"I was 21 years when I wrote this song...."

[leffjakin]

This was written a few days ago, but I didn't have a chance to refine and post it.... anyhow, enjoy!  I'll probably have some real update of substance later this week, because I'm at home, free of schoolwork, and just a little bored.

So it’s what… 2 months plus since I’ve written in here?  What can I say-it’s been a busy semester, and despite the pressure of others (or rather, one particular other) to write in here, it consistently slips my mind.  In any event, this long awaited update comes as a result of several factors:

1. I am working a double shift at the desk, and will be here for the next three and a half hours, and need to write to stay awake
2. Having completed my budgeted work on my PTCD final for the day, I have found my brain sufficiently fried and need to focus on something non-academic.
3. Last week was my 21st birthday, and I am thus overdue for the obligatory birthday post.

For this year’s birthday post, I’ve opted (after much deliberation) to list what I consider the top 21 moments of my 21st year of life (and for those of you playing at home, the 21st birthday is the conclusion of your 21st year and beginning of the 22nd… think about it).  It’s been a lot of fun to think about over the past several days since Kim suggested it, and I hope its half as much fun to read.

So here they are, in (hopefully) chronological order (first ten today, the final eleven tomorrow):

1. New Years Day 2006: Driving home from a road trip that took me from Livonia to Canton to Mt. Pleasant back to Canton, I was struck by a sense of anxiety and uncertainty about the coming year-I couldn’t remember a time I had so much going for me and so much changing at the same time.  In the end, all I could really do about it as I pulled onto Gratiot was roll down all the windows in my car, turn up the CD player, and blast Wilco’s “Kicking Television” while wailing along with Jeff Tweedy like nobody else could hear, as if to say “I’m ready 2006… bring it”
2. MDP Convention Weekend: It’s no secret to anyone that January and February were not the best months for me this year.  There were a lot of long contemplative walks, unpublished thoughts, and visits home to gain perspective.  In the midst of it all, however, there were some bright spots, and this sticks out in my mind as the first “good” weekend I had during that time.  Between inadvertently inviting myself along with Rob’s family to see the excellent “Assassins” (easily my favorite musical) and spending a morning in Lansing with Rob, Tom, and James scoping out and occasionally mocking Michigan politics, complete with a trip to the infamous Empire Szechwan Chinese Buffet, it reminded me that I still had a lot going for me, not the least of which were some incredible friends.
3. The Spring Break Road Trip Debacle: So I spent the first half of Spring Break in Chicago with my family to celebrate my uncle’s 40th birthday, which though nice, wasn’t nearly as memorable as the ride I hitched from Liz from East Lansing.  It was relative smooth sailing up until we got to the toll roads, where we had to either (a) rapidly switch into the right lane or (b) rapidly search for change as we approached the booth.  Even so, we caught sight of the Chicago skyline far ahead of schedule, and with that wonderful extra hour from crossing time zones to boot.  Then we passed the skyline… and the airport… and realized we had no clue where we were.  In the end, we wound up sitting in the shopping plaza where none other than Kevin Zayed once worked going into a yuppie furniture store to ask how to get back on the right expressway and calling my uncle to figure out what the hell to do after that.  Unbelievably enough, this was only the first of many Chicago related driving dilemmas I would undergo in 2006, including the family minivan breaking down on our way home from the same trip.
4. Policy Seminar Presentation: One of the most satisfying days of my spring semester, for a number of reasons.  First, the policy seminar presented to the MSU Board of Trustees and was incredibly well received.  To have worked on something like that for so long and see it play out successfully was a tremendously rewarding experience (as was having lunch on the college’s dime afterwards).  Also, this was the day that I got the call from Mr. Jeb Bush offering me a position as a program assistant for the 2006 Summer Session of Presidential Classroom, ensuring my return at last to Washington DC.  Much celebrating ensued, if I recall correctly.
5. James’ BBQ: One weekend before finals, James invited us all to his place in Brighton for the afternoon for some terrific Korean barbeque.  While it was great to take an afternoon off from working and enjoy some home-cooked food, the real memory is what took place after the meal.  Standing outside and looking out upon James’ yard, we notice something unusual sitting underneath James’ deck-specifically, an enormous bloated carcass of a raccoon.  This was followed by a great deal of distress from James (apparently the raccoon had ruined his gathering), Tom and I approaching it with shovels with the intent of hurling it through the air into the woods that backed onto the house, and ultimately lacking the proper tools and having a neighbor dispose of it for us.  A good time was had by all… except probably that raccoon.
6. Matt and Bethany’s Wedding: To be certain, it was a highly anticipated event that combined many things close to me-my family (and specifically my cousin and fellow JMCer), MSU, the chance to see friends before leaving for DC-but I think on a more personal level, it was somewhat amazing to see two people so close to my own age who connected on such a level that they were willing to make a commitment to make that journey into the real world alongside one another.  After a semester that wasn’t particularly easy on my conceptions of love and relationships, it was a nice thing to see.
7. Going back to DC: This is really a combination of moments all tied by one feeling.  From the moment I walked off the plane at Reagan to those anxious moments waiting on Wisconsin in Georgetown to see familiar faces once again, to my exclamation that it was "like Disney World" to walk onto the House Floor again, my trip back to DC in many ways felt like coming home to a place I had missed more than I had even realized, flooding me with good memories all over again (which came in handy during the Page scandals that broke the following fall).
8. The Law and Justice Banquet: My week as Law and Justice Coordinator for PC was busy, frantic, and ultimately exhausting (as photos of me supervising mock court unfortunately demonstrate), but it was also incredibly rewarding.  At the traditional end of session banquet, when the students stood to give their speeches, one will always stick out in my mind.  The girl talked about how she was from a small town in the middle of nowhere, and despite being a top student for where she was from, she was terrified of how she’d stack up in the real world.  In the end, she learned it didn’t matter-there were people smarter than her, more ambitious than her, wealthier than her, but she still had that underlying desire to do what she could with what she had to make a difference in the world, and that was what counted.  Both Ian (my boss) and I admitted to almost tearing up at the end of that one.  For the first time, I really saw the impact of what I was doing that summer with PC, and was pretty proud of the outcome.
9. The Newspaper Hat: During the week I had to work the overnight shift for PC, I slowly found myself starting to lose my grip on reality.  This was perhaps exemplified by the time that, while sitting in the office, I saw it fitting to grab a nearby USA Today and fashion myself a paper hat out of it, which I proceeded to decorate and wear during my shifts.  If I had to pinpoint a moment during this year where I really learned to laugh at myself, it would be this.
10. The Lollapalooza Road Trip Debacle: I don’t think my first major festival experience would have been complete without the story of me, Steve and Kevin sitting in a Target parking garage on the trunk of a 2003 Honda Civic that would not run, with me frantically trying to figure out if my uncle or the tow truck would show up first and developing five separate contingency plans to salvage our weekend (remarkably, they wound up arriving at the same time), while Kevin finally cut me off by simply staying “remember… just, Steady as She Goes,” endearing me in a whole new way to an already excellent song.