I Don't Need a Time Machine; I Have the I-5

So I spent Thanks-taking weekend back home in the Bay Area. It was a mixed bag. I spent a lot of time re-connecting with immediate family and some good friends of mine from high school. But I also spent a lot of time mulling at home, surrounded by memories of the past. Although I love reminiscing as much as the next person, I don't feel complete when I'm home. It's like all the memories and life-lessons from the blessed four years I've spent at UCLA all clump into one generic event of "college", and I can't share the people, places, and events that have made me who I am. It's almost like when I step into that house in Oakland, it's like the past four years never happened. It's high school all over again.
Examples from the weekend that brought me back:

• Sleeping in my room, surrounded by memories of my high school and community theatre work
• My father doing finances at his desk, sitting in his chair watching TV, and sleeping.
• My mom doing laundry, and persistently asking me what I want to eat.
• My grandmother watching The Filipino Channel.
• Sleeping my free time away.
• Going to my high school's basketball games. I still didn't feel "cool" enough to be there.
• Visiting Mike's house and playing card games.
• Visiting Mike's Goompa (grandfather), who lives just two houses away from my high school, for his 84th birthday. In high school, Mike and I and a group of other friends would chill at Goompa's house afterschool to play card games and watch afternoon cartoons.
• Fighting off boredom.

Some things don't change, and I appreciate that. But there are so many people and events in LA that have affected me, and I want to share them with my past. Like:

• The time I got the Chancellor to contradict one of his Vice Chancellors (I still have to figure out which one of them was lying)
• Singing in Professor Neuen's chorales
• Witnessing Queer Pin@ys and their allies come together with the message of love and hope
• Marching on Temple Street, recognizing the service of the Filipino American WWII Veterans when their country will not
• Serving on the Campus Retention Committee, making sure that half a million dollars of student fees are being spent with integrity
• Strategizing with faculty, alumni, and grad students about how we're going to make Pilipino Studies at UCLA a reality
• Counseling students trying find their place at UCLA
• Re-discovering the foundations of my existence (physical health, positive social interaction, and faith that my life has purpose), and unraveling the complexities that distract me from these foundations

In my short life, I've come to learn that death is a gift, and in my quest to connect my past and my present, I look to Helen Toribio's spirit for hope. Helen was a community activist and a role model for my sister during her college years. In Helen's final days, my sister would bring my mom along to visit her in the hospital and keep her company. When my mother told me how she got to know Helen, it was like seeing two pieces of my sister's life come together. It was like my mom was beginning to understand why my sister would get so involved with community activism, why it was important to her. It's that spirit of community that I hope to bring my past into my present, that they can understand why these "extracurriculars" are so important to me, and that I don't feel like I have to go back in time when I travel up the I-5.