the[new]trent

This photo won't make much sense to most people. For two of us there's no explanation needed...

This photo is here to remind me of all the amazing friends I had in my hometown of Santa Barbara. Last week while getting my Face Book fix, I added one of my best friends from Monroe Elementary (who I had the awesome privilege of visiting last spring). Upon browsing his friends list, literally a miracle happened. The ONLY girl I truly remember from kindergarten through 2nd grade--the girl I had unsuccessfully tried to track down for more than a decade--was right there on his list. Immediately, I was sent back to being 6 years old again. A major dilemma faced me: does she remember me, does she care, should we have both moved on?

I messaged her--her reaction was enthusiastic--we agreed to call each other at the end of the week (after my midterms). I called her while she was in the car with friends-some of them mine, too. The excitement in the car got too loud for comfort. We agreed she could call me back when she arrived back in Santa Barbara that evening when it was quieter. When she called it wasn’t much better (but on my end now), I was walking down Figueroa St. (not a very quiet street in Downtown LA) on my way to dinner with my roommate. We fought the background noise of the café and tried to pick up where we left off. Soon I had to go, so I would call her after a film event at USC I was attending that night.

When I called her back around midnight-we didn’t stop talking until nearly six hours later. I believe that’s a personal record for both of us. It was sunrise and we both had things to do the next day. I’m not sure about her, but I didn’t get much done that day-not because I was dead tired, but because I couldn’t wait to continue talking to my once and future close friend. I think we both resisted contact for all of twenty hours and yet another all-nighter conversation started up again on Sunday night (Monday morning). She messaged me that my roommate had nothing to worry since it would only be a ½ hour conversation. Obviously, that half hour turned ran until 5am. In the end, I missed my 12pm math lecture and was late to my 2pm tech + environment discussion. I can honestly say that it was worth every sleep deprived second of it.

She'’s trying to figure out how to come down to USC to spend the weekend with me in a couple weeks. We will hopefully once again be reunited--and not just through the telephone. Marsha being perfect proof--some friends just aren’t worth losing.

(photo credit, Susan Baumgart).

Here's a shot from the LA Memorial Colosseum for today's USC-Cal Berkley game. Yeah, Trojans so beat Cal's butt. So Cal taught No Cal how it's done...23-17. BTW: Today over 90,000 people were in attendance--making it a record for a non-UCLA or non-Notre Dame for USC in decades.... But in all honesty, no one can deny that Cal put up one heck of a fight! Hats off to everybody!