Since High School

Freshman year at U of I - (Taft Hall, 1213 S. 4th St., Champ., 61820). Environmental Science. Topic proved boring. Rising independence yet decline of social life. Summer in Springfield. Lifeguard, parties, met soon to be girlfriend. Second year. Moved to apartment (711 W. Elm St. #15, Urbana 61801). Feeling pride yet ambivalence about growing older. Switch of major to English. Fulltime girlfriend. Last summer in Springfield. Road trip to New York. Third year. Same apartment. Less fun roommates. English major/ girlfriend. Summer as camp counselor, upstate New York. Aesthetically perfect, systematically oppressing. Year abroad, Liverpool, England (Great Newton Hall, 7 Lower Gill St, Lvrpl., L3 5BA, www.greatnewtonhall.com). Both independence and loneliness at peak. Travel Europe. More worldy perspective. Loss of girlfriend. Summer in Madison with brother. Feeling disconnected yet full of possibility. Road trip to west coast. Take friends to Muskoka, Canada. Fifth year. Still English major, still undergrad. My own apartment (802 S. Locust St. 6N, Champ. 61820). Creative facial hair. Road trip to Arizona. Start with journalism class and school newspaper. Get puppy. Accepted to grad school. Everything routinized, even weekend trips, yet content. Brother married. Summer in Urbana. New apartment (409 E. Fairlawn Dr., Urbana, 61801). Comfortable, adult.