So, I just finished watching Napolean Dynamite.
Do you ever think about what would have surprised your high school self about the way your life is now?
Top things that would have surprised my high school self:
- got a degree in music performance with a concentration in jazz piano (I didn't play piano in high school)
- wrote a lot of music
- studied in NY with (my hero at the time) Darmon Meader
- eventually moved to Boston to become a software consultant who specialized in this new fangled “internet“ thing
- holy crap! girls like me...and what's up with this string of asian girlfriends....who knew? Looks like you'll be marrying a korean-american super genius from Iowa who you meet at the opera.
- your teachers telling you that you're not detail oriented enough to do software...they're all wrong
- also, you're far from lazy. a bit of a procrastinator (like 90% of everyone else in the world) but you're definitely not lazy or unmotivated. You're just insanely bored with high school.
Top things that would have surprised my college self:
- everything worked out ok and just about everything that you stress out about is irrelevant
- holy crap! girls like me...and what's up with this string of asian girlfriends and, contrary to what everyone (and I do mean everyone) else around me at the time thinks, I'm not gay.
- no really...everything worked out ok
- no seriously...you're not gay, either
- chill out already you're not gay and your life is fine. You move to Boston and you have cool, smart friends and you're reasonably successful.
- ok, dude. Quit being so goddamned uptight. It all works out fine. Just graduate from college and it's all good. Friggin' chill already. Yes, being in Maine really wasn't your deal and you really didn't fit in. Just hang on a few more years and it's all good. Just sit back and enjoy yourself and stop being such a raging a-hole.
- Look. Therapy. Really. It worked wonders. For the love of God! Please just take a breath and calm down. Jesus CHRIST! You were an uptight, high-strung pain in the ass.
- The puritanical aversion to alcohol goes away and you really get into wine for a while and it gets really expensive.
- Turns out you like cheese, too. The wine leads into cheese which introduces you to this cheese and wine guru in Cambridge who recommends going to Piedmont, Italy and you get totally hooked on Northern Italian food and decide that you actually like to travel.
- You chill out just a little.
-Ben