So today was my last day at work. The finale came with an eight-hour shift with Crystal. "Brenton," she said at one point, "how come you go Center instead of CC?"

        "Because Crystal," I said, "I believe in moving away for college. If I start moving now, maybe I'll be completely removed from this place in ten years, rather than stick around a community college and just reimburse this area for providing me with a high school-equivalent education."

        "But," she said, "you have to move away from all of your friends."

        "But," I retorted, "friends aren't something predestined at childhood. I can and have made more at Center. And then I get to come back here in the summers and see why I wanted to move anyway." If I had stayed, I fear I'd be another pothead carpenter like everyone else. And it's not to say I don't appreciate their murals of wood, but I just feel like there'd be a glass ceiling in that line of work. It would be made of plywood, but figuratively glass.

        Oddly enough, this was the highlight of the day. At the end of the night, there was no party. No balloons fell from the ceiling, luckily, because I would have to clean that up. I just mopped the floor and when everything was finished, I set the alarm, walked out, and locked the door for the last time. Crystal wanted to hang around and talk, but I had spent eight hours with her already so I was in no mood to stick around. And so much for that job. Over. Done. Finite. My boss told me that I could come back next summer, but I think the convenience store adventure is over for me.

        On my way home, Ben called me on my cell. We leave in two days for the apartment, giving us one day before classes start. A friend of ours named Joel had stayed in it over the summer and paid rent to us. Things were still in order, according to Joel, but he's OCD so that's why we let him stay there in the first place. That and he had a summer class and it'd be cheaper than the dorms.

        So tomorrow I pack all of my bags and get my car checked out before making the two hundred mile trek back to college life. I am so ready to begin. Doesn't matter what the classes are, I'm just ready to be back in that environment. A summer of minimum wage monkey work helps put me into the education-mindset. Granted, in two months I'll be sick of college but for now, it seems like a good thing about to happen.

        I plan on maybe getting in one more message before I head out, but if not, I might post an entry while sitting in class! How cool with that be? Simply awesome, honestly.

        Later,

        BM