Spent the weekend house sitting for my boss (on a trip to watch his daughter perform in New York) with Trolley, Nick, and two Eric’s. We spent most of the weekend hanging out, playing some Gamecube, watching movies on the 100″ projection screen, and making runs to Timmy Ho’s.

My boss and his family has three dogs, two cats, a few turtles, and some guinea pigs. One of the dogs, named Spike, is a tiny terrier but is like a little lightning bolt. He’s still a pup, but won’t be getting any bigger than he already is.

The two cats, Boots and Puffy, are well behaved and friendly.

I got the chance to hang out with Eric, the one who’s not Trolley’s brother. He can appreciate a glass of Appleton Estate as much as a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, as much as a well designed computer game. And I mean really appreciate, as a person who almost completely understands what he likes, instead of the superficial tastes that so many have nowadays. I can light up with him, talk to him on an unbelievable number of levels, play games with him, or just hang out. He rarely speaks, but when he does his speech has weight, it has meaning with so much insight. I hope to hang out with him some more if he doesn’t go back home to Toronto. There should be more Eric’s in the world.

The exam I wrote today may possibly be the last one of my university career. I don’t plan on going back to school any time in the future. It was both the most and least satisfying exam I’ve ever written. I’m positive that I failed, so it’s sort of a sour note to end on, but I’m also ecstatic to be out of school. I approached my final computer science exam written last year with hesitation. The entire tech sector was suffering at the time, development jobs were already scarce, and I was about to be thrown into limbo. Now that I’m done, and nothing follows me home, I’ll have time to work on a few extra projects I haven’t finished yet. That also means that I can hang out with Aaron and Trolley more, or go home to visit Darren and John on the long weekends. As for Pat, I’ve learned to let him arrange the subsequent meeting because he’s always busier than I am.

Today, I left the exam two hours early, after throwing everything I knew on the page. I stepped out into the refreshing spring weather, when it’s between a brisk fall day and a summer night.

Freedom.

Freedom from what has been a shroud, not a weight, on my mind for as long as I’ve known. Tonight confirmed what was suspected for weeks, when I stepped out into shadows and lights, and walked through a dry field against the darkness.

A rush. The feeling of having everything to gain and nothing to lose. That I can start living now.

Freedom in the solitude.