Taking Stock

This morning when I was thinking about what I wanted to write about today, I was thinking that beginnings are good times for taking stock, analyzing where you are, and deciding where you want to be. Now I mostly want pizza but I’d have to walk down the street to get it and it’s getting to be that time of day when everybody’s at the store and I hate people, so that’s not really an option. Wait, stores close early around here. Better go before five. Be right back.

Actual view from my common room. Take a left and Tesco's like a 5 minute walk away.

Pizza acquired. Where were we? Oh. Beginnings.

You know, I have a deep personal awareness of where I’m at in life right now. It’s Act 1. We’re all familiar with the conceit of the show and we’re waiting to find out what the conflict is, where the story comes from. I have a feeling that this year's story will come out of the search for and writing of my dissertation, but who knows? A lot can happen in a year and I don’t want to lock myself into just any old plot.

So instead of taking stock, let me just send some wishes my way for eleven months from now when I’m turning in my paper and looking ahead to something else.

I hope your feet don’t hurt as much, Me From the Future. Surely you’re used to walking around by now, but take a second and remember how your feet were actually swollen after your first week in town. Also, you must have the calves of a goddess by now. I bet that in general you are looking fantastic, lady. Good for you. 

I hope that this year surprised you. I know that you’ve got your checklists and you’re prepared for many different scenarios and I know you find comfort in that, but there’s no reason to be world-weary yet. Be thankful for that. Be surprised.

Go to shows in fancy old buildings. See Night Vale again.

I hope you bought real silverware eventually. 

For my budget’s sake, I hope you did this cheaply and got a job.

I hope someone asked you to dance. 

I hope you said yes.

For this oven's sake, I hope you learned celsius.

Man, I hope you learned some dorky stuff, bro. Like, today, in the library, I was reading an argument about whether time actually exists or not and, dude, if you don’t have a well-formulated opinion on the metaphysical existence of spacetime by the end of the year, I’m not sure I even want to know you. UNLESS YOU LEARNED SOMETHING BETTER. PLEASE TELL ME YOU LEARNED SOMETHING BETTER.

I hope you learned the time and place for the words “dude" and "bro."

I hope you’re proud of who you are. You could settle into snarky and reserved, but genuine is good too. I mean, you’re never going to be an open book, so don’t be worried about that, but I hope you found people to be yourself around and I hope that this year only made you better. Then again, it’s not always the solutions we expect that actually help, so I’ll keep the surprise thing in mind.

God, I hope it was worth it.

Then again, how could it not be?