Follies of Youth
Someone twittered about being in London and doing the whole tea time experience. For some reason, between the weather and my tiredness, I'm feeling rather sentimental and nostalgic. So when I read that, my mind drifted back to the times I spent in London, and especially to the semester I was there.
It's strange to think of how the person I was at 20 is different from the person I am at 26 (in two days). If I could go back, I would do things very differently. And yet, I wouldn't. I spent a majority of that semester doing some heavy drinking and partying simply because I'd lived at home my whole life, and that lifestyle and sense of independence was new and intoxicating (no pun intended). Obviously after that I had plenty of opportunities to experience that in good ol' Texas, too, but how new it was at the time...
Since then, with my free youth mostly dissipated except for random bouts of sudden wildness, I can think of a million things I'd do differently. People I should not have associated with, actions I should not have taken, drinks that that should not have been consumed, and embarrassing drunken dancing that really, really should never have happened.
Yet, without it, would I be the person I am today? Would those things still hold a certain kind of allure? Would I have buried that beneath suppressed longing? Would my occasional desire to "get wild" be a constant hum instead?
Probably. There are still things I lament today. Including never living on campus at TCU. Then again, I also regret the major I chose, not getting better internships, and not saving more, but that's another story.
Anyway, that reminds me, I've been planning my months ahead, for some reason.
October will be dedicated to preparing for NaNoWrimo.
November will obviously be dedicated to NaNoWrimo.
December and the early part of January will be dedicated to revising the novel.
The rest of January will be dedicated to my class at TCC. I'm taking a computer illustration class in the evenings. A class that even as a lab.
Taking a class at TCC sort of makes me feel like I'm moving backwards, since I already have a BA, but quite frankly, that BA is getting me nowhere. So I'm going to see if I'd enjoy studying graphic design. Through all my school years, including high school, I took art classes. Not to mention my favorite class at TCU was an advertising class where, surprise, surprise, we created ads for staff of a museum who wanted to advertise their facility as a place to host events. I actually won first place in that class. So it sort of seems appropriate for me to study graphic design.
The only reason I didn't consider it then is because I'd got it stuck in my head that I wanted to be something else, and nothing would sway from that until it was time to become that. And then suddenly I realized it wasn't something I wanted to do. Oops...The follies of youth. And my rather stubborn nature.
Well, I'm off. Complaints to log and all that. I wonder if I'll get another call from a guy that threatens to sue the company because he's only getting one free bottle rather than six (greedy, much?). Or if I'll get another call from someone's whose wife confused her nail product with a prescription medication meant to treat ear infections. Her husband actually told me over the phone, "I'm not good with the ladies, especially my wife." Priceless. I've got to insert that into a piece of fiction sometime.
Maybe I'll fortify myself for the coming calls with tea and biscuits.
It's strange to think of how the person I was at 20 is different from the person I am at 26 (in two days). If I could go back, I would do things very differently. And yet, I wouldn't. I spent a majority of that semester doing some heavy drinking and partying simply because I'd lived at home my whole life, and that lifestyle and sense of independence was new and intoxicating (no pun intended). Obviously after that I had plenty of opportunities to experience that in good ol' Texas, too, but how new it was at the time...
Since then, with my free youth mostly dissipated except for random bouts of sudden wildness, I can think of a million things I'd do differently. People I should not have associated with, actions I should not have taken, drinks that that should not have been consumed, and embarrassing drunken dancing that really, really should never have happened.
Yet, without it, would I be the person I am today? Would those things still hold a certain kind of allure? Would I have buried that beneath suppressed longing? Would my occasional desire to "get wild" be a constant hum instead?
Probably. There are still things I lament today. Including never living on campus at TCU. Then again, I also regret the major I chose, not getting better internships, and not saving more, but that's another story.
Anyway, that reminds me, I've been planning my months ahead, for some reason.
October will be dedicated to preparing for NaNoWrimo.
November will obviously be dedicated to NaNoWrimo.
December and the early part of January will be dedicated to revising the novel.
The rest of January will be dedicated to my class at TCC. I'm taking a computer illustration class in the evenings. A class that even as a lab.
Taking a class at TCC sort of makes me feel like I'm moving backwards, since I already have a BA, but quite frankly, that BA is getting me nowhere. So I'm going to see if I'd enjoy studying graphic design. Through all my school years, including high school, I took art classes. Not to mention my favorite class at TCU was an advertising class where, surprise, surprise, we created ads for staff of a museum who wanted to advertise their facility as a place to host events. I actually won first place in that class. So it sort of seems appropriate for me to study graphic design.
The only reason I didn't consider it then is because I'd got it stuck in my head that I wanted to be something else, and nothing would sway from that until it was time to become that. And then suddenly I realized it wasn't something I wanted to do. Oops...The follies of youth. And my rather stubborn nature.
Well, I'm off. Complaints to log and all that. I wonder if I'll get another call from a guy that threatens to sue the company because he's only getting one free bottle rather than six (greedy, much?). Or if I'll get another call from someone's whose wife confused her nail product with a prescription medication meant to treat ear infections. Her husband actually told me over the phone, "I'm not good with the ladies, especially my wife." Priceless. I've got to insert that into a piece of fiction sometime.
Maybe I'll fortify myself for the coming calls with tea and biscuits.