Happy New Year ladies and gentlemen! Even though I am only 21, this is technically the beginning of my fourth decade: I’ve been alive in the 80’s, the 90’s, the 00’s, and now the 10’s. I feel very lucky.
This year is going to be pretty big. It is the year that I receive my bachelor’s degree and start a major new phase in my life: one where I am not in college anymore. I am frightened and excited to a degree that I haven’t experienced before.
I am still trying to discover everything that this year means for me. I’m not the type to lay detailed life plans and follow them exactly, but I am also very uncomfortable flying through life by the seat of my pants. At the very least, I need a direction, something that I can justify my decisions by pointing to; something that will give me accountability.
For the past few years, my personality has been manifesting itself in four major directions: I have been a Web programmer, an activist, an academic, and a college kid. I’ve built up a repertoire in all of these directions that amazes me to look back on.
Web programmer me has had the chance to be an engineering intern at IzzitGreen, to hand-code my own blog1, and to design and develop a fair amount of Web sites for friends, family, and clients. Activist me has MC’d an Environmental Expo in my hometown, has interned at Greenpeace, and has been the president of Clarkson’s Environmental Club for two semesters. Academic me has taken all sorts of classes (from international development to investigative geology to automata theory), has grappled two senior theses (one of which is complete, for the most part2), and has taken an active role in Clarkson’s honors program. College student me has acted in (and directed!) a few plays, has been an officer in community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, and for some strange reason has been capable of carrying on a satisfying social life.
I have noticed, though, that I am often completely overwhelmed by all of the things on my to-do list, and I’m not sure why. I feel as though I am playing a gigantic game of Tetris, and I’m gradually clearing lines, every once in a while getting a Tetris (four lines in a row, I’m pretty sure that means), but never fully clearing the board — there is always something else.
So that’s what I want to do this year. I want to clear the Tetris board — I want to get rid of all that junk filling up my time, and be 100% happy with how I am spending my time, no matter what I am doing. I am still unsure what this entails for me, because my Tetris board is different each time I look at it.
Here are some of the reasons that I am excited about 2010:
Finishing my honors thesis. If I want to graduate with an honors degree, get that nice fat honors scholarship, and take that fascinating-looking class in food that’s being offered next semester, I have to do this. But also, it’s going to be nice to finish something that has been looming for what seems like since sophomore year of high school…3 I’ve already mentioned that my thesis involves developing a Facebook application. I won’t say much more yet about it, except that I’m trying to figure out how morality and political views transfer between people.
Driving a circuit around the United States with my high school buddies. Matt, Jon and I have been planning this for a bit over a year now… The week after I graduate, we’re going to depart the great state of New York and drive west until we reach Washington. Then we are going to drive south until we reach Southern California. Then we are going to drive east until we reach Florida. Finally, we are going to drive north until we get back to New York. We’re going to accomplish this in about a month and a half, hopefully with about a grand and a half apiece. That, in all of its awesome vagueness, is our plan.
Becoming an uncle. This one’s something I’ve not got much control over, but I’m pretty excited about it nonetheless! My new nephew is going to be living kind of far away from me, but I am definitely going to make every attempt to see him and my brother/sister-in-law once or twice this year.
That empty, open expanse of possibility starting when I get back from the road trip. I’m considering some job opportunities, just freelancing, or taking a wild leap and moving to a strange city to see what happens. Either way, before this open expanse begins I want to make sure my Tetris board is empty.
In the past few days, I have been hacking away at my blog, making lots of improvements in the backend that make it waaay easier for me to write new posts… including adding footnotes like this one! These changes might mean that you will be hearing from me more often. ↩
It’s about a community-based resistance movement against the Wal-Mart in Potsdam, New York, and why that movement failed. It is my goal to polish it more and then formally publish it. ↩
There is a long story here, and I will tell it as soon as I am able. ↩
Comments on this post
i want to do the same... make room for the important stuff!
thank you,Max, i feel very inspired and can't wait for your next entry.
happy new year to you, too!!!!!!!!
PS- Just discovered your website while avoiding hw/studying, very cool :)
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