Tying Up and Tossing Out Loose Ends

I spent last weekend saying goodbye to friends at school, turning in my thesis (or trying to), and deleting, forwarding, or transferring any remnants from my existence as a UIUC student to my life as an... ::shudder:: adult. Well, maybe I'll save adult for a bit later and just go with non-student for now. I first met Leo for lunch at Crane Alley, then dinner with Bill and Bedoor at Siam Terrace, then coffee with Jason, then drinks at Bar Fly with Anthony, Bill, Chris, Frank, Kurt, and Steve, and lunch with Chris, Dave, and Frank the next day at Flat Top Grill. I've spent almost six years in Champaign-Urbana and four of those five destinations were completely new places to me!

We were the only people at Bar Fly, probably because it
was a Monday night with blizzard conditions. Picture
compliments the under worked bartender.

More recently, I've been trying to downsize my life into two luggage weighing less than 50 lbs, two carry-ons, and shippable boxes. It's amazing how much "stuff" can amass when you aren't paying attention and have the space to retain it. I've always hesitated at getting rid of old exams and notebooks for fear I might need them some day. I can't throw out my ECE110 midterm #2 and notes from high school English! What if I want them next semester to study?! And then the box of high school memorabilia with movie stubs, clippings, cards, and other nonsense I don't even remember having or attaining. I was in Mu Alpha Theta? What was that again? And why do I still have jeans from 8th grade? While I'm impressed I fit them, I'm pretty sure my style has matured beyond pink rhinestone embellishment.

I ended up having a great time going back through all of it, and though it was hard to make the initial throwaway, it got a lot easier to part with old stuff once I got into a rhythm. Many bags of clothes for charity, piles of stuffed animals, books for the library, paper for recycling, and bins and bins of trash later, my past feels lighter. I even decided to throw away my only proof of athletic domination on the soccer field and tennis court. Now I just have my memories and ever-exaggerating stories to keep with me and share with everyone when I get to the nursing home.

The results of 8 years of soccer, 7 years of tennis,
and various other athletic endeavors.