The Obligatory Spring Break Post

I heard somewhere that one's sense of smell can evoke more and stronger memories than any other sense. I don't know if this is true or not, but it certainly does bring things back for me. One of the shampoos in our shower at home has a smell that reminds me of the shampoo in the shower of one of my old friends from elementary school.

It reminds me specifically of the time I was going to stay for a week at his in Illinois when I was around 10 years old or so. We had been best friends back when I had lived in Illinois, and so I was excited that we'd have a whole week to catch up, go clubbing, and get drunk. Or play with GI Joes. You know how it is. But the morning after we got there, and as my parents were about to head back out to Fort Wayne (where we were living at the time), my dad came into the room where I was sleeping, woke me up, and said goodbye. I was tired, excited, and scared. And I started crying. I was too scared to be without my parents for a week. I ended up going home with them that morning. My friend was pretty sad, I remember him crying too. My parents blamed themselves for waking me up for their departure. But there wasn't anything to be done, I was already homesick.

So a couple months after that, later in the summer, we tried again. This time I watched and waved as my parents drove off. I suppressed my fear, and my homesickness. No more cry-baby, I was tough. I didn't need mommy and daddy at all. I think that this incident is probably what made going away to college so easy. The first day of college, my parents drove me up, unloaded my stuff quickly, then left. They were there for maybe half an hour before they left. And I was fine. I didn't really feel anything at all. I remember thinking that I was supposed to feel homesick and scared, but even when I tried to muster these feelings, I just didn't feel anything at all. I think I got over homesickness forever when I was 10 years old. It makes me feel old. I want to have something to long for the way everyone else does.

---------------

I've been home this week for spring break, which is why I haven't been blogging at all. Instead, I've been watching movies and writing about them for my film class. So far I've watched Russian Ark, North by Northwest, The Battle of Algiers, The Gold Rush, The Great Dictator, The Maltese Falcon, and In the Mood for Love. It's not quite Florida or California, but it's a nice break from the regular grind. I might post some of the brief reviews, if the mood strikes me. I highly recommend any of those movies to anyone.

I also saw, for the first time ever, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I don't think I'm going to review it for the class, but I recommend it highly to any college student. It's one of those things that's part of the prototypical college experience: being homesick for the first two weeks, skipping classes, getting drunk/high, rebelling against mom and dad's right-wing views, and watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

More posts after spring break is dead and buried.