Archive for December, 2009

Christmas time in Arizona:

A lot of thoughts running through my head. I’m on my way to work tonight. Taking a little time to sit down and actually do some writing. Its been a while in coming. My poor journal hasn’t seen my fingers since a little after I got back. What with the semester at school, work – I’ve gotten a part-time hourly job at ASU as an ICA Facilities and Operations Stadium Control Officer… Not a bad job. Basically I’m a security guard and crowd control officer for ASU athletic events. I like it. It’s simple, doesn’t take much cognitive thought but does require a bit more of the physical side. I get to show hospitality to our visitors and interact with folks who have a real passion… one way or another… for the games. Other than that, I completed another semester riding at 17 credits. I’m signed up for my final semester and preparing to graduate in 2010. I spent the holidays camping outside Tucson with my Parents as my brother leads the berger family into another hemisphere. He’s off exploring Belize and Latin america – feel free to check it out at www.virtualwayfarer.com

May is coming I’m nervous but trying to figure out where to put in my Graduate school applications. I’m also looking for a career job in urban planning/urban systems. My thesis is both a grad school application and a job portfolio… all rolled into one. It’s a good thing I’ve got an entire semester dedicated to perfecting it.

I’ve been spending time getting used to becoming independent. Every day, I eek a little bit closer to being able to fully support myself. In regard to that each day I become more thankful for the support and love of my family and friends, and how much trust and confidence they’ve placed in my success. I’m a significant investment, and I value myself as a person who’s worth every penny and more. Confidence it seems, won’t be an issue. 9 months traveling alone with a backpack and a strong will proved that without question. There is no situation that could prevent me from taking advantage. I can’t wait to branch out and find work with an NGO or company overseas and really start working on making a difference. I’m coming world.

School is going well, my GPA is still rising at 3.63 cumulative and I’m preparing to take the GRE and finalize my grad school applications come January 9th. I’d prefer a job and 2-3 years of on the ground experience before returning for a doctorate but I know that it lies in my future. The experience and on the ground understanding offered by the U.S. Consulate general were vital in furthering my education and giving me an opportunity to see the skills and material offered in class in action. That experience increased the value of my following classes by 100 fold. I expect further experience could increase a masters or doctorate experience similarly.

Now its about finding the opportunity to make it happen. The right fellowship and I’d stay in school, but other wise its time to start advertising myself and my specific generalist skillset to companies around the world. I’m adaptable, I’m learning more every day, and I’m not afraid to be mobile or to be thrown into a new challenging situation every time I open my eyes.

Its time to get going.

Routines:

Now is later. I keep telling myself, I’ll write another post tonight, well tomorrow morning, tomorrow night…. Wait it’s been 3 months. Life rushes by us. It’s been repeated for ages, when you’re young, time crawls by. For a youngster their frame of reference is shorter, we measure our experience in terms of our own realization. That is to say that for us we understand life in relation to the amount of time we’ve spent. When you’re eight, time crawls by because hell, there’s 78 more years to live and each day seems to crawl by because you’ve only experienced 2920 of them. As you grow older, you see a quarter century, then half, then ¾ then if you’re lucky, you’ll get to see a whole century… that’s a whole lot of days, and they start to blur together. We start to put time in relation, a day isn’t that much, and it’s not so special…. When those words leave your mouth, you know you’re in trouble.

A close friend of mine told me that the last six months of his life just flew by, and he couldn’t understand how it went by so fast. He was worried, because to him that meant that he wasn’t making the best of the days he had. Each day of his life, was marked by the same routine, he was on autopilot…. How many of us feel that each day? How many times do we remember the drive to work, or the endless routine of breakfast, lunch, and then home (if we’re lucky) for dinner. Our routines become us, we become human’s doing, not humans being. It’s not just about relaxing. Each day should be special. Reserved. If we lose touch with that… well. That’s a tough thought. If we lose touch with ourselves, our being, there’s not much left to live for.

Part of it may be our culture, after all throughout life we’re taught to put off our dreams, our goals until we make enough money. Put ourselves into a routine, don’t be the nail head sticking up, work hard and defer your goals, then one day you’ll make it and can live your goals… well what happens when you’re too old to take advantage of the system. When you’ve lost yourself in your routine, and forgotten your goals… a lot of minds find themselves lost and unable to recover. The highest suicide rate among 25 to 50 yr olds are highly successful men. Men who made their fortunes, but have no idea what to do with it.

What can that tell us about our future? About our place in the world? What can that help us understand?