President Obama

It has been a month since I last sat down and updated this blog. A lot has happened since - I have changed jobs, moved into a new apartment, and most recently, President Obama visited Austin.

I had no real interest in seeing the president when he came to town, not because I dislike him personally, but because he made it clear he was in town to speak at a private fundraiser, and since I was out of town the Saturday before his visit, I was unable to obtain tickets for his speech at the University of Texas.

I was driving to downtown Austin on Monday to conduct some research at the Travis County Courthouse. Whenever I travel to the downtown area, I always like to come in on Caesar Chavez, and then turn up Congress Avenue towards the capital - I never tire of that view. As I was traveling east on Caesar Chavez around noon I kept thinking to myself, "where is the security?" As I came closer to the Four Seasons Hotel there were cop cars sitting and waiting on the side of the road, but for the most part, traffic was flowing normal. This made me quite curious because as I was driving, the radio station I was listening to, AM 590, said that the President's motorcade was enroute. I decided to forgo my usual north turn onto Congress and continue east, hoping that I could catch a glimpse of the motorcade.

A quick side note - if you've never seen the presidential motorcade - you MUST. It is a VERY impressive sight regardless of who the president is, and whether or not you voted for them.

I saw thousands of people gathered along the sidewalks as I continued east on Caesar Chavez, and as I approached the IHOP at the I-35 juncture, I decided to pull off and park. I'm glad I did!...

Just moments after I parked, countless APD motorcycle officers began forcing traffic off of all the roads. They completely shut down I-35 north and all of Caesar Chavez east of Congress to the freeway. I got out of my truck and joined nearly the entire staff of IHOP on the sidewalk. This particular area had hardly any people whatsoever, in sharp contrast to areas just a few blocks down. We were able to stand in the streets without any trouble. Several minutes passed, and groups of 10-15 police motorcycles would come by sporadically. Then finally, the presidential limousines passed by. I was a mere ten feet away from the president, and as usual, he was riding in the second limo (there are two identical ones, and most people think he's in the first one, get distracted, and miss seeing him). He waived to the crowds, and it looked as though Rick Perry was sitting next to him, but since my focus was on the president, I could not tell for sure.

This is the second sitting president I have had the privilege of seeing. I had the honor of hearing George W. Bush speak at an inaugural ball in Washington D.C. in January 2005.

I do not agree with many of Obama's decisions since he was elected. Nonetheless, I was truly proud to have seen him. What makes this country so unique is that our Head of State and Head of Government are embodied in the same person. I firmly challenge many of the decisions our Head of Government has made, but I do believe that Obama has made a permanent mark on this country as Head of State.

Obama, simply by being elected, made many people in this country feel as though they finally had a voice. His election truly did bring hope that oppressive sectors of American society would eventually dissolve. This has not been the case, unfortunately, but it is a major step in the right direction.

SO, although I probably will not be voting for Obama in 2012, I was very proud to have seen him as Head of State, and if I had the chance to hear him speak (without camping out overnight to get tickets - which many UT students did), I would most certainly attend.

Where did I go?

I was reminded today that it has been 10 years since my tour to Europe with the Sound of America Honor Band & Chorus.

I find it amazing how much my life, and my view of the world, has changed since that time. As I look back, I wish nothing more than to return to that time in my life, when so many things seemed so certain - at least in my head. The world was a grand, happy place, and I could not wait to see it all. I wish I could feel that way again, but I am not sure that I will, at least for some time.

The world changed drastically within the years after our tour. The internet increased its social influence, the speed of life accelerated, wars started and have yet to end, and the seemingly endless opportunities I saw in my future aligned themselves in a short, narrow path.

Sometimes I wonder how I got to where I am today. As I look back, never once did I envision the experiences I had at Kilgore College. Never once did I think I would attend the University of Texas. Never once did I think that I would attend law school.

Where did I go? Where did my enthusiastic vision of the world go? Where did my inner drive and endless imagination go? What happened to the kid who raised thousands of dollars to go to Europe just by asking random people to give him checks? What happened to the kid who wanted nothing more in life than to pursue music as a career, regardless of the financial incentives? What happened to living in New York City and composing music for motion pictures? What happened to the kid who had such inner drive to succeed that no one could tell him what could and could not be done? What happened to the high school junior that started a small company with little more than a single immature slogan as its product? More importantly, what happened to the people?

What happened to my friends? Certainly I have made new friends in Austin, but those relationships are different. They are firm friendships, but they can not compare to the friendships I built growing up in Sealy, Texas. Many people in Austin do not understand what it is like to grow up in a small town. People, not possessions, mean everything. The class you start with in Kindergarten is the class you graduate with in high school. Other than a few random encounters over the last decade, where are the people that I could not have imagined life without at the time? I've only seen my best friend from high school once in the last five years, I've only seen a couple of my friends from the Sound of America tour in the last decade, and so many of the people who I grew up with seem like complete strangers when I encounter them.

I am optimistic about my future, but I cannot deny that I deeply mourn the loss of who I was ten years ago.

Where did I go?

Syracuse Campus

The Music Building next to the law school:

The auditorium of the Music building:

Indoor Football Stadium (called The Carrier Dome) – only seats 50,000, i.e. less than HALF the seats at UT’s stadium…

During the spring semester, they remove the turf and the Dome changes from the football stadium to the basketball stadium. Syracuse consistently has one of the top Basketball Teams in the country:

This is the main building…The flowers in front are a memorial to the 35 students killed aboard Pan Am Flight 103, which crashed in Scotland after being blown up by an Algerian terrorist in 1988.

The outside of Hendricks Chapel

A wedding inside the chapel

Pics of the law school:

Pics of Downtown: