The first entry come from Dave "Papa Bear" Heyburn, a man who once challenged me to a drinking contest (this is how it ended). He requested: "blog about what you learned NOT being in school."
It is a matter of public record that I took this year off. This fall, I will begin studying for my masters degree in folklore and ethnomusicology at Indiana University. This past year has taught me endless amounts of information about life, people, and the moronic minutia that I so readily devour. I have narrowed it down to 23 points. Watch me attempt to be deep.
1- You know the Sam Cooke song "Twisting the Night Away"?
At 0:55, I always thought he was saying "he's dancing with the chicken slacks". I learned "he's dancing with the Chick in slacks".
2- After working at Men's Wearhouse for a year, I have a wonderfully bold eye for color. I know what colors work well together easily, like orange and light blue, what go together more boldly, like green and gray, and what go together absolutely daringly. Off-white and charcoal. Trust me on this.
3- I have made to the end of the third season of Battlestar Galactica, and I have realized that the final Cylon: Bob Dylan. That's why they can hear "All Along the Watchtower", I think...
4- People in Kentucky say "mamaw" instead of "grandma". The first time you hear it, you assume it's just the thing this one family calls grandma. But keep an ear open for it; the whole state does this.
5-A Lannister always pays his debts.
6- Taupe comes from the Latin word talpa, meaning mole. You think I would have learned this my days as a Classics major, but nay.
7- When you're 18, your hometown sucks. But when you're 23, you will love your hometown; it will be the one constant in your life. These sentiments are amplified if you left town for college.
8- Your professors (at least the good ones) care about you after you've graduated.
9- Undergrad is important. You can certainly tell people who never went to college: they have bad grammar because they never had to take English 102, they get flustered easily because they never had to cram a paper the week before exams, and their generally more intolerable to different people because they never got that wonderful experience of being crammed into a dorm with strangers from every religion, ethnicity, orientation, and walk of life.
10- Someone out there has the same interests as you, but you'll never know if you don't speak up. As a November chill crept through the store, I exclaimed, "Winter is Coming". I got a laugh out of Rob the suit guy, which eventually lead to him being Rob my best work friend.
11- I know I wrote a whole blog about this in February, but books, man. Books are still the best escapism; nothing else feeds your head quite like having to construct a world in your mind's eye.
12- Working. Weekends. Sucks.
13- The only person you need to compare yourself to is the person you see yourself becoming.
14- The people that you really want to be around are the same people who want to be around you.
15- I love Men's Wearhouse, but I couldn't make a career of it. The Christmas party was legendary and the discount on dress clothes is fucking amazing, but none of that is worth waiting on high schoolers for 3 months out of the year.
16- Letting your guard down is a terrifying process, but nonetheless the most rewarding part of getting to know yourself.
17- The only thing "going with the flow" is guaranteed to do is make people want to be around you more, even when you're stressed.
18- I know they say this about 3:23 into the damn Sunscreen song that they play at every graduation, but no one will ever be there for you like your siblings. Cherish them.
20- You know that emotion you're feeling right now? Don't fret; somewhere in the catalogue of modern popular music, a songwriter who felt it too at some point wrote a song about it to help you express yourself.
21- Stop finding reasons not to try new things. It could be that your absolutely amazing at something you've never tried yet and maybe you just needed the right person around you to help you discover it.
22- After college, don't feel like you must have life planned out. I've seen firsthand thats it's cool to wait until you really find what you want to do. But the minute you find it, start working for it, and don't lose momentum.
23- I have been a witness to an old poetic axiom this year: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men/ gang aft agley. Random things happen; nothing you plan goes the way you planned it. Maybe you'll get a sinus infection on your day off, maybe you'll get sold out of the 9:40 showing, maybe you'll get pregnant with your ex-husband. No matter what happens to you, you keep going. You make new plans. And when they go awry, you adapt and keep going. That's the human spirit. That's what it means to be human.
Dom, I'm really glad you took the time to reflect on the past year and write this post. Congrats. This is truly awesome.
ReplyDeleteThis was awesome
ReplyDelete-Tom