Tubasaluki: Quoting music since 2003

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