In the Wake of the Week

Hello again, Monday.

The first week of classes and the long weekend have flown by. Classes were fine, but the combination of getting back into the habit of school while also working 19+ hours for the City of Bezerkeley was too much to handle. I'm glad I'm going down to 12 hours tops. And if the week was tough, the weekend didn't bring much relief.

I made my way to the Bear's Lair with dozens of other Cal fans pumped to finally see our #9 ranked Golden Bears in action. Everyone expected a close fought, exciting game. Instead what we saw was our ass handed to us on a big bright Tennessee-orange platter. Morgan, Dan, and the City Planners with season tickets watched in disbelief as Tennessee dismantled California. My parents, who drove up to Berkeley to watch the game, made the wise choice of leaving after Tennessee's first couple of touchdowns.

It was a nasty and brutal beating on the biggest stage that Cal has ever played on in most people's lifetimes. It made our fans look foolish for even daring to hope to see the team rise to national prominence and it made the Pac10 look weak. Now, even if we blow through the Pac10 conference and win every game, the pundits will just say it was because it's an easy conference. Ugh, they might be right. And that's what sucks the most.

BUT, my ring tone is still set to play Big C, I'll still cheer for the Bears when they play Minnesota at home next week, and hope springs eternal for that magical Rose Bowl bid. Ah, the life of a Cal fan is so trying.

After picking up the pieces of my shattered blue and gold heart, I tried to make the best of the rest of the weekend. I took full advantage of 24-hour BART on Friday (friend's art gallery showing), Saturday (clubbing), and Sunday (Ian's birthday party in the Mission) . Each night had it's memorable moments, but nothing fantastic. The 24-Hour BART was not as fun as it was last time. The whole weekend has pretty much left me just as exhausted as the week did.

On the bright side, I have a feeling this week and weekend will go a lot better. My classes seem to be a good mix and I'm actually looking forward to delving in to some of my assignments. And even if school wears me out, before I know it, Thursday will roll in, happy hours will be happening, parties on Friday, and Cal football will return to Memorial Stadium. Even if the game's a stinker, it'll be fun to take a new crop of people to their first game. And boy, am I'm eager to see some action on the field. In more ways than one. ;-)