So, I thought about what I would want to write about. A lot came to mind, spread out all over the entirety of this past year. In the interest of trying to avoid clichés (and avoiding breaking out into a variety-show-type filler montage), I thought I'd just kind of go at it at random as it hits me. And I would tell the truth about it all.
So, without further babbling, this was 2011 for me.
2011 was living with friends. It was friends at school, fantastic people who I just about always got along with who taught me to enjoy what I like doing. It was new friends at work, none of them less than twice my age, and each of them full of experience I couldn't imagine. It was moving home, and the mix of comfort and shame that comes with it at age 23. It was finishing school and still not quite believing that I couldn't live at Pomona any more. It was a lot of books, and a lot of anime. It was writing papers for school, botching part of the final speech for my senior project, and making up for it in the Q&A.
2011 was living at home. It as living with parents who love me unconditionally, and I them, even though they get on my nerves at times. It was friends at home, who I continue to regret not spending more time with. It was working, full time and non-seasonally, for the first time in my life, and all of the stress and satisfaction that comes with it. It was a change in the weather, and a the first fully scheduled existence since High School. It was making and spending money, but still being far from any real independence.
2011 was art. It was the realization that I might have some talent that exists independent of the opinions of others. It was putting memories and ideas into written words, usually into some kind of strange free form prose. It was confidence, more or less, and a lot more time spent on the computer doing things other than rotting my brain. It was rotting my rain on the computer a lot of the time. It was erasing and rewriting more than I ever thought was possible. It was the realization that writing multiple drafts wasn't the worst part of the writing process.
2011 was expansion and contraction. It was meeting and dealing with new people. It was realizing how imperfect people could be, and how much I still liked them for it. It was dealing with problems, and ignoring others. It was passive aggressive, though somewhat less so than other years. It was the benefit of the doubt, always. It was realizing, for the first time, how lucky I really was. It was someone very dear passing away and someone very special entering the picture. It was depression, though very little. It was optimistic logic.
2011 was inflammatory. It was anger at angry politicians, book-cover judgments, and frustration. It was a little bit of extra weight around the midsection. It was full of mistakes, and full of misdirection. It was a pursed mouth and a forced smile rolled into one. It was dropping popularity ratings and omnipresent criticism. It was cats with diabetes. It was debt, damnation, and expectation. It was loss of interest, and, for some, a loss of hope. It was a lot of Irish breakfast tea and incense sticks.
2011 was, and I was a part of it, and so were you.
Thank you for that. It meant a lot to me.
(It was also a year that I don't have any online videos to represent. So, in lieu of that, have an Even Stevphen compilation. I think it fits, don't you?)
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| 10 F#@king Years - Even Stevphen | ||||
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