That's a pic my homie L put on Facebook the other day. It's an action shot from the infamous Paddy's Day party at Fort Awesome in 2000. That's B on the left, me, and our main man B on the right. I drank one million beers and fell over by about 10pm (in fairness, we started at about noon.) I slept poorly and felt slightly ill the next day.*I can't get over it, guys. Do people denounce having fun when they get older? Did I just have a lot more fun than most people when I was in my 20s and the contrast is thus all the more pronounced?
Another possibility, following the following anecdote: I went to an expectant dad class last night at the hospital. It was informative, interesting, and kind of "fun" in the way that good classes are fun. The most intriguing part for me was the other men in the class; they were smart, friendly, and had NOTHING to do with the university.** This was something of a revelation for me; for years now, the only people I've known in SC are university people, and they're great, but I end up judging the town itself basically by the scumbags in the park across the street. It was heartening to meet some real human beings who live here.
The point is this: perhaps part of my attitude these days is grad school's fault. I stopped blaming grad school for my problems a few years ago, but it occurs to me that the current truncation of my horizons isn't just The Fear about the future, but could also be how dead-boring my routine is at the university. Moving, hopefully to PDX, will be a huge relief just in getting out of this institutional rut for a while.
I still miss partying at Fort Awesome, either way.
* This is putting it rather lightly.
** Note proper syntax here: "part" is singular, so even though I'm referring to multiple "other men," the proper use of the verb remains "was," not "were." Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week...
P.S. A programming note: a huge number of the blogs I used to link to have been inactive for a while. I removed all of the ones that update either 1. never or 2. really infrequently. Several blogs I read now are restricted to approved readers, so there's no point in linking to them.
3 comments:
Hey, I now update rootlesspeople semi-regularly! You could link it... it might not be so cheery though.
Yeah, it's amazing when you meet real people here. They're typically pretty upbeat, and not in the hippie or mentally insane way like the people on the street. Whenever I need normality I hang out with the folks I know from SC Endurance team, many of whom I have raced and partied with and 99% of whom are completed unaffiliated with the university. It's great!
That's a really great photo of you, B and MrPants, which I haven't have seen before. Thanks.
You seem to be occasionally impressed by the hijinks I pursue, so there must be some fun left in the world ;)
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