Saturday, March 13, 2004

A little about Placebo and New Mexico

I didn't realize how lonely these dorms really can be. I mean, I like my solitude, but... it's so... quiet? Almost creepy quiet.

I'm listening to Placebo and missing my friend Richard tonight. The song now is Pure Morning. Richard's the one who got me started listening to this stuff, and this is the first song I heard. I have this weird relationship to Placebo's music.... I like it, but it reminds me of dark times. So when I listen to it, it's hard to enjoy it without subconsciously remembering... yeah. Okay, I'm not talking about that on here. Anyway, Pure Morning is an awesome song. It's more upbeat than some of their stuff.

And as for Richard... Despite how terrible I felt in New Mexico, I still miss him. I miss El Camino, and walking in the dark, and watching pirated Family Guy episodes on his computer, and just hanging out till the early morning hours. Heh, El Camino. The only all-night diner in Socorro. Despite the name, the Mexican food they served was absolutely wretched, but even at 2 AM you could still get a decent hamburger and fries. And hot chocolate. I don't care how hot NM gets in the daytime, in the middle of the night in the desert it gets really cold. Not as cold as a Minnesota winter, but cold enough that you want hot chocolate. El Camino was another one of those big smoky places where every college kid went at least once. They had a few booths with windows overlooking the one main road in town, and on the other side of the road... nothing. It looked right off into the desert. I remember watching the sunrise one morning from there... That was a really late night, and I still went to class in the morning. I only did that once or twice... when I was having major problems with insomnia, I'd be up all night (laying in bed in the dark watching my digital clock go from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4....) and finally fall asleep around 7 AM, so I skipped class. A lot. That went on for two or three months. I only went to my 8 AM class maybe once a week or less. Funny how I managed a C in that one (chemistry, no less), and failed the ones I made a major effort to go to. I'm still shocked that I didn't completely fail out of college. But, well... here I am, and on the dean's list too. Proud? You betcha. (Ack! Was that my Minnesotan accent kicking in?)

M Mountain... I miss M Mountain. The M stands for Magdelena, but we called in M Mountain because it had a big white M painted at the peak, overlooking the college. During 49ers Weekend (think homecoming) it was all lit up. You could always find your way in town if you knew where your destination was in relation to the M. Well... not always... I got lost in that town a few times. And I learned what a New Mexico culvert is... Ever seen one of those? See, they have to make places for water to go during the rainy season, cuz the sand doesn't soak it up and otherwise it would flood the roads. So they make little places for it to flow. I'm sure most people have seen regular culverts... little concrete channels a couple inches deep embedded in the roads so that water has somewhere to go. Those are California culverts. New Mexico culverts are more... drastic. Picture, if you will, a "dip" in the road the size of a large car, with big metal grates on either side. This is a New Mexico culvert. You cannot drive through them when they're full. If I could only draw a picture on here... It even feels intimidating to drive through them when it's dry and sunny out. At least, it did to me. There was only one in town that I remember, but it was a doozy.

Wow... that sorta rambled and changed direction from what I planned to write about... but that's cool. I've got more stories about New Mexico, if anyone wants to hear them... and even if they don't, heh heh. But not right now. Right now, I think I want a snack.

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