Here we go...

Coming back a week early was an excellent decision. Good job, me.

My friends and I all actually have the time to hang out with each other. Saw Garden State last night with almost the whole crew. The movie was really good...the car ride back to the house was really humorous. I have the tendency to say things sometimes that really aren't supposed to be funny but are. And I guess when you have seven people in a car designed to fit 5 at most, things are even funnier.

I've got to meet up with some of the freshman I know too. Lauren and I even sat in on some of the boring freshman convocation speeches on the Glade with her lil sis, a frosh. (hearing the band play drew me in) Ran into Seth and Bongo Burger (yum) with Erik and his mom. Then after Erik's mom left the three of us went to the park and rode the awesome slide there a few times. Then we walked Seth back to our old stomping grounds, La Loma, and visited Hanah at Stern. Seeing all those freshman made me think about how much has changed sine we were in their shoes, and how quickly time has flown by. Jeesh.

In other news, picked up my Cal Football "true blue" shirt today. Also got Kay and Kat to buy there season tickets last night. The excitement sure is building. Hoping for the Rose Bowl, making a trip down to USC, fun stuff. Talk about change, all the classes that have come to Cal after us have no memory of that god awful 2001 season with Holmoe. (1-10...big game loss...empty stands...sad sad sad).

Kat and I also signed up for the GRE in late October. Yikes. The GRE. Graduation. Grad School. A job. Anxiety attack...anxiety attack...breath, nick. breath. hehe.

Tomorrow I have to help out with the City Planning orientation, and then at night we're having a going away dinner for Steph, who's leaving us this semester for Italy. It'll be sad to see her go, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow because pretty much everyone will be there. (Even Ryan..who's not going back to Modesto after all!)

Hopefully a few of the high school crew will make it up sometime before classes start. And then on Monday I'll start my last year with Portuguese. I'm gonna try and make my grandma proud.

I'm back in Berkeley, and I'm feeling pretty excited about it. We'll see how long that lasts. hehe.

Well, Mountain View. What can I say. My hard work over the last month did have an impact, much more of an impact that I thought it would. But there was no way I could undo 2 and a half years of misconceptions and mistakes . I came back home this summer to find that our City Council really had no clue what it was doing. It seems like they finally realized this last Tuesday night, but still moved forward with an ordinance that the majority of them did not really feel comfortable with.

I won't bore you with the details, but here are some articles about the ordinance:

My Mountain View Voice Op-Ed

The Mountain View Voice's Editorial

Post-Ordinance Article *
*this article says the vote was 6-1. It was 5-2. The two women on the council voted against the voluntary ordinance. (We need more women on the council.)

Anyway, with that chapter of my life behind me, I'm looking forward to moving on. Of course, this issue is far from over and MVPA still has a lot of work to do. I just need a couple weeks to sit back, relax, and get back into the groove of school.

It looks to be an exciting semester on a lot of fronts. I know quite a few freshman who I'm looking forward to visiting and hanging out with every now and then, including my cousin Marisa who's just down the way at Mills College in Oakland. My Aunt's running for Mountain View-Whisman School Board, and hopefully I'll have some time to help her. And the elections in general should be exciting, 4 seats up for grabs on the council means the potential for a major power shift. Plus, the presidential elections....yikes. My club, BUSSA, is also about to start its first full year, which is going to be really cool I'm sure. I should be planning a trip to Europe this January with Leo and Lauren too. And those Cal Bears are sure looking good, can't wait for our football games.

And it being my senior year, every moment with my friends here will be extra important. Before we know it we'll all be off to new lives. I want this year to go by nice and slow, in a good way, but I know that's impossible. It's gonna flash by. So here's hoping it's a memorable one.

Tonight is the final public hearing on Mountain View's historic preservation ordinance. This last week has been crazy. I am burnt out. Tired of all the e-mails, all the meetings, all the letters. Now I have to drag myself off to one last meeting.

Only problem is, we're hoping the council tables the mess of an ordinance they have before them and just revisits the issue later. Yeah...later. Which means that this all might never end. I hardley expect the council to follow that advice, much more likely is that after tonight MV will have one of the crappiest preservation ordinances (whether voluntary or mandatory) in the state. Gag.

I was right in my last post. This is like finals. Maybe even worse. At this point going back to school will be a vacation.

Random assortment of thoughts:

This summer is quickly, and I mean quickly, coming to an end. These last couple of weeks are going to be INTENSE. Like...finals... in a weird way. Not only do I have my job at the theatre and the four articles I still need to write for the Voice to finish, but Mountain View's preservation ordinance goes to the council for a final decision (we think) on August 17th. 3 days later, its back up to Berkeley for a week of nothingness. I look forward to that.

But until then I'm in high gear. This ordinance stuff is really stressing me out. I have to read old novels from high school english class to ease my mind before I fall asleep. Just one last push before what will likely be a bitter defeat for historic preservation in Mountain View. *sigh* I'm expecting the worst but still fighting for the best.

Matt and Kim have gone off to Hawai'i for school. My cousin Vanessa will soon join them. It's hard to believe that three people so important to my life are going so far away. Not used to that at all. I'll probably see them as much as I did before, but its just weird that they won't be around to just drop by. Especially Matt. I could always call him to hang out whenever I was home....ever since 7th grade. But I am really excited for all three of them and I'm really hoping to spend my spring break Hawai'i!

And I guess its all right that Vanessa is leaving, cause I'm getting a new cousin come December. (just kiddin Vaness if you ever read this....you are irreplaceable.) But everything seems to be checking out okay with my Uncle Victor and Aunt Elise's new baby. The 10th cousin. He will dethrown Sabrina, who has enjoyed a 14 year reign as the youngest cousin. I'm looking forward to meeting him.

Let's see...anything else? LA was really nice. I flew down by myself and took a two-hour taxi-van ride (thank you SoCal traffic) from the airport to Disneyland. Most randomly, one of my fellow riders was a Mtn. View native, transplanted to Portland. She went to Awalt High School when they closed my parents high school and renamed it Mountain View High. I might end up interviewing her for an arcticle I'm working on.

My parents and Chris were still on there way down from Davis orientation, so I met up with Kim who was there with her dad and sis. It was nice to spend the evening with them, and kind of surreal to jump off a plane, sit in traffic, and suddenly be in Disneyland with them. Once the family got there, we had a really nice time. We spent some relaxing days at the park, spending more time just sitting and watching the crowds then riding the rides. We do Disneyland right. We also made it up to the Getty Center, which is just amazing. If the architect, Richard Meier, brings even a fraction of its style to San Jose's new city hall, this valley will have a landmark to be proud of.

All righty. That should do it for now. I'll probably update this thing August 17th, post-ordinance adoption vent. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer people.