Parting Words

Well, anonymous and intermittent reader, this is my last blog post for the year. On Wednesday I'll be heading home and unpacking all my stuff, realizing just how much I'm going to miss all my new friends and how my freshman year of college is done and gone, never to be experienced again. I figure I'll probably ask myself why I didn't take advantage of it more, really enjoy it and not worry so much about things, but I'll try not to do that too much. The more we regret the past the less time we will spend time really enjoying the moment, and in turn we will just create more wasted moments to regret. Summer will be pretty awesome. I'm going to work at the hamburger and brat shack I ran last summer, grilling and sittin' out in the sun. I'll spend a lot of time with friends that I haven't seen for a long time, and I'll probably go on a lot of road trips. This is the first time in my life that summer has come accompanied by a twinge of sadness, because I'll be leaving a place I've come to call home and people I've been privileged to call friends.

I started the year with a few of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes comics, and I think it might be fitting to end with them. Some of them are sad, some happy, some just funny, but all express some truth about my life and perhaps about human life in general (if I may be so bold). I'm sad I'll be leaving, but I also remember lots of happy memories from my freshman year. At times I was depressed, but I think from my experience and from knowing my friends, pretty much everyone gets pretty depressed at some point in their freshman year. If not, you've found a pretty awesome way of distracting yourself from the tougher realities of life, and you should really send me an email with a detailed list of steps to follow (video game advocates need not submit; I've played enough Super Smash Bros. this year to have each map's theme music stuck in my head during class). And perhaps that's why so many college students are drunk every weekend--college is definitely a freedom trip, but it's also accompanied with a lot of new questions, but some people might prefer to drown them out (no judgment intended).

In parting, here are some of my favorite Calvin strips.

***

Look closely at this one...

Hobbes always has the best lines.

" * "

Nobody can say they don't get this way sometimes. I had perhaps too many of these moments this year.

And he goes back to daydreaming :)

Thanks for reading, friends. Have a wonderful summer and take it easy,

Danny

Mistakes

Another week gone by, and now we just have a few weeks left of school to go. Seems crazy I'll only have two more blog posts after this--it's been a weird sort of constant throughout all the change that has happened throughout my freshman year. I looked at my profile picture for this thing as I logged on tonight and marveled at how different I look now. My hair is longer, yeah, but really I think that the differences I see aren't necessarily the physical ones. It seems odd to me that we look back at pictures of ourselves, whether it's a year or ten years, and try to place ourselves in that position again. Of course it's the same physical being, but is the person in that picture really the same self, the same formulation of personality and sociality that exists now? I don't know. I guess I'm trying to define the self, and that hasn't worked out so neatly for even the most erudite philosophers.

As I was driving around my hometown this weekend I saw a lot of rummage sales and a lot of really sweet furniture I wanted for my dorm room next year. Room draw is on Wednesday for me, and my roommate and I are hoping to get into Larsen. I have to admit I'll be a bit disappointed if we don't, but living in Towers where almost all the sophomores live won't be too bad. Next year I want to bring as little amount of stuff as possible. I'm tired of the clutter that has built up in my room this year. I have too many clothes, too many books, too much electronics, and too many "decorations." For some reason, it seems like my stuff has somehow reproduced. I have way more than I came here with. Next year, I want a comfy chair, a vinyl player, a lamp, my computer, some clothes, and my books. And that's all really. Well I'll bring my slackline and climbing stuff, but that's a given.

A blog is a tough thing to write. So much happens in my daily life, but nothing really happens that I feel like people care to hear about. Then again, nobody wants to read random musings of a discontented college students, so you have to find a balance between daily happenings and the insights one might draw from them. I hope that I've done a pretty good job with my blog, though I know that at times I've tended more towards rambling than any sort of narrative. It will be fun, though, to go back and see the changes in my outlook on life through my blog. A sort of journal, I guess. I've been keeping a private journal for a while now, and I have to say, it's been a real pleasure to be able to express my thoughts that way. To all the slightly depressed, thought-ridden disaffected youth out there: buy a journal and fill it up with all the thoughts you have no idea how to deal with or express, fill it up with everything you could never tell anyone, because a journal doesn't care if you don't adequately express your thoughts in a way someone else can understand. It's just a passive receiver. The whole point is you.

I've been losing motivation for school work pretty steadily. I need some sort of academic pick-me-up here soon, but I fear I will have to cope with self-induced energy for the next few weeks. I just want it to be summer.

Take it easy,

Danny