SoCal, The Office, and Football...Life is good

It is nearly October...everyone's favorite month...for obvious reasons, but a lot has occurred since I last updated the 2 people (my parents) who read this on my life.

California: I have recently returned from a trip to LA/Orange County and had a blast. I got to see a lot of my favorite people there before I sign my life away and work for the next thirty years of my life (Thanks for the reminder Chad). I spent a majority of my time in Newport Beach, where my friend Chad has an incredible place and a life unabashedly similar to that of the kids on the O.C. I was also in Brentwood - a place I had been many times without knowing it. It's between Santa Monica and Westwood...ish. I still don't really know. Anyways

I got to return to Pepperdine for the first time since school started back up and it was weird. I got to catch up with my cousin Kimberly who is loving it there and I'm happy for her to continue on the Blanton/Powell name. However, I realized that life continued at the school after I left - without much difficulty. There was a sense of belonging I had always had going there and it was gone. Instead of, "Hey, Good to see you!" it was "Hey...what are you doing here?" It was sad. Plus the fact that I went to a memorial service that was extremely emotional and I had never even met the woman being remembered. It was touching yet moving and I feel like I have lost out not getting to know Thomasina - faculty from the Pepperdine London house.

Throughout the rest of the trip it was also weird to be in California again. I had taken so much pride in adapting smoothly to life there as a student but also as someone from Tennessee. As my cousin who now goes to Pep Law can attest to it is slightly like studying abroad at first. No friends, you stick out, and get lost often. For some reason my mind felt more like I was in Florence again. The conclusion I drew, be it wrong or right, was that it was in fact the people I had grown to surround myself with that made me comfortable. When I was with all the people I had such a great time. I was fine. But I also kinda freaked out traversing the seas of freeway to get to those people.

Football: I love football and it is nice to be back where I can constantly distract myself with the sport. I know I shouldn't brag and as soon as this is set in concrete in the blog world forever it will cast an evil spell on all my favorite teams but Nashville's teams are freaking ridiculous right now. Montgomery Bell (5-0) is ripping all the other high school teams in the area a new one...represent. Vanderbilt (4-0), the school that rejected me yet somehow I am still 100% loyal to is ranked for the first time since 1984 at #21. Incredible - Richard live it up. And the Titans (3-0) are crushing the ignorance out of their opponents on a weekly basis. This week should be a fantastic game v. Minnesota.

Work: I start work on October 1st for CSP. I am extremely excited although it will be a major shift in lifestyle. This week I have woken up at or around 11am. Should be an interesting blog update in a week or so.

TV: If you haven't seen the Office premiere yet do it now. I feel bad for those whose lives are void of such a cultural masterpiece of our generation. Pam and Jim are engaged. Michael is a quasi-father-to-be and things are going to heat up according to some nerds who have websites that I read. Also, J.J. Abrams' new show called Fringe is pretty good too. The first episode has a guy using an Insulin pen...enough to sell it for me obviously. I recommend it - mom and dad I will show you how to use hulu. Thanks to Michael for recommending that to me a week before I start work...should keep me productive.

Well those are some of the major things going on in my life. I really want to use this to keep in touch with whoever wants to know. Maintaining friends at this point in life is very important to me so do the same and keep in touch.