Summertime

MTV's The Real World had a big role in my life early on. Growing up, my parents were adamant that we not have cable TV in the house. "Why pay for something you can get for free?" grumbled my Dad. When I was 18, I finally convinced my mother to let me pay the cable bill and have it installed. Considering that we lived in rural New England, channels like Fox and MTV were not accessible any other way. One of the first shows that caught my eye was The Real World San Francisco. This was my first real look at reality TV and I was transfixed. Not only was it slickly edited with great camera angles and cool music, but San Francisco became this place that I had to visit. I emotionally fell hard for HIV-positive cast member Pedro, but did not quite have the vocabulary or self-awareness to see that. (I would not come out of the closet until four years later.) In effect, the show gave definition to and inspired the life that would become mine.

Throughout its nineteen incarnations, the show has continued to entertain. Still, the Las Vegas cast set a precedent of sex, drinking, and partying that has carried through each season that has followed. This year's Hollywood cast was no exception and none of them proved to be very interesting character studies. One of the cast members, Brianna Taylor, has aspirations of a singing career and has released a CD on iTunes. I downloaded the single Summertime and was very impressed. She has some good chops and the song is a good first effort. The other songs did not move me nearly as much, but she definitely has a future in the music business. If you are looking for a decent song to download, check it out. I keep trying to convince myself that I will not watch when each new season pops up, but it is a hard thing to give up.

I have been keeping busy this summer. I have about a week's break before my next online course starts. I received 2 A's for my summer session courses, so I have a 4.0 average thus far in my coursework! Being a bit of a perfectionist, it is very satisfying to be doing good work in school. I was fairly bored, distracted, and unhappy in my high school years and this was definitely reflected in my grades. The online general education courses are pretty simple overall, but I am sure some of the upper level courses that I will have to take in person will prove to be more of a challenge.

My Mini Cooper Hector passed the 50K mile mark today. He is such a fun car to have and drive. I hope to keep the car throughout my life and keep it up for use as a retirement vehicle. I will have to see how feasible that is as time passes. He is due for a set of tires this week.

Alright, I am off. I have to be up early for work.

Cuidate.