When I was young I knew everything

The thoughts come flooding back...with the music, with the rain, with...nothing at all, for no reason. Perfectly content in the present, nostalgia hits like a summer breeze. No, it feels more like a poorly written metaphor of a summer breeze: the description of the wind hits your eyes and you laugh - ha! Did he really write "nostalgia hits like a summer breeze?" No, he wrote about the metaphor.

Sure, sometimes I close my eyes and enjoy it (nostalgia). And sometimes I squint, trying to see where it came from, where it went.

And here it comes like a wave, like a summer breeze...woosh! Freshman year in college. -CL

That "intro" really belongs in the piece. -KV

Then put it there. -CL

I'm not the editor. -KV

What do you do? -CL

What does any of us do? -KV (Any italicized notes after this metaphysical statement will be deleted: the piece below is long enough, no need to test the patience of the reader with lengthy intros.)

When I was young I knew everything
Charlie Luzon

Within minutes I was swimming in freedom. The freedom to do anything at any time. The freedom to take classes, read, stare at girls, learn, and talk, oh! talk. We stayed up all night just talking, didn't we? Later - talking and drinking. But first, just talking.

What the hell did we talk about? It was like junior high without the curfew. (What the hell did we talk about in junior high?)

Coincidentally, The Verve Pipe's song "The Freshman" came out the same year. Even TVP knew something was happening, even if we didn't know what it was.

In the tradition of the site that is more used to lists and pictures of boobies than anything else, here are five nostalgic moments from my freshman year in college that may or may not make any more sense to you than it does for me to be remembering these things over ten years later. For boobies, click the link above. (I'm sure you have already.)

1. Dorms - Co-ed dorms, Rieber Hall, Burning CDs, No Doubt, Netscape, WebCrawler, designated laundry times, a room across from the women's bathroom/showers. Did I mention co-ed dorms a.k.a. the best invention ever?

2. Band - Camp before it was a joke in American Pie, heat, sun, shirts off, at school a week early, empty dorms, every day, good musicians, cooler kids, dorkier kids, hot girls, christian girls, non-christian girls, would date a few of each. Or try to.

3. Philosophy - George Clooney-looking professor in front of a classroom of 400, a god-like figure save for the Clooney resemblence, stretching the mind, thinking about things I didn't know I could think about, no limits on mind, Christianity puts limits on mind, doesn't seem fair, just, faith begins to slip. Could I have stumbled upon the one truth in my small town? Or should I think about this more?

4. Santa Barbara - Drunk, for the first time, back and forth to drink and chase wildly after a girl or my idea of a girl. Teddy comes along at least once, not sure why. I see Kyle way more than I thought I ever would. Hiking and driving, and drunk in a beach town that parties endlessly; we're just passing through the party still goes on, and on, it still goes on, man, damn.

5. San Diego - Drunk, not the first time, in San Diego, Dan, his gf, SDSU. Another time, Tijuana, Persian girl from my dorm can't get back, we bribe American border patrol. $80 lighter we make it back, Teddy hooks up with Persian girl after (or before?). Longest. Night. Ever.

To be a freshman: the freedom, the friends, the dreams.

To not be a freshman: responsibilities, work, busy friends.

But also: real love, real life, and I wake up in my dreams.

Current nostalgia: We were only freshmen.

Nostalgia coming soon: We were only thirty-somethings.

Look for it.

-CL