Wrapping up Austin like a Breakfast Taco.

T minus 16 days.

Yesterday was a milestone; it was my last day of work at RST. The plan was to shut down the office at 2pm, feast on a variety of goodies brought by co-workers for a potluck (unless you were fasting... ouch, bad timing for a potluck!), then leave and enjoy happy hour nearby. And my own party was scheduled for 9pm that night, so full day.

The morning started a bit late after an AM/PM mix up on my alarm... Tired from staying up all night making salsa and preparing the sangria, I realized once I got to work that I'd trained my replacement well, and I really had little to do. I had never once been present in that office and been so entirely useless. It was an odd feeling considering the fact that I'm usually flying around that place with my mind racing as I try to keep a mental hold on the 52 things I need to get done.

So I did productive things like make Melissa mimic the pose of the drawing she so loves on the side of one of the donations bins.

I got one last nuzzle, although Elyce informed me that it was perhaps more of a motorboat...

I took pictures of the things I'll miss... like the wall of drawings I'd created behind my desk from kids who came through the office.

Thanks to the arrival of warm, delicious, homemade taquitos (thanks, Cleanton), I was able to survive until the 2pm feast. Everyone drew teardrops on their faces and most wore black in honor of the departure (of both myself and our final summer interns). One of our old interns even came by to say bye to me and to show off her new baby. Twas joyous indeed.

Here you can see our photo sessions displaying the tears some had drawn on... imagine me yelling in the background, "LOOK SAD! NO, YOU - SAD! SADDER!"

Off to the Flying Saucer where many of the ladies of the office (where are all the men?!) enjoyed some beers, discussed the Refugee Ruff Riders membership, recounted the exaggerations of true stories that they would tell about me after I was gone to the new people, somehow started talking about Miley Cyrus which turned into a 2 Live Crew discussion with Jenny... Twas magical.

My side of the table is clearly unaware that the other side all has their fingers crossed.

Then off to my place, choppin' berries and grillin' quesadillas for my party. I told everyone who came that they were supposed to burn me a CD and write a quote on it. Here are some of the quotes:

• "I make it a rule to never smoke while I'm sleeping" (Mark Twain)
• "The first person you meet when traveling is yourself"
• "Why did you bring me here to live in the street!? Tell me why!!" (Anonymous)
• "Sometimes you just have to pee in the sink." (Charles Bukowski)
• "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
• "I'm the one who said just grab 'em in the biscuits." (Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance)
• "For rectal use only" (medicine bottle)

The content of the cds, most mixes, included artists such as:

George Clinton

Edith Piaf

Oum Kalthoum

The Kinks

The Misfits

Sir Mixalot

Ricardo Arjona

Manu Chau

Billie Holiday

There was also one cd complete with introductory Czech lessons (the cd was titled - "Czech Yo Self"). You never know when you might need to know a little basic Czech.

The driveway circle.

The drink station... Kate making martinis once we ran the sangria down to nothing but fruit.

Me n Trish. No caption required.

Dancing to "Booty Time," the cd Melissa burned for me. I was rockin the cat ears all night because the party was on Friday the 13th.

So I'm officially done at work... I've finished my favorite job I've ever had, where I met more amazing people than one should hope to meet in a lifetime and learned and grew in one year more than I did in the last five combined. I'll be drivin' out of this city in less than 72 hours.

Next stop - Lafayette, LA to see my brother and drop off some furniture. Then back to Dallas until it's time to fly out. In Tel Aviv by September 1. And then the next adventure begins...