here's to you, old friend.

which old friend, you might ask? that old friend is summer '08, also known in some circles as the "summer of debauchery".

this post is dedicated to reviewing my summer. i've been putting off this post for a while now, i suppose so it would be closer to the end. but also because i don't want to believe that it's over.

in the weeks and months leading up to the summer, i didn't really think i had a whole lot to be excited about. no trips to kenya. no big vacations. no summer of love. none of that. just a regular ol' summer in the loveliest little village on the plains (my first in auburn, by the way).

the summer began with a trip to disney world with the au singers (yeah, i was in show choir. judge me.) i definitely was NOT excited about this, both because i am always burned out on singers by the end of the year, and because i just didn't think disney world had a lot to offer to a guy like me (it was my first trip. again, judge me.) but disney world was incredible. i loved every second of it. may have even surpassed trips to boston and nyc as my favorite summer tour of the 3 i went on. i had so much fun that week to close out the "au singers" chapter of my life. love you all. good luck this year.

then came the return to auburn. didn't look like there was a lot to look forward too now, for sure. but slowly, things started to get good. a group of us (dan, lee, nathan, jeff) began to start hanging out. a lot. too much. every day. but it was so good. we slowly started noticing that there are countless specials at auburn establishments each night of the week, and because of our lack of money (still jobless at this point) and our love of good food, beers, and friends, we saw these all as good ideas. there was loco's trivia night on tuesday, $2 pints of anything at mellow mushroom on monday and wednesday, $1 pitchers at the tavern on monday, tuesday, and thursday (still having trouble figuring out how they make money), various wing nights, and, the mother of them all, BURGER NIGHT at niffer's, which i discussed in my last post.

through these various activities, the 5 of us bonded and had more fun than we should have been allowed. at times we let others partake in our fun, be it other friends in the periphery, lady-friends, or friends from out of town. all of you people also had a hand in my summer. thank you.

there were many other events/situations that made this summer what it was, including, but not limited to:
music and arts week at camp sumatanga (probably the best week of the summer overall, but it got its own post in July)
drinking Baileys from a shoe
eron's and cravey's softball games
getting a job at Bizilia's (still deciding if i like this one or not, but money is money)
dmb concert in atlanta
city stages (ben harper, jon mclaughlin, flaming lips, act of congress, grace potter, etc) and almost getting arrested
many, many nights on the porch at bodega
jensen
frantically trying to keep up with my fantasy baseball teams
new music
new and wonderful friends
wanting to be back in kenya, regardless of all of that fun i was having here

thanks to everyone who had a part in this summer of debauchery 2008. here's to the last burger night of the summer tonight. here's to having a few too many beers when i have to work at 6:45 the next morning. here's to coming up with more hilarious and offensive team names for trivia next time we go. here's to a senior year filled with these same good times, if not more (in number and greatness).

here's to you, summer of 2008.

you were way too good to us all.