Adam and Georgi

Pets in the recession

Giving Thanks!

So my grand idea to start a blog has gotten cut down to size seeing as my procrastination has managed to keep me away all this time.  This is not to say that the responsibility is anyone’s but my own. 

I need to merge this entry with a life update and a thought process.  After creating the title for this blog, I have since moved to Brockport, applied to graduate school, got a new job, got accepted to graduate school, quite the job, and flew to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a while to stay near a cousin of mine suffering from Lyme disease and the diabolical hyperacusis syndrome.  I know, I know, grad school is used as a fall back for disgruntled graduates unable to find his/her dream job right out of college.  Well, it must be said that I am one of the brave ones who defied peoples’ advice and forged ahead to get a degree in English as opposed to elementary education, nursing, or engineering.  Those last two would have been quite a stretch, but anyway, the compass hadn’t finished fluttering by graduation so, like many of my classmates, I still wasnt quite sure what I wanted to do.

Im extremely curious, social, and have an affinity for writing, contrary to my premature hiatus from this blog.  Therefore, I decided a branch of journalism would suite me very well.  Which particular vein of journalism is yet to be seen, but thankfully, the program I am doing in the fall is tackling the range including print, on-line, radio, and television.  Now, all this having been said, please do not hold me to any journalistic standards as I’ve merely declared that I am going to learn it, not that I already have. 

The real aim of this entry was to discuss the need to be thankful.  All that I have to be thankful for has been magnified in the face of this cursed illness my cousin is facing, however,  I did not stop and think about it until I watched a movie recently.  In my experience its certain events, images,  or texts that provoke moments of assessing all that one has to be thankful for.  In this instance, it was watching the South African film titled, Yesterday.

The beautifully filmed movie follows a woman and her daughter who live in a town where none of the inhabitants would have ever had the opportunity to watch the movie as electricity was nonexistent.  The poverty shown was painful, yet the simplicity both endearing and humbling.  As I said, I recently packed my bags to come out to New Mexico for about two months.  In the beginning we see a woman in search of a teaching position in any town that has one, walking along a dirt road, carrying with her one small suitcase holding presumably all she owns.  No wheels or straps.  Just a handle.  I, on the other hand, paid a fee to check two suitcases, very full, for a two month trip.  Keep in mind, that had I packed all that I own, my bank account may have been completely tapped out from the baggage fees. 

The film also discussed H.I.V., and seeing the challenge it is to even obtain a simple blood test, made the generally daunting prospect of driving and waiting at a health clinic seem like a breeze compared to walking 3 hours to wait in line for a doctor who may or may not have to time to see you.  Wouldn’t it benefit all of us to be more cognizant of all that we have to be grateful for?  If I were to sit down and write and entire list, even the most expensive pen would run dry.  And hey, I should be really thankful for that!

That was the original end, but I have to add one more thing.  Another thought inspired by a film.  In the movie 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama, the director asks why it was that in all his travels to both developed and developing nations, he saw many more smiles, and felt more joy from the “have-nots?”  His Holiness gave a concise simple answer that all of us can understand.  Basically he said that it’s a matter of satisfaction.  Those whose world is relatively simple, once their basic needs are met they are more easily able to enjoy life, while those who are always thinking about earning more, doing more, seeing more, and getting more, always live with a certain amount of stress.  I know I always feel like I should be doing more.  Maybe the lesson could be that, while many of us lived in a fast-paced capitalist society, try to keep it simple.  Increasingly harder to do with monitoring our stocks on-line, checking our email on our iPhones, returning our movies from Netflix, and paying our bills on the computer, try to keep in mind that we hold the power to simplify our own lives.  Maybe detach a little from that blaring e-world.  Listen to your own thoughts.  Say a prayer.  Write someone a letter.  Plant a flower.  And then check your email!  Just a thought…

The infamous first post-a brief introduction

So, I am finally entering the world of blogging.  I am very excited and hope that people will become involved and create an interesting dialogue, as that seems to be one of the most rewarding things about having one.  I want to write this blog for several of the myriad reasons people begin them: a creative outlet, a way to vent about daily pressures in these crazy times, and hopefully, to provide people with something they can relate to.

As my title implies, I am a twenty-something just trying to find direction in the uncertain period of life after graduation and before…well…everything else.  Out of college more than a year now, the season of change is quickly approaching, or at least I would like it to be.  That is, by the way, in no reference to the lovely autumn we are enjoying. That would be a little too corny.  I simply mean that I am ready for some new excitement and a feeling like I am making some progress toward the elusive “satisfying” career.  Coming back to live in my hometown after college creates a nagging feeling of being somewhat stagnant, albeit comfortable.  Going for that first outdoor jog after a winter of sporatic treadmill workouts is never a totally easy transition.  But once those muscles get warmed up and swampy gym air is swapped for crisp fresh air, the benefits are clear and the increased effort  isworth it! 

I do not want to start this out with a negative tone, so I’ll have to make sure the many positive things in my life get some face-time.  I have a wonderful family, with three siblings and two parents, whose love I’ve never questioned. I am in love with a beautiful, intelligent woman and I have the clicheed friends from college who will always be there for me for whom I am very grateful. 

  Im not altogether sure where this blog will take me, or what its main content will be, but I suppose thats part of the fun of it.  I’ll be glad to take any of your criticism and do not hesitate to tell me if Im complaining too much because chronic complaining is a poisonous thing that I hope to avoid on this blog, taking into account that a little bit of complaining is part of life, or at least mine anyways. 

I have to say once more how excited I am that I am finally starting a blog.  Its crazy to think just how many there are of you out there, and even more crazy knowing that thousands of you created your own blog on the same day as I created mine.

Goodnight everyone.