Sometimes it seems like as a student my purpose is preparing for the future. I don't like this sometimes though because I feel like so much is happening right now. Like for instance, I am living in the dorms again this year even though this is my third year of school. I have friends who live in apartments, and the one which I am closest to is 9 blocks away. That means that I don't see these people very much. So, because of this I am constantly meeting new people, most of them are younger than me, and this is kinda neat. I like meeting new people, but at the same time I want to connect in a real way with people and build relationships. I don't want to just meet a bunch of new people all the time. I don't think anyone would truly know me if this is what always happened.
I feel like because I am older than many of the people I've met. I have some experience and insight into what they are going through. I know what it feels like to want to make friends. To hate school, and work, and being busy, and just wanting to hang out with people. I know the feeling of that really bad test score that you don't want to tell your parents about. Or the feeling of disconnectedness (I don't know if that's a word) from your family, and friends from home, because of living apart from them. You are literally living with new people, and making new connections. You are forced into becoming your own person.
Then you decide who you want to become, you start investing time with different people, with homework, with activities. You make choices. You are influenced by things around you. This is probably one of the scariest things that a parent has to think about. "How is my kid being influenced today?" One thing I think that a parent should constantly be thinking about, is that they are an influencer. They had the time to influence their children, and now they must remember that the choice their kid makes in school are their own. They are making those decisions. The things that the kid is experiencing is out of the parents control and that is okay!
I think a person is somewhat a sum of what they've been influenced by, and they are completely defined by the choices they have made.
This means if I choose to eat an ice cream cone, the person I am after eating said ice cream cone is partly defined by the choice to eat that ice cream cone. =)
It has been awhile since I've done anything with this blog, and I finally have a chance to update people. In case you are wondering here is what I am thinking about/dealing with in my life right now.
- I want to write a thank you note/how you doin'? letter to my grandma avis saying what's up and thanking her for my wonderful crotcheted blanket.
- I am thinking about how I'm going to get out to the DOT to take the tests in order to get my in training commercial driver's liscense so that I can drive a Cambus at the U of Iowa.
- I need to fill out some internship applications for different companies soon, and consider what I should do next summer.
- I'm thinking about how I want to read the Bible at least once a day, and keep a sense of curiousity and wonder with the story of Jesus.
- Thinking about the daily time load I have to put into engineering homework, and lab reports, and how much I hate/love it at different times.
- Thinking about how much I enjoy spending time with different people. And how kind some people are and how they have shown me love.
- Thinking about how crappy of an attitude I have towards people in general sometimes, and how that affects my relationships.
- Thinking about how happy I am that I don't have class tonight, which then allowed me to write this blog.
- Thinking about how I really want a haircut right now, and need to do laundry, and do other little chores and cleaning up stuff. And about how much time this takes out of my day that I could be spending doing other things.
- Thinking about how I enjoy my fiction writing class even when it's the class I put off to the last minute everytime, because I simply don't have time to work on it till the last minute. =)
- Thinking about how crappy technology is and how my iPod won't charge, and how my computer keeps getting blue screen of death errors.
- Thinking about how I never read for fun anymore, which is quite sad.
- I never read the newspaper or news at all anymore unless it's in my aol homepage.
- Last night was awesome, me and some friends randomly decided to go and try to observe the meteor shower last night at 1 in the morning, but unfortunately the sky was overcast, so we just hung out, and rolled down a big hill, and then left and went home.
- I miss my family and their disfunction, and the fun I have there with my bros and sisses and mum and pop.
- I really want to go to Arizona for Christmas to see Aunt Suzie, Uncle Rick, Megan and Eli!
- My birthday is in 17 days! I will be 21, and I am going to have a beer legally. =)
- I'm old!
- I'm poor.
- Which is okay.
Alright that's all my random thoughts.
See ya later!
Michael Anderson
p.s. watch this video! it's a good song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyA8zfouG4Y
