Obscure lyrics…FTW!
A few weeks ago (this blog is so timely!) I took part in the Longest Dam Race over in Fort Peck. Kind of a neat course, as they bus you to the top of the Fort Peck Dam, then you run across it, then down a hill and finish. This, if I was in any sort of running shape, would be an awesome course to set PRs.
I was not in any running shape. My aunt did not think I was being all that honest when I said this. I didn’t feel that I ran all that great, just did what came naturally over the course of a 5K and felt good.
Now, I felt ok afterwards, and would later find out that I finished second in my age group in the 5K. Probably due to lack of competition, but still. I got a medal!
After that race was finished, Kodi and I had entered the 1-mile walk. This was literally the race plan: 1) hold hands, 2) walk a mile, 3) talk about whatever.
We executed the plan perfectly and as a result, I got second in my age group again. That one I am chalking up to lack of competition. But, hey, now I have two medals. Someday, people will admire the medals and think about how fast I was back in 2010. Incredible, they will say. “Surely he was one of Montana’s elite runners.”
I will not correct them.
In other news, things are going decently. The job is stressful, Kodi and I are doing great. Not a whole lot else to add. I’ll keep you posted if something pops up. Until then…
The full moon is calling
The fever is high
and the wicked wind whispers and moans,
Alan
Even though the last post says otherwise, I have not forgotten about this blog. I’ve been meaning to update, but have been pre-occupied with things such as “How is Lost going to end?” and subsequently “What did Lost mean?” Worry not, loyal reader, I will not go into that here.
So, how have you been? I have been good, other than tired all of the time. This is due to me being promoted. When I last left you, I was just doing some announcing stuff. I am now News Director…though I don’t really direct anyone. I work long days, but I enjoy it to a certain extent. I meet people, I get to be in charge of what gets covered. Though I attend meetings, the job is much more than that now which I like. Also, I was told by the mayor of the city that I was doing a good job. The mayor. Awesome.
Even better than being promoted is being in a relationship, which most of you probably know by now. I met Kodi at a Super Bowl party at my cousin Anna’s and we’ve been together for a little over two months now. Things are going really well. We play a lot of cards (I still can’t shuffle though…). I like this whole being in a relationship thing. Its made me pretty happy over the past couple months.
Lets see…really not a whole lot more to say here. I miss my cat, but other than that things are going well. Hopefully that continues. If you want to know more about, contact me! I love calls, texts, and random AIM messages.
When the world burns apart,
There’ll be a place for your car
Alan
The title of this post comes from a sign that hung from the upper deck at RFK Stadium last summer during the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup between Seattle Sounders FC and D.C. United. The sign, in the Sounders’ distinctive rave green, stood out in sharp contrast from the red and black scheme at RFK. The small band of Sounders Supporters, many of them from Emerald City Supporters, decked out in blue and green almost jolt the senses when you look at the pictures. RFK is an older stadium, and while its not drab, it isn’t fun visually. The Sounders fans in the upper deck added a bit of life to the festivities.
And that’s exactly what the Sounders did for Seattle’s sports scene a year ago. The Sounders started up in one of the lowest points in Seattle sports history and thrived. I don’t think its far fetched to say that if the Sounders had come around in 2005 (Seahawks winning the NFC and in the middle of 4 straight NFC West titles) they don’t gain the same footing as they did. What if they were an original MLS team and began play in 1996, with the city buzzing about the Sonics (who were in the middle of perhaps their greatest stretch in franchise history, culminating in an appearance in the 1996 Finals. Do the Sounders and their upstart league even register mentions in the sports page when the Sonics are making their playoff run?)
The fact that the Sounders did well certainly helped them, but from opening kick the city was ready to embrace the team. ESPN commentators raved about the atmosphere during the first game against New York. Players from European powerhouses Chelsea and FC Barcelona talked about how they enjoyed playing in front of the Sounders faithful.
The Sounders started before the Mariners became a nice surprise. Last March the city was still getting used to watching Kevin Durant play in Oklahoma, was looking forward to the NFL draft where the 4-12 Seahawks would be picking higher than expected, and the memories of a college football season where the state’s two Pac-10 teams combined to go 2-22 were still fresh. These were not good times.
Then came the Sounders. I don’t know if anyone knew what to expect. They were an expansion team, but they had two guys with English Premier League experience, plus an MLS Cup winning coach. So maybe they’d be competitive. Seattle Sounders FC was bold in their preparations, not only in color choice, but also in listening to the fan’s and naming the team the Sounders even though their marketing came up with three different alternatives. Combined with the membership association that has sway in the team’s management, the Sounders were not only providing a different sport, but a refreshing alternative to a city’s sports fans that had seen all three of its teams threaten to move (and, sadly, one that did).
Then the Sounders started winning. They won MLS games, they won U.S. Open Cup games. They played admirably in friendly losses to Chelsea and Barcelona FC. After getting gipped in their bid to host the Open Cup Final, they went to D.C. and won that in front of a few hundred fans who made the trip. Winning hardware in a teams first season is impressive, and it will give the Sounders the chance to playing in the CONCACAF Champion’s League this summer.
It wasn’t one thing the Sounders did that has me actually excited about the upcoming season (that surprises me, as I know that the level of play in MLS is poor. You can know this too, by watching a few English Premier or Serie A matches and then an MLS match.). It was a combination of things that has me reading Sounders blogs and probably becoming a member of ECS later in the season. I really am looking forward to this season. Even with the Mariners expected to do good things (and trust me, I’m real excited about the Mariners) the Sounders did things the right way a year ago and now I’m hooked. They come along at any other time and maybe they don’t make the same impact, but they were the jolt Seattle’s sports scene needed last year.
Scarves up,
Alan
Welcome to Adventures in Asian Cooking! I’ve had this idea for a blog feature for awhile. Ever since I bought this book. I bought that book last April after realizing that 1) I enjoyed cooking and 2) I like a lot of different types of Asian food. This book does not disappoint.
The whole idea of Adventures in Asian Cooking is to cook a recipe from a different country (there are 13 countries listed in the book) and then blog about it. Volume yi (one, in Chinese) is a Chinese dish called Baw Law Gai, or chicken with pineapple.
I’ve made this dish before, its fairly simple but very delicious. To the recipe!
Half a small pineapple (I use a can of pineapple chunks. Progress!)
chicken breasts
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablesppon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil (this, I have found, gives it that distinct asian scent)
1 small clove garlic
1 tablespoon peanut oil
Sauce:
2 teaspoons cornflour
1/2 cup pineapple juice (also known as the greatest post run drink known to man. Do not dispute this)
1 tablespoon soy sauce.
Skin pineapple, or if you’re mean open the can. Then cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces. Mix cornflour, salt and pepper, and coat chicken in this. Easily done with your hands. Add soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil and mix. I did this in a pie plate, so I used my hands. I’ve also put this all in one big ziploc bag. Whatever floats your boat.
Heat peanut oil in wok. If you don’t own a wok, now is a good time in the recipe to buy one. Once the oil is heated, toss in your treated chicken and fry until the color changes. Then add pineapple. Stir fry this for about three minutes. Add the sauce mixture, stir until thickened. Serve over rice.
Recipe rankings:
Difficulty: Pretty easy. Rice cooks itself, more or less, so even though I had two burners going, it wasn’t complicated by any means.
Taste: I really like this recipe. I’ve now made it a few times (including once for the parentals, who approved of it). If you’re ever craving chinese food, can’t go wrong with this one.
Optional things: The recipe does call for small onions, which I did not use, perhaps due to a lack of onions in the apartment.
Baw Law Gai is a good recipe, and for me a good introduction to cooking Chinese food. Got familiar with a wok (not hard) and its just good. Plus, there’s left over pineapple and pineapple juice. Win, win.
Next time, whenever that is, I shall try something from Korea.
No one runs faster than you eat,
Alan
Alright, lets get this started a bit early. Hour before opening faceoff. Since Facebook will only take this once you can follow along here
Stay tuned for thee game and whatever else draws my fancy. Possible comments on the somehow mesmerizing cross-country skiing race. Did you know they exchange skis? I did not.
Stay tuned for hockey…
1:03: DON CHERRY!
1:04 Someday I will talk in depth about my love of Don Cherry. From his suits to his “totally not biased against Europeans at all in anyway” (wink, wink) style.
1:09 I’m a little skeptical of the people calling this “the biggest game in hockey history”, as NBC did. Jamie Langenbrunner, captain of Team USA says “it kind of like a game 7.” Yes, something that’s “kind of like a game 7″ is a bigger game than USA 4-USSR 3.
1:12 Its the Marraige Ref tonight! if you’re excited about this, you cannot be helped.
1:15 How did my Chicago readers enjoy watching Jay Cutler throw an interception during a hockey telecast? I enjoyed it.
1:21 Here we go…
1:22 Good save for Miller off a long drive. He’ll need to play out of his mind today.
1:23 Early goings, no real possession by the US. Canada just being faster, but the US defense is doing a great job.
1:26 Roberto Luongo hasn’t lost at GM Place since January 11. I’ll pretend to not love that stat for this game only.
1:28 The fact that there is a really good hockey player named Jack Johnson is funny to me. Jack Johnson will return to the Kings and go “Where have the good people gone?”
1:31 USA getting some good pressure, need better quality shots though to beat Luongo.
1:32 Heatly just got knocked into the US bench. Love it.
1:33 Yup, Baches is a Blue. Only a Blue could break his stick on a clearing attempt.
1:35 Now that’s what the USA needs to do. Crash the net, get in Luongo’s face.
1:36 Nice forechecking by the Americans. Really liking how we’re playing.
1:40 Oh how I loathe Johnathan Toews. 1-0 Canada.
1:42 Just a nice job of Toews following up on the rebound. Nothing Miller could do there. Defense needs to tie up some sticks there.
1:43 Well this isn’t good. Canada, after a goal, getting a power play. Eep.
1:44 I like how NBC put up “LIVE” in huge letters at the top of the screen. Its as if they’re saying “No, really, after showing you everything on tape delay, we’re really showing you a sporting event in real time!”
1:46 A good PK for team USA. Really good even. Only one real chance for Canada, and Canada’s momentum seems to have diminished a bit.
1:51 Ryan Kesler is awesome. Nice check there.
1:53 A great chance by the Americans at the end. Then some pseudo-fisticuffs. Corry Perry has been a punk these entire Olympics. Good thing he picked on someone in his own division there. Might have to watch the next Ducks-Kings game to see if Jack Johnson gives some retribution.
1:55. Yesterday, I linked this story about there being a condom shortage in the Olympic Village. A few thoughts to get you through the intermission:
~No one should be surprised. You have incredibly attractive people, in one of the most stressful environments of their lives, living near each other.
~I wonder if there a certain nations or sports that are more known for their…”friendliness”. Like, does the Swedish women’s biathalon team show up and the veteran Olympian guys start high-fiving?
~Lets say there’s some unprotected sex going on (a probability) and someone gets pregnant. What if that kid grows up to be an Olympian? Would that not be the most bizarre puff piece that NBC could show over live sporting events?
~The fact that the condoms were “airlifted” in is great.
Now, onto my thoughts on the first period:
~The Americans played a good period. Need better quality shots, but they should be able to get a goal.
~Defensively, the Americans are blocking shots and not letting Canada to just keep cycling the puck.
~not a lot of whistles. Refs letting the players earn this win.
~Al Michaels would like you to know that this game is “Live, live, live.”
2:08 Here we go, period 2.
2:09 Checking from behind…now…legal?
2:11 Corry Perry deserved it. PK time for the Americans. Bad penalty, as the Americans were getting some good pressure.
2:14 Get. the puck. out. of the. zone. Also, PP time for the US!
2:17 After the most worthless power play since the New York Islanders…Corry Perry scores. No one picked him up. Americans need a response.
2:19 The American response is “hit everything that moves”.
2:20 If there was ever a must-score PP, the Americans have one here. need to do more or less the opposite of what they did last time.
2:22 This power play is about as useful as the recipe for “New Coke”.
2:25 Does Luongo get a quicker whistle than Miller?
2:28 I have never been happier to see Patrick kane score. 2-1!
2:29 I like this new found energy by the Americans.
2:31 End to end action…this game is getting awesome. Amazing what Kane’s goal did for the US.
2:35 USA goal changed to Kesler. Awesome. I really love that goal now.
2:36 So, did Ron Wilson just say at intermission “maybe we should shoot the puck?”
2:40 I can actually feel my heart pounding. Intense end to the second. Epic third period coming.
For the Americans to win:
~Shoot the puck, forecheck, take away passing lanes in the defensive zone, and be safe in the neutral zone.
For the Canadians to win:
~Use their speed, get some quality shots on Miller, not overly rely on Luongo.
The next goal is huge.
2:55 Here we go…period 3.
2:58 Canadians hit a post…and another one.
3:00 A couple of icings for the Americans, not a good sign. Need to get possession and work the puck down the ice.
3:03 The Americans haven’t had the same sense of urgency as they showed in the second period.
3:06 I’ve seen Luongo play these games before. Look a bit shaky for two periods, close the door in the third.
3:10 Miller just absolutely bailed out Patrick Kane. Wow, what a stop.
3:11 Hello, team USA! Welcome to the third period.
3:15 7 minutes to go….every shift important.
3:17 Luongo looking calm in a stressful situation.
3:22 What a defensive play by Kane. Wow, Crosby on the break away and Kane with the poke check. All game, after a big defensive play, the Americans have had good shifts.
3:24 2 minutes left.
3:25 Miller pulled…timeout USA.
3:26 If Canada wins, can we have a tie-breaking Game 3. Would anyone not be on board with that?
3:20 PARISE TIES THE GAME!!!!!
3:30 Nice time for the Canadians to vacate the front of the net. Two Americans in front of Luongo, no one with a Leaf on their sweater around. Easy goal, we head to OT.
3:36 The open ice in the OT will probably favor Canada. Americans need to litter Luongo with shots and really clamp down in the neutral zone.
3:39 NIKE makes the best ads, hands down. Just sayin’.
3:42 Nearly changed my AIM status…can’t jinx it. The Denny Manifesto stays. I can however report that the #beatcanada tag on twitter erupted after that goal.
3:44 Here we go…OT.
3:46 Oh the home run pass there would have been amazing. Like the start to the extra session by the Americans.
3:51 Doc Emerick is having an on air heart attack, I’m fairly certain.
3:54 Crosby scores, Canada wins. The cruelty of sudden death OT. Game just ends like that.
3:56 What a game, couldn’t ask for anything more. Americans played great, but Crosby had just enough space to show why he’s one of the best players in the world.
4:30 Alright, signing off. What a game. Hopefully this spurs Team USA forward. They were the youngest team at the games. Can you say “gold medal favorites in 2014′? I thought you could.
Sometimes when I’m driving to work I like to think of creative and hopefully witty things to do and write about in this blog. The idea that I toyed with for awhile was doing a parody of Lost, in which it begins “Previously…on Tubasaluki.” This idea fell apart mainly because 1) thats as far as I got and 2) I sometimes get the feeling that I’m the only one of my friends that watches the show, which is sad, because Lost is awesome.
I digress.
Since I last left you, I have moved to Montana, started working, and, as the title suggests, partaken in a gatorade slushie.
I left Lake Stevens on a Monday with a fairly full truck and leaving behind one confused cat and one I would guess happy mother. Though, now that it will take her longer than 20 minutes to go to the grocery store, I can only imagine my departure as being bittersweet to some degree. I had chains with me, since the trip to Havre consists of 4 mountain passes. Snoqualmie was actually closed the morning I left, but opened again before I left. I did see a semi turned the wrong way on the other side of said pass, which would be really interesting if it didn’t slow down traffic to a crawl.
I stopped in Ellensburg to have lunch with one of my high school friends that I hadn’t seen in forever. I believe we determined it had been five years or so. Good times! Lots of catching up to do. I’m guessing we skipped over some of the minor details, but good times were had by all. Next stop..Spokane! I saw another high school friend. I like this having high school friends located along my route bit. Its quite nice. Quick, one of you move to Missoula and Great Falls!
After leaving Spokane, I traveled through Idaho (as always, watch out for orangoutangs). Idaho manages to squeeze two mountain passes into its 60 mile panhandle. I was very close to calling it a night in Wallace (I’m not a fan of driving at night) but a lack of the official hotel of Alan road trips (Super 8, for the record) and better road conditions kept me going onward. I got up and over the second pass with no problem, but with the snow starting to fall, I called it a night in St. Regis. The goal was Missoula for the night, and as my friend Nick so helpfully pointed out when I logged online that night, St. Regis was not Missoula. After deciding against Seppuku, I went to bed.
The next day, it was smooth sailing for the ever dirtier truck and I. The most trouble I had was getting into an Arby’s parking lot. (Sidebar: My family always stops at the Arby’s in Ellensburg. I had always heard rumors that there was a town past the Arby’s, but it had been awhile since I’d seen it. Somewhere around 5 years. Anyway, between eating at non-Arby’s restaurant in Ellensburg, and the fact that Havre doesn’t have one, I made sure to stop at one in Great Falls). The second day was very uneventful and I got into Havre at around 5:00.
Flash forward (fun fact: this rambling blog post is written better than that show, which has taken a great concept and killed it by repeating every single line, usually three or four times). to Wednesday. My dad and uncle came. They went to Salem to get my stuff, which was nice. Other than a melt from Five Brothers, I wasn’t to keen on going back there so this worked out nicely. Dad and Rick had themselves quite the adventure, including blizzard conditions one day. Should Dad ever fire up his own blog, he can give you all the details. (You should be chuckling at that notion.)
With things unpacked and somewhat settled into…it was time to work! Hooray employment! Thursday was Day 1, and as a lot of Day 1s entail, I watched other people do their work. Enthralling! I’ve picked up on things fairly quickly, since this is the third station I’ve been at to use Audio Vault and second one to use my audio editing crack, more commonly known as adobe audition. Mmmm…fix transient feature.
At this time, I have a fairly limited roll. Voice tracking an on air shift, doing some production. I voice (but do not write) a couple of sportscasts each day. As I get more into it, I’ll be originating some stories (both news and sports) and will get to call some ballgames as well. Once that happens, I’ll let you know.
I have now been in Montana for nearly two weeks and have yet to experience above freezing temperatures. This is not bad, since I work inside and utilities are included in my rent. Its actually kind of awesome, because of Gatorade slushies. Here’s how to make one.
Ingredients:
One (1) bottle Gatorade
One (1) Vehicle
Wait for outside temperatures to become freezing. Place bottle inside vehicle. Leave overnight. Serve whenever you want.
I love Gatorade slushies, though admittedly, they turn out better when the temperature is closer to 32 than 0. (or closer to 0 and not -17.778, for my Australian friends).
Overall, I’m enjoying things. I like the stations where I’m at. I have family relatively near Havre, there are mountains here. I saw a couple of deer outside the station window the other day. It just needs to warm up so I can run outside. May have to hop on a treadmill soon.
So draw, little piggy, better watch out for number one.
(I fear there’s a bad wind blowing through there),
Alan
(lyric posted for rocking purposes…live version is the best)
With any kind of luck, I’m leaving in 12 hours for cold, cold Havre, so I figured I would pass along a few notes. Mostly notes of thanks.
Thanks, obviously, to my parents, who allowed me to live the unemployed cliche and live with them and spend a lot of time in the basement. Could not have made it these past few months without their help and support.
Thanks to my friends who continued being awesome during the whole process. It was great to see people again and of course use that socialization to take my mind off things. I may have hung out with Nick more over the past few months than I ever did in high school. I look forward to our frustrating sports arguments, probably about soccer, a sport neither one of us really played or coached.
Thanks to the Lake Stevens Cross Country Program which literally kept me sane from August to November. I will say this as long as people will listen: that was an awesome bunch of kids to be around on a daily basis and if I ever coach again (hope to) I can only hope that I have a group like that. Each day was a lot of fun, and I found something, in coaching, that I feel I can fall back on at a later date. I now know that I like working with kids and being able to teach them, and I owe it to spending this season with the cross country team. Oh yeah, and the boys going to state wasn’t half bad either.
Thanks to Trivia Night at the Irishman, which was just awesome. If you live near Everett, I recommend going on a Tuesday night. Its a blast, as long as the categories aren’t things like “Friends” or “Seinfeld”.
And thanks to the million other things that probably made this experience not nearly as bad as I felt it was at times. From reading a bunch of books, to completing NaNoWriMo, to working out more, to cooking, to my general obsession with Coheed and Cambria, Dream Theater, Death Cab for Cutie, U2 and others, every little bit helped.
On the road tomorrow. Will post again when I have Internet. They have that in Montana, contrary to popular belief.
Its not your fault
I don’t care
My new girl
She’s got laser hair,
Alan
The title, as long and confusing as it is, sums up my past week quite nicely. You’re confused. I can tell.
On Monday evening, I boarded a train for Havre, Montana. Tuesday afternoon, I got off said train (luckily, in Havre) and went and looked at the new stations. Its a three in one deal, so thats neat. I talked to the program director for a couple of hours and accepted the position. I like these guys, as they seemed nice, personable, and gave me asprin for my “being on a train for 18 hours” pains.
The job entails a little bit of everything. There’s some voice tracking work, some writing of copy, some producing, and possibly calling games. I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be good.
That said, I’m not letting myself get too excited. I did that with my last job. When I re-read what I wrote at the time I accepted the job, its mind blowing to an extent. I’ll be cautiously optimistic and hope that this is a great opportunity. If not, I now know what my back-up plan is (teaching) and that gives me a sense of calm about the whole thing. If this works, great. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll know where to go next. Direction is a good thing to have.
On Wednesday, I found a place to live. Havre is a college town (really!) and so the apartments that are there are pretty much full. I was able to find a place to rent for the time being. I like the place, but it doesn’t allow pets. So, I may see if something opens up in the summer time (everything is basically done month to month, rent wise) that will allow Cagney to move out with me. In the meantime, I may get some plants. I’m thinking of getting a cactus and naming it Ned. None of you in the Midwest understood that joke.
I was able to poke around Havre a bit. I bought a book from the book exchange, at at some of the restaurants (I already like The Lunch Box). I like the town. I have relatives along the Hi-Line, so that’s helpful. Havre is about the size of Salem, which makes it the largest city in that part of Montana. I think I’ll like it, if only because there are mountains near by and its just hard to beat a Montana sunset. (Well, sunset at Martin Stadium against the clock tower is up there too).
Thursday I boarded a train for home. I read the book I bought at the book exchange. I found out 150 pages into it that it was Book 8 of a series. So, I stopped reading. I slept, came up with a new character and story idea to use him in. Basically, I came up with a story title: “The Denny’s Manifesto”. Why Denny’s? Because my last two years in Carbondale, I wrote just about every paper at Denny’s. So what is the Denny’s Manifesto? I have but a vague idea, but I think it will drift into religion quite a bit. Just toying around with it for now though.
Friday morning I got off the train and drove home. I was there for maybe an hour, 90 minutes tops before I headed down to Oregon for what is best described as “Track School”. It was USA Track and Field’s Level One certification class or: “About 20 hours of learning more about track than you thought was possible, but this is just the tip of the iceberg so don’t get to brain dead”. It was one of those sessions where you learn so much that when people ask “what did you learn” you kind of respond with drool. There’s a 200 question test that I’ll have to take to become Level One Certified. My brain hurts just thinking about it.
That said, I was happy to go. I loved it. I learned things that I could incorporate to a distance or cross country program should I continue coaching. I also learned of things that I can use for my own personal use. Maybe not so much when I learned how to throw a discus, but I did learn lots.
I went to this with my friend Nick, so that was a good time. I also made beet juice jokes with Courtney Jaworski, who is only an All-American in the 800. He’s fast. Also listened to Brian Hoddle speak. He’s a coach with the USA Paralympics team. I enjoyed listening to his speak. You can tell he has a passion for coaching and for helping people realize their goals. His philosophy of coaching was interesting to listen to.
Level One lasted through Sunday, at which point I was finally able to sleep in my own bed. Thats a welcome relief. And then I realized that by the end of this month, I’ll be able to sleep in my real bed. And that is a very welcome feeling indeed.
I feel my heart implode
and I’m breaking out
escaping now
feeling my faith erode
Alan
I got a job offer.
Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook (which really should be all of you) know the story. I applied for a radio gig in Havre, Montana (home of the Havre Blue Ponies, and the MSU-Northern Lights(get it?)) to do some sports and production work. They called me two days later, right after I woke up. I did the job interview sans pants and was offered the job later that day (I had found pants by then).
So! Exciting! I’m going out to Havre this next week to check it out and see what its all about. If I dig it, I’ll accept and once again move in the winter time (this would mark the third time I will have taken on a cross-country road trip in either December or January). There’s a flurry of activity associated with the ordeal, most notably is finding a place to live. Then there’s moving my stuff from Salem to Havre, and then there’s the whole business of it being f***ing cold degrees in Montana right now.
I will keep you posted on the situation. If nothing else, its a break. Worst case scenario I stay on my track to go back to school.
And I never liked your hair
Or those people that you lie with
But I’m not satisfied
Until I hold you tight,
Alan
Happy New Year’s Eve to all of you out there. I figured I would write some year wrap-up type thing and then read about ten trillion best of/worst of decade lists and thought about what the past ten years have held for me.
Haha, wow, I hated most of it. I think this comes down to a ever burning desire to not be where I am at any given time. I spent the beginning of the decade wanting to not be in high school any more and go off and be independent. This led me to go to Southern Illinois University, where I promptly gave serious consideration to transferring and when I didn’t do that, plotting my escape from Carbondale. This led to Australia, which was six months of pure awesome and the lone part of the decade where I was happy with where I was. I should probably go back sometime. After college, I got a job in podunk, Illinois where I bought a house. If you want a refresher on how I felt about that experience, just peruse the archives.
In the previous paragraph, I listed the three major life decisions I have made. Where to go to school, accepting my first job, and buying a house. I am 0-3 on these major life decision bits.
Granted, it could be worse. The decisions weren’t exactly poor. Its not like I decided “cocaine….yes, that is a great way to get ready for unprotected sex with multiple partners!” So, you know, go team. And these decisions that I’ve made have resulted in a college degree and decent credit. So, yeah, I get it: there is a lot worse out there.
Since I am not a big fan of people who complain loudly but offer no solutions, I should add that I do have a plan of sorts for making the 2010s better. I’ve applied to two universities (Western Washington and Washington State) and hope to get a teaching degree. As I’ve probably written before, I found out this fall that I liked working with high school kids in a coaching capacity. Considering that I would think about lesson plans and how I would teach various topics, its kind of amazing that it took me this long to figure out that teaching wouldn’t be a bad gig.
I don’t think I’ll do any New Year’s Resolutions this year, if only because barring death, 2010 is shaping up to be a much better year than 2009. As long as I keep moving forward, things will turn around. I now have a plan, I have another goal, and for once, that goal is more than “to not be here”.
I usually leave you with a musical lyric, but instead I will leave you with a quote that I’ve taken a liking to. There are certain quotes that as soon as you see them, they resonate with you. Some quotes you see and think “thats nice, I can see how people are inspired by it” and other quotes just hit you with a moment of clarity. The second I saw this quote, I got a post-it note, wrote it down and stuck it in my wallet. Perhaps I will dedicate a post to discussing it later.
Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor. -Alex Carrel.
Happy New Year,
Alan