come un sole che sorge

My morning drive to Killeen has been rather enjoyable lately.  Granted it's not a drive that I make often, but when I do I get a chance to enjoy my music, a cool breeze, and the countryside. And since it's summertime, the road is well lit, even at 06:15 in the morning.  I would have to say that driving on Phantom Warrior Highway is always the highlight of the drive.  Minus the 2 lane highway and always getting stuck behind an 18-wheeler.  But for over 3 years now I've been telling myself I need to take pictures of certain scenery.  I hope to follow through with this soon enough. 

After passing through Florence, TX, I noticed a massive rain cloud blocking the sunlight.  At that moment Come un sole che sorge by il Nucleo started playing on my iPod.  And when Andrea sings "...meravigliosa sorgente di luce" is when the sun started to shine through the darkness with such splendor! It was so perfectly timed, so well orchestrated, that I started to smile.  Paying more attention to the lyrics and having the sun follow me, peeping in and out of the cloud, I began to tear up.  So here I am driving with tears in my eyes, singing at the top of my lungs, and basking in the glory of a star that sits approximately 93 million miles away!

Now the ending of this song is one that I really enjoy. "Sono un sole che sorge! Un'altro piccolo sole che sorge..." and as I'm singing these last couple of lines the sun is to my right and reaffirming the goodness present today.

So this positive, energetic feeling got me thinking about Roma and hanging out with the band.  My anthem for that summer was Sospeso.  It was my introduction to il Nucleo, and come to think of it, it might have been the rest of Italy's introduction to the band, too.  July 4, 2003, I was scheduled to travel to Firenze with some classmates, but instead I stuck around Roma for work.  I was in much need of some me time and loçkë had gone to Kaçanik for a quick visit.  The week prior I had spent my afternoons visiting the different music stores looking for their album Meccanismi.  Everyone I asked knew nothing about them or didn't have it in stock.  I finally decided to visit their website and look for the actual release date.  I saw that instead they would be playing inside Messaggerie Musicali on Via del corso! I was super excited about both being able to see the band live and the fact that this was taking place on Independence Day! 

I had asked Rose and Nevin if they wanted to join me since they stayed behind, too.  And when I got to the store I was alone.  The crowd was scant to say the least (less than 20 and that's a stretch) and my friends ended up showing a little late, but they made it and helped the turnout look a little better.  The band came out and Rose and I were amazed at how beautiful they were!  I was so mesmerized by the music and how they played and how they were dressed and how they acted.  I was In LoVe!  After the set I went and purchased their CD and contemplated on having them sign it.  I was nervous and shy and it took some coaxing, but Rose made me approach them for their autographs.  I opened with, "Sono venuta dal Texas solo a vedervi!"  Texas was my foot in the door.  Andrea and Marcello exclaimed, "Ah, Texas!" and Marcel began to talk about a Houston experience.  After taking pix and getting the autographs, I walked back to Rose and Nevin and stood star struck for a moment.  

I noticed that all the hub bub was dying down and the band was still there.  I felt invincible and asked Rose and Nevin if I should ask them out.  "It couldn't hurt," was Rose's response and Nevin agreed.  So I summed up all my courage and approached the band.  I asked if I could buy them a drink and to my surprise they were more than excited.  We walked down to Trinity College and enjoyed some drinks, we talked about their experiences on their small tour, Texas, music and Andrea made a remark about being in Roma for the first time.  I was taken aback and offered them a tour of Rome called "Roma...by Night" which uncle Mario had taken us on our first night there.  Aunt Suzy's boyfriend was excited to practice his English and his night tour included 5 people crammed into a tiny white hatchback driving at lightning speed along very narrow roads to see some historical sights...by night. Just thinking about it makes me smile. We walked EVERYWHERE! La Fontana di Trevi, Piazza di Spagna, Piazza Venezia, Piazza del Popolo, Largo Argentina, il Colosseo, il Foro Romano, Mussolini's balcony (Andrea did a great impersonation), Via Veneto (Little America), Via Condotti, Piazza Navona, Trastevere...everywhere!  We ended with Trevi and threw in some change to return to Roma one day.  Gosh, those ragazzi really made that Independence Day memorable and it's nice to know that they haven't forgotten about their #1 fan dal Texas.  

il giorno perfetto

OCTOBER 20, 2006 entry taken from my previous blog

Today was looking rather good for me. I woke up at 6:30, went for a jog, got home and showered, then headed out to Wal-Mart for an oil change. Now being that I'm a broke ass, all I ended up getting was a protective covering for my iPod.

Once my vehicle was ready I drove home and got online to research how to renew my driver license. At that point I came to find out that the server was down and I was unable to renew online. I did however manage to find what I thought at the time to be helpful phone numbers for TX DPS. WRONG! I found out through the telephone system that I was ineligible for phone renewal. So I had no choice but to call the DL office for more info. I ended up holding for a good 30 mins before talking to a person, but that was only after calling 4 other numbers. AND as courteous as the gentleman on the phone was in offering the DPS website, so that I could look up all their FAQs and info on DL offices, I couldn't have cared less. Do you really think I enjoy being on hold for half an hour instead of easily connecting online??? Think about it, son. I wouldn't be calling if I had the choice of easy online access.

There was no way around it; I had to go down to the office in person. Little did I know that the DPS office takes up a whole city block. So guess where I end up parking? Yep, you guessed it...on the opposite end. I sign in, fill out my app, grab a ticket and BAM!...I see it: "We accept payment in cash, check, or money order.---No Credit Cards!" So as I turn in my app, I ask, "I'm guessing No Credit Cards applies to debit cards?" Then the receptionist starts pointing out some places w/ ATMs and throws in w/ a chuckle, "You got time. They ain't gonna be callin' your number anytime soon." As if this little experience isn't going bad enough, the first ATM I hit denies my transaction 2x which forces me to go to the next block.

I finally get back to the office, take a seat and proceed to watch Chappelle's Show on my kick ass 60 gig Video iPod for the next 2hrs. And it's always a great feeling once your number gets called. You feel like a celebrity becos everyone absolutely hates you for getting called. That's becos they know, they still have to sit in that shitty waiting room until those red lights configure their number. At that point, they gain their freedom from that uncomfortable setting.

So I walk up to Counter 5 and find a sweet older, wiser face staring back at me. She's grinning from ear to ear and I find comfort in her smile. We take a quick little vision test, I hand over my old DL and WHAM! She busts out w/ a perplexed look on her face. She motions for someone to come over and help (but no one can) and says, "There's an alarm on your record, come back in a week."

I went blank at that point. I don't really remember what happened after that.

I asked what the problem was, but she didn't know.

I asked if there's another department I needed to go to, but she didn't know.

I asked if there was a phone number to speak w/ someone about my record, but

SHE DIDN'T KNOW!

I couldn't get mad at her becos it wasn't her fault. After all, she said, "it's still okay; your DL doesn't expire till 8/4/06." I didn't have the heart to tell the senile broad that 8/4/06 had come and gone. So I walked out of there wanting to scream, but I contained it till I got to the car and blared my "Rock Out w/ Your Cock Out" playlist located conveniently on ...you guessed it...my iPod!

Once at home, I waited for Maund to get out of work and to my surprise, the boy brought over Chick-Fil-A....don't ya just love it? And then to add injury to insult, we tried to fill the Brita pitcher w/ water only to find out there was none. The water was off.

Crazy thing is Maund got so pissed that he ended up calling the leasing office 9x through the course of 2hrs. They finally called him back to say that they were working on the prob.

So lemme update you: it is now 22:06---No Water and No Driver License.

What a perfect ending to a perfect day...