough it can be. I'm sitting here complaining about the heat while sitting in my cool apartment and living in AC at work. Over at Poly, you're lucky if you get to stay in air conditioning. I know I always loved going to work just for that haha. I still miss SLO a little bit, but I'm sure I'll be making plenty of trips back down. Maybe I'll even come back as a recruiter once the economy picks up, who knows?

Whether you're enjoying the first day of fall or school (or neither haha), hope everyone's enjoying themselves. As for me, I've put in a couple hours fixing up the vintage bike, time to clean up and read something I think.

Buenas noches...

-StM