So honestly, am I the only one who is over the whole Fiesta madness? Yeah, I used to be one of those...attention whores, always having to be the main attraction at the party. I welcomed beer spillage on me. It wasn't Fiesta if someone wasn't dangling a turkey leg in my face. The stacked cups at NIOSA. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. DON'T PLAY! So what happened to me. When did I become so anti-Fiesta?!
Oh yeah, I remember. It all started with a little institution most refer to as "graduate school." No, really, it was graduate school. I only used quotes to indicate people were saying it. That's besides the point. So I enrolled in grad school Summer 2008 and by the time Fiesta came around in the spring, I was drowning in research papers, overloaded with study sessions for hellacious exams, and I was just too busy for anything. I only know that because all my drinking friends would tell me that I was MIA when it came to our four or five times a week outings. Yeah, don't remind me.
I remember my partner, and all my friends, and even people I didn't know just coming up to me and reminding me of the fun I was missing. I would simply push up my large-framed bifocals, and pull up both straps of my backpack and respond, "You guys, I'm totally gonna fail this quantum physics exam, which comes in like eight parts if you don't let me study!" Okay, so I may be over exaggerating just a bit, but I'm sure you get my point.
So for the next two and a half years (yeah, two and a half! And what?!) I sacrificed my Fiesta time to cram information that I might or might have not used ever again. I was being responsible. This coming from the freshman undergrad who would only show up to auditorium lecture classes on test days. I learned the hard way, I know.
Yes, Fiesta was a tradition for me too. Just like any other person in San Antonio, I too looked forward to that one week, where you were allowed to show up to work hungover the next day, or not even show up at all, and call it a Fiesta sick day (Okay, that's not really a thing.... oh wow, at least I hope it's not. You never know with this town). But I gave it up for the sake of my studies. I had lost my concept of being social. But alas, this is the price you pay for an education (not to mention the tens of thousands of dollars I still owe in student loans, which by the way, if anyone knows of some good programs to get me back on track, I'm all ears).
But really, I don't know that some of us need Fiesta to drink and get all bat-shit-crazy. In San Antonio, we call this the weekend. And besides, Fiesta could be a tad competitive at times. If you ever walked around NIOSA (Night In Old San Antonio) with a stack of eight cups or higher, you know exactly what I'm talking about. DO NOT PLAY!
These days, I can only handle Fiesta in small doses. I like my traditional Fiesta dinner downtown with my partner at Historic Market Square, and walking around baking in the King William District for the King William Fair (and if you like to spark it up every so often while you chill at home, this is not the kind of baking I'm referring to). I just can't do Oyster Bake anymore or even the slowest night of NIOSA scares me (if there is a such thing as a slow night.... okay, I'm being told by someone over my shoulder that there isn't a slow night). Yes, King William Fair gets crowded, but it's more of a family event that anyone can enjoy. It's not that college crazed party atmosphere that you find at most of the other venues.
So if you're feeling my pain, and you too feel like you're the odd man out for no longer being that attention queen from your younger years (actually I still am, but I've found other places to get my attention), don't worry. Maybe we really are just old, or maybe we just can't stand to be trapped in the middle of that tsunami of people. OMG! Maybe I'm claustrophobic! Should I test this theory by getting in my closet? Nah, screw it!
