While riding on the train back from Setubal earlier today, it struck me that the summer is about to end. This doesn't have the same meaning as it used to, though. I'm not returning to university next week, I'm not moving in or out of anywhere just yet, and I can keep going to the beach for as long as it's nice out. So not that much actually changes, but it still feels definitively like fall is arriving. I suppose that's just a product of having been in the American educational system for 16 years: its calendar and the one in my mind are still the same.
But I'm glad that autumn will be arriving. My work is going well, I've got almost three weeks of traveling approaching, and then a return to the U.S. to look forward to. As much as I love Lisbon, I feel ready for a change again. Maybe after traveling I'll feel differently, but I've only left myself two days here at the end of September, so there won't be too much time for reflection (just enough to visit some of my favorite places, many of them involving food, of course).
I suppose this will be filed away mentally as just another epoch of my life now. "My Two Summers in Lisboa," with its attendant friends, events, and work focus. Soon I will hit the road across Central Europe, but in another sense it is moving forward on the road of life. Right now I'm very happy with the path that's ahead of me and also that which is behind me. I'm not one to dwell on my accomplishments, but looking back over the past three months and even more so beyond them to the past few years, there are many things I have done that I am proud of, most especially the friends I have made and the relationships I've forged with them.
Of course, there are also things about which I am ashamed, unhappy, or just disappointed. I must live with those less fortunate incidents or decisions, and learn from them. "Learn from your mistakes is a cliche, but it's one that actually has value beyond being an over-used phrase. For now, though, I think those negative aspects of my past have made me a better person in the present and hopefully in the future as well. So onward I ride. As Tom Vek says in this song, with a little remix action from Phones a.k.a. Paul Epworth, "There's nothing but green lights from here." Thanks to my friend Andre for this one. You can buy Vek's 2005 debut album 'We Have Sound' here.
Tom Vek - Nothing But Green Lights (Phones remix) [divshare]
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2 comments:
Nothing but green lights always reminds me of the end of summer - first time i went to Leeds festival and i heard it being played on someone's mp3 player or something, it was a good feeling.
I miss Tom Vek.
Yeah, I still think 'Nothing But Green Lights' is the standout track on the album. Vek's web site claims he's working on a follow up, but there's no new material or release date, so we just have to wait and hope...
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