I got back from Clemson a few hours ago. I took two days off from work and flew up for Meg's birthday, and Andrés drove down from Orangeburg where he's interning. As expected, it was a really fun weekend. I've just finished posting all the digital photos I took, but I actually used the Holga much more than the digital camera, and I've still got five rolls and two sheets of film to develop. Those will be posted over the coming days.

Thursday morning I went to the airport straight from work, and arrived in Clemson that afternoon. Meg and Andrés picked me up. As I stepped out of the airport, I realized I had forgotten to consider the fact that climates vary throughout the world — I had packed my usual fare of t-shirts and jeans, forgetting the fact that I was travelling to Clemson in February. Oops. Still, despite my inappropriate attire, I was surprisingly delighted to be back in that environment. Crisp, 50°F air, bare trees, fall colors, relatively open spaces (compared to Puerto Rico's metropolitan area, anyway). South Carolina in the fall is one of my favorite climates. If I had unlimited funds and could live however I wanted, I think I'd have a house in SC for the winter months, and another farther north for avoiding the hot summer weather. Birds have the right idea.

On the way home, we stopped by Scotty's place to pick up the Civic for Andrés. While we were there, he showed us the cars he's got running these days. Meg wasn't as interested in this as we were, so she headed on home while Scotty gave Andrés and I a ride in his 7M-powered MK2 Supra and his '69 GTO. After we'd had our fill, we got in the Civic and headed for Clemson. As always, I felt physical joy to drive it again. And to be surrounded by drivers who are actually relatively considerate most of the time. I was in a good mood.

We didn't really do much that evening; I gave Meg the birtday card I bought for her in New Orleans, and then we all just hung out and played some Super Nintendo and watched Invader Zim. I hadn't slept much on the plane, so I fell asleep around 10pm.

Friday I woke up before everyone else, so I hung around the living room, listened to music, and took a photo in the backyard with the view camera. When Andrés and Amy were awake, we went to Waffle House for breakfast (mmm). I knocked on Meg's door to see if she wanted to go, but I got no answer, so I figured she wanted to sleep. She later said I should have been more insistent. Ah well, now I know for next time: Give no quarter. Knock mercilessly until you get a response :)

Waffle House was delicious, of course. We then drove to Seneca to pick up some things we needed to mount my old stereo in the Civic, and to do some last-minute clothes shopping for the 70s/funk party on Saturday night. Once we returned home, we dyed Meg's hair, then went to Ancheaux and ate giant burritos. From there we went to Nick's to meet up with Bobby, Jeff, Meej, Andrew, etc. Kells showed up later, so I got to hang out with her at last. Bobby and Jeff bought me a pitcher of Guinness, along with pints of several other beers they thought I might like. All were interesting, but none managed to do even as well as the "half terrible, half awesome" thing I feel about Guinness.

Bowman's band, Heart Monster, was playing at Edgar's that evening, so we walked down there and checked them out. It was nice to see my old drumset back in action.

Saturday morning we went to Waffle House yet again (aw, yeah). I let Andrés drive the Civic so he could start getting used to it while I was still around. After we ate, Meg and Chris planned to shopping for the party with Meej and Andrew. Jeff was coming over to hang out so I couldn't go with them to Anderson, but I did take my own car to Meej's place to see her and her snazzy apartment and her cute/freaky animals. When it was time for them to head out, I returned home to see Jeff and his girlfriend.

When he learned I had never had an Irish Car Bomb, we all walked down to Backstreets, a nearby bar, and ordered a round of them. It was actually We hung out there for a while, and then headed back home to prepare for the party. Scotty and his girlfriend showed up, and then Meg cut and dyed my hair. When I was done, we had leftover hair bleach, so Meej used it to recolor Andrew to her liking.

We then headed nextdoor for the party and had a good time. I still wasn't used to being awake during daytime, so I got sleepy around 1am and went to bed. It's a shame that I did, because Meg and Chris and Meej and Andrew reportedly went on to have a long, fun night. I know because Meg and Chris came home around 4:30am and woke me up to tell me about it :)

Sunday was for relaxing. We hung around, played Nintendo, and watched Invader Zim and Family Guy. Kells came over a little later, so we ordered pizza and played 1000 Blank Cards. Amy apparently doesn't like the game very much, so she abstained and worked on homework.

While I had to soak my socks in cold water for the entirety of the game, Chris seemed to fare the worst — we all laughed while he danced nearly naked outside in the cold for one full turn. Meg was instructed to take an artsy photo, so she made an artistic statement about how she wants to see two boys to kiss. She also made lots of verbal statements to the same end.

This was Kells' introduction to the game, but unlike most first timers, she seemed to grasp the concept from her very first try, and she made some cards that were very appropriate to the spirit of the game (such as an "Eat me! +2 carbs" card that Chris had to chew and swallow).

After the game, Kells had to go home and do homework, and Chris and Meg and I went to Blockbuster to pick out something to watch. We settled on Corpse Bride. Since I'd seen it already, I went down to the library, where Meej was working, to hang out with her one more time and say bye. We looked up facts online and generally had a good time (Yeah, we're nerds. You wanna fight about it?). After an hour or so, I returned home to find Corpse Bride finishing up (I didn't realize it was such a short movie). After that we watched a bunch of Simpsons episodes from season 10 (the best season by far), and then came my inevitable sleepiness. We all went to bed.

Monday morning, Amy made us french toast and scrambled eggs, and then Andrés and I set off for the airport. I had scheduled my flight so that I'd go straight in to work from the airport, which meant that I had to get all the necessary sleep on the flights home. As you can imagine, this was a bad idea. I only managed to get about an hour of restless sleep, which is less than I usually like to have. I really need to start planning my trips so that I get home with enough time to get at least four or five hours of sleep before work. It always feels like such a waste of valuable visiting time to return earlier than necessary, but I always end up regretting pushing it to the last minute.

I actually noticed myself taking much fewer pictures this trip than I usually do. Since my memory tends to be poor, I usually take lots of pictures so that I can go back and revisit them later and remember my pleasant experiences. But I spend so much time taking pictures that I don't really get to concentrate on enjoying the experience itself. It's kind of like a tradeoff between immediate, concentrated enjoyment and long-term, diluted enjoyment, and this time I chose to favor the former.

It's funny — over the last month or two I've found myself really wanting to express things I've had on my mind, like issues of intimacy, etc. I had a bunch of ideas for pictures I wanted to make, but I had no people to shoot them with. This weekend I had plenty of access to people who I'm comfortable enough with to ask to pose for me, but when I was surrounded by close friends I no longer felt such an immediate need to express these things, and so it didn't occur to me to bring it up. Now that I'm back home and alone again, I wish I had taken advantage of the fact that I had people to shoot with.