Becoming something…

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Like how Iraq was mission accomplished 5 years today, I too felt accomplished. I was just about to finish high school and I hadn’t even decided on a college. I was though flying high, mission accomplished. I had recently regained trust by my parents and summer “adult” freedom was ripening on my tongue.

I forgive Hilary for voting for the war. If was voting on mis-information too. Grownup had arrived. Today I know I have a lifetime of growing up to do.

So I am reemerging not to fill the spaces of the pages but to fill some parts of me that I too often look elsewhere to. I know that my mission isn’t accomplished and that I’ll consume lots of coffee to get there. The reset button is close by, could you push it? No, just a soft reset. I don’t want to lose everything.

Lets not fault Bush for calling a war or even calling it to a close super early, lets fault him for not listening to the experience and learning from it. Get out of there!

It is hard. It is what defines his stay in office. Victim to simple quick fixes, time is a difficult illusion. The longer you stay in it, the further you fall face first into reality.

I have spent a lot of time recently on MBA applications. It has been a while since I had to so craftily praise myself in front of others; it was never this specific. I am defending passion and my future career plans. In definition, I have gone through a transition. Unlike the addictions of war, I have turned the red tide. What are you surfing on when you need something else to keep the momentum?

We are not alone for a reason. Use your developing intuition and growing heart in sync to determine self-motivation. Look to those you know to be real sensors of your being. At the very least there is a technique that is simple to surf through the rougher and lonelier times.

List accomplishments of your day, w/o your minds side commentary; if any slips in, you are forbidden from making further note of it at all.

Today:
•  Entry to baited blog
•  Made progress on scholarship guidebook at work
•  Speedily organized home office
•  Felt reemergence of China-fondness
•  Large Mexican latte instead of small

Find your coastline and ride…summer is coming whether you want it to or not.

In the land of the free, the early election crap has reason for such an early start this year. Obama and Huckabee take the Iowa caucuses! If you put me to vote, Huckabee would probably be the last one I’d vote for out of all of them. As for Obama, he knows his politics, but does he know the White House? I’m actually a Clinton fan. Richardson second for me and then a tie for third with Obama and Edwards. To give the the Republicans out there a shout out, I’m actually feelin’ Rudy.

To get some great commentary on the Iowa action check these out:

Iowa Changes Everything

“After last night’s Iowa Caucus results, some are saying the GOP is now in total disarray, and others are expressing shock that the once seemingly unstoppable Clinton train has gone off the rails, with the New York Times calling her performance a ’startling setback.’”

Obama Takes Iowa in a Big Turnout as Clinton Falters; Huckabee Victor

“Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a first-term Democratic senator trying to become the nation’s first African-American president, rolled to victory in the Iowa caucuses on Thursday night, lifted by a record turnout of voters who embraced his promise of change.”

The Daily Dish - This whole blog is doing a bunch of great personal commentary

A reader here wrote, “And the people won. I never thought I’d be so happy to see two people I completely disagree with win. This election transcends policy positions. It’s about who we are as a county. Can we be conned? Bought? Blinded by prejudice, fear or “inevitability”? The answer tonight was a resounding NO.”

Obama’s victory in Iowa sheds light on today’s workplace

“Millennials are fundamentally conservative…Baby boomers are being forced out, in a non-disruptive way…The gender divide is an antiquated view of the world…”

See you in New Hampshire and Super Tuesday

and the new tree we got over the weekend is so delightful and ominous. And since there’s no place to go, let it precipitate, let it precipitate, let it precipitate.

Snow fell and then rain slushified it, much like Michigan should, except this year it’s not exciting me as much as it normally does. I’ll admit that it looked nice on Ypsilanti’s streets as it seemed to give them reason to be empty. Yet, this year feels extremely different. Christmas music playing on the radio before Thanksgiving isn’t new but it is a constant reminder that something is new. This will be my first independent Christmas, the first time that my celebration will be divided between families and our own. The songs seem to hit a note that doesn’t convey cheer this year, but possibly fear.

I’ve been alone for the holiday season before, namely when I was on study abroad. Even then, because China didn’t celebrate it, we created our own version (thanks to goods sent from home) but could mostly ignored it. It was easy to because there wasn’t any type of build up surrounding me. Otherwise, I’ve been home for the holidays. We missed family Thanksgiving celebration this year because we were in China, a necessary holiday build-up. Now I sit looking at our beautiful new tree, decorated and purchased ourselves. Of course we will travel to our respective families’ houses for the festivities.

Each Christmas song is a reminder of my independence. Instead of being frustrated and depressed at my family’s home, I’m happily away. Yet, more than ever, this is the season in which I want to feel dependent on my old residence.

In what ways are you struggling with independence? Wasn’t the dream of independence a sweeter goal when it was proving something to your parents?

1) Think selfishly.
2) Think selflessly.
3) Combine the two and think of the relationship

Lets take a moment to define “going with the flow.” First, this statement acknowledges that there is a flow and a direction to things. Also, it is important to note that if you just sit there and do nothing, the flow, like in a river, will take you somewhere. While that journey may be interesting, chances are it may not be what will make us the happiest. So I think “going with the flow” is effective as a mantra only if we swim with the flow and help guide it. Just make sure you aren’t trying to avoid or swim around the unavoidable. You might just need to fall over a few waterfalls, hit a few rocks, and swallow a few gulps of water on your way.

Use the momentum of life to engage yourself and invest in opportunities. And, for those seeking all the options in the world or holding onto too much, a valiant futile attempt to swim against the flow is just a waste of energy.

This is how my summer went after graduation. I did a lot of nothing. I had a whole list of things to do while waiting for my job to start and not much got crossed off that list. Yet now, working nine to five, I still miss that space for a 40 oz. and the mid-afternoon to meet up together as one, don’t you?

There are a lot of us who probably wish life was more of a trip. Less like the one you take to your next interview or conference but more like the one where the sky swirls above your head. Tonight I saw “Across the Universe.” It was good. It could have been a bit more polished but totally worth a big thumbs up in my book. There you go, review done.

It might make some of you go crazy, but I wouldn’t mind a bit of my life to be cartoonized, exaggerated, and stretched. This is because it feels this way everyday anyway, so it would be nice to know it’s normal.

Our life and the each characters’ lives in the movie seems to have many present-day parallels. The continuous rhythm of war, fighting, love, confusion, and passion ring as strong as the Beatles songs used in the movie. “Across the Universe” does a great job of exhibiting the tug of war between life, reality, life, and more reality. To learn that life is not only an individual experience but one that is shared with others.

So I need to ask you…do we settle? When does the fight that we each feel for freedom end?

Since school have you crossed the universe or stayed closer to your own shores? In short, since then, what have you fallen for? Interpret how you like.