20(XX)

More posts?

Are my blog posts gonna turn into a semi-annual tradition? I suppose 6 to 9 months'ish provides a decent window of time for me to gather my thoughts and crank a post out. This post'll probably be shorter than my other ones because of school related time constraints. As always, thank you to anyone who takes time outa their busy lives to read any of my various ramblings, I appreciate it a bunch.

[edit: apparently I've only made one post this year...the other one was the end of last year GG .-.]

Progress

Every 5 years seems like a solid time-frame to benchmark myself. How have I progressed or regressed as a person since I was a 15-year-old high school sophomore? Part of me doesn't want to recall my embarrassing high school years filled with quite a few stupid decisions and laziness, but I think it's still important to look back at my mistakes so that I don't repeat em'. I'm pretty sure I have posts from then on this blog but I feel like I'd die a little inside rereading anything I wrote from high school. Frankly, in 5 more years I'll probably feel the same way about this post.

Each year tell myself to try to improve as a person, even if it's just by a bit. Complacency doesn't feel like my style. Progress is an ideal that I try openly embrace but always struggle with. Habitual practices are comfortable, familiar, and make sense. There's always some form of learning curve to overcome. Change also feels inevitable at times when it is thrust upon me; I have to either change first or eventually accept it after whatever my various attempts at resistance have failed. Investments like time and effort make me feel anchored to a situation but I nowadays I oftentimes feel as if the proper decision is to hoist my anchor and set sail for better waters. Regardless of the outcome of my decision, at the end of te Earth will spin on. So it goes.   

Bucket List

The average American is 78.7 years. With that in mind, it appears that I'm about a quarter-way through life. With new medical tech I'm sure it'll go up at least few more years in my lifetime. Like most other Americans I have stereotypical life goals: starting a family, finding a stable job, graduating university, etc. All that stuff is nice n' cozy but in the end, I really just want live to see spaceships up in the sky. Not your average rocket ship...I want to gaze up at the sky and see ships the size of clouds hovering above me. The concept of space travel has always fascinated me. It's the main
reason I love science-fiction related stuff so much. At the very least I'd like to travel to space someday. Realistically, maybe ~60 years isn't enough to advance that far technologically so I might have to aim my sights a bit further for 90 or 100. Hopefully nobody blows up the planet before I can get that old.

I've been watching a bit too much West Wing for the past few months. Makes me wish we had a president with the same passion for the people like Pres. Bartlett. Anyway, plot aside, I feel as if this Sam Seaborn quote from the 2nd season accurately expresses my sentiment.

      Mallory: And we went to the moon. Do we really have to go to Mars?

Sam: Yes.

Mallory: Why?

Sam: 'Cause it's next. 'Cause we came out of the cave and we looked over the hill and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the West and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on a timeline of exploration, and this is what's next

Until we have capital ships up in orbit I guess I'll have to make do with the night sky for now.

Hope I can last a few more years on this blue dot. 

---Brandon