By the late 90s, my trips to Tampico reduced drastically. A combination of summer school to catch-up on some courses after switching majors and a bunch of curve balls meant I had to stay in Mexico during some holidays.

I really wanted to spend my summer of 99 in Tampico, but it wasn’t to be. Electronic design lab and Control engineering took my summer and although there were some fun days, it was a drag missing out Tampico for the last summer of the decade, century, millennia!

Mid-September, I got an invitation to a friend’s graduation and I’ve gone in detail about it. On the day of the party, I took a nap listening to Everlast’s whitey ford sings the blues. I went back to the album several times on that semester, my final autumn semester in university.

Due to my change in majors, the people I graduated with in high school finished uni that semester. It was weird watching them jump into real life at the turn of the century, and possibly as tiring as the analogies I lazily hang to when writing.

I used to relish late afternoon, early evening classes but due to a few incidents, I was ready to throw the towel near the end. Last week of classes and the reality of having no one from my generation to talk with the next semester sinked in. It was November, around 9 pm. I look at the windows, all like small dioramas with fluorescent lighting. People on their business classes presenting their final projects, with plans and Gantt diagrams. Engineering majors, welding and testing their contraptions. A few fledgling romances and their public displays of affection.  And me, on wet grass, peeping on them, thinking about feeling riderless, waiting for a flash of light to steer me.

Tired by Everlast finished and I click back on my Sony discman. I’ll tell her I love her later.

-Sam J Valdés López