Leo said something yesterday that has stuck in my head: "don't you wish that we could have known each other in college"? I pointed out that we did know each other in college and that college was only four months ago for him. He said that he meant undergrad. I thought about pointing out that "undergrad", for me, was only a year and a half ago and we did know each other, but I knew what he meant. He meant college as the period of full-time school between the ages of 18 and 22.  While I only have brief periods of my life that meet the first description, I had four solid years in between 18 and 22.  It made me a little sentimental for college.

"College" is still fresh enough in my mind that I remember how poor I was. I remember the times when I only had $2 to last me through the week. I know that, in retrospect, I am making it better than it was. My memories have exaggerated my leisure time and made the time I spent working almost non-existent. I suppose the thing I miss the most from that period of my life is the time I spent with my friends. Right now, most of my close friends live pretty far away, some I only see once or twice a year. In "college", I saw my friends everyday, I even lived with some of them.

I remember being nostalgic for high school when I was in college. The Onion recently ran an article entitled "man is always nostalgic for four years ago".   While I am not nostalgic for four years ago (as I was in the midst of a horrible divorce), I am nostalgic for 6 or 7 years ago.

Due to this overwhelming nostalgia (coupled with a strong desire to goof off at work), I have decided to record a couple "college highlights" for my own amusement.

I miss living with Wendy in Lansing, especially the chicken barbeque dinners that we used to have for our friends.  I miss coming home to Stryker (the dog).  He had a flying leash and was fond of carrying 6' long  branches in his mouth.  When I cam home through the backyard at night, I could hear him running towards me.  i never could spot him in time (black dog in the dark) and he would knock me over with a branch almost every day.

I miss eating Stilton Fries at Ashley's with Ms. Celebi, Dante, Shannon, and assorted others.  This was the best of the "college" days as I was actually old enough to drink in public (remember the relief you felt when that milestone was attained?)!  FYI, in case you've never had them, waffle fries with melted stilton are purt-near the best damn thing on earth.