Writings
To Whomever it May Concern, Part I » Mon, Aug 13th 2007 11:22 pm
It’s been nearly five months since I’ve written anything substantial on this ol’ site of mine, despite a somewhat alarming number of significant happenings that would have typically had me writing for pages and pages. I haven’t much of an excuse either, I’m afraid. The gist is simply that I figured writings of my own personal news were boring to read and therefore fruitless to write. Now, though, I figure it doesn’t matter if anyone’s interested in reading or not; there are some things I just want to submit, no matter how receptive my audience!
Five months add up to quite a decent chunk of time, so I’ll be presumptuous and assume you’re wondering what the hell I’ve been up to. Thanks for asking. I’ve been up to quite a lot, and even more, still, when you consider that I’m not really the type to get up to much of anything at all. You might go thinking that I underwent a great and profound transformation after the mess I left here back in March, when in fact it was much simpler than all of that: I merely realised that it was time I grew up. And so I got started.
My first order of business (and, at the time, my only order of business) was to get myself off the path to simplicity and mediocrity. I abandoned my application to college and, instead, set my sights on universities. To this day, I’m not sure what it was I was thinking when I applied to a college-level graphic design course. Sure I’d have learned a decent bit, but I’d have missed out on one of the most important aspects of a good education: the challenge. College was the easy route. I could live at home, fly through my classes, and do whatever I wanted with my abundance of spare time. But after so many years of doing just that, the idea of prolonging this once-enticing fantasy had become a dull-but-growing headache. I’d become so stagnant.
I made an appointment with my high school guidance counsellor—despite my not having been a student there for quite some time—and prepared to embark on an exciting, challenging journey through a university graphic design program. However, minutes into my meeting I realised that no, I was not about to embark on anything. I’d missed the damned cut-off date by well over a month and my program of choice was very well booked with students who were decidedly more on top of things than myself.
So there I sat, fiercely frowning in an orange plastic chair, while I struggled to swallow the disgusting reality I’d just been served. Facing another accidental year off school, I was rather disappointed in myself, and even more disappointed in my future self who I couldn’t help but picture on his first day of university surrounded by kids three or four years his junior. But this is how it’d have to be, so I accepted it. That is, for about two weeks.
Every morning after the day I’d received my “sentence”, I grew less and less comfortable with the idea of “working for myself” for yet another year. I put that phrase in quotation marks because, as you might have guessed, I’m really not all that disciplined and “working for myself” usually meant taking on a single job every month or two and passively wasting the days away in between. Nightmares of my obese, couch-sleeping self became more frequent and I quickly realised that if I were to actually spend another year doing nothing at all, I would most assuredly snap. So I began to seriously pursue an alternative.
I’ll continue this soon! But it’s late, I’m tired, and there’s no way in hell I’d post the whole tale as one entry anyway.
1 Tyler on Tue, Aug 14th 2007 3:44 pm
While you’ve been putting off your writings I’ve been having to read and comment on Digg for the past five months! The majority of “diggers” are alright in moderation, but I think if I read “duPe!!1!” one more time I’m going to snap.
Checking your site has become one of my daily habits. It never became one of my daily habits because your writings were “boring”. They’re interesting, so keep it up! I need something to read at lunch time.
I can’t be the only one who’s often checking here for updates, am-I-right?
2 Aaron on Sat, Aug 18th 2007 9:54 pm
Well I’m glad you don’t think they’re boring. I just figured they were all getting a bit too repetitive, and none of them were really anything people could take something away from.
Though maybe they were, or maybe they didn’t need to be in the first place. Either way, I’ve started again—if only for a while—and I don’t think I mind if they’re boring or otherwise.
Haha. I think that echoed.