welcome to the future

so commences the first day of the second decade of the 21st century. look at that date! 1/1/11! just wait til 11/11/11. nut-so.

my hopes for this year are that i will find happiness in every day, remember to love the goodness in people, find more time to read, and that i will be more intentional in making things happen for myself.

i also hope the new year brings me a Bruce Springsteen concert and a really awesome job and the miracle of time travel. (because what is a new year and a new decade without some extravagant wishing.)

happy future, my friends!

i am in a battle with time.

notice i did not write "race." this is not a race against time. it is a battle.

since i have been home, i've been remarkably productive. reading a lot, writing a lot, drinking lots of tea. i can't recall being so happy doing so much in a long time. i'm sure there is something to say here about the nature of work and motivation, and i could reflect on this further, but why? let's move on. besides, Alfie Kohn has written a book about it already, and he's far more witty with such observations.

i'm happy at home because i do not need to worry about cooking constantly in order to eat, don't need to clean up after anyone other than myself, my room is overtaken by stacks of compelling fiction rather than stacks of student papers. movie ticket stubs litter my desk, rather than bills and gas receipts. in the absence of reminders of work, i am free to forget obligations and pretend i have the luxury of free-time and the privilege of hedonism. it's miraculous.

my mind un-cluttered of work, creative ideas gained space to grow. it was as if everything was suddenly a trigger for a short story or a memory. a common sight from my window, a sound in the distance, a combination of foods. everything seemed alive and vibrant!

i am trying to enjoy it, while using the time to churn out as much writing as possible, while i still have the energy and the passion for it. since i started, with the commencement of the new year, i have written 14 short pieces (found here). not too bad, and time still remains!

more soon,
stef

while you were reminiscing, the future was passing you by

goodbye 2006. hello, 2007!

reflecting on the past year, i can't say i've been horribly disappointed by or regretful of anything. i think i made the best out of most difficult situations, managed to laugh and cry enough to understand the significance of both, loved and lost enough to appreciate my family and friends more, and risked enough to say i lived.

i'm not spectacularly happy, but i'm not depressed any more either.

i'm another year older, and as my dad would say, that's enough cause for celebration.

but not just yet. there's much to be done, so much to change, so much to spend my idle moments thinking about.

i'm not one for resolutions, never saw much point in making false promises to myself. and i hope that i am constantly reflecting, constantly reforming, that i don't require some silly end-of-year ritual to remind me to self-improve. if something bothers me enough, i shld have the resolve to change it in that instant. "bah to inertia," that's what i say. i'm all about gaining momentous momentums until i'm travelling faster than time itself, until i've met the future and shaken its hand.

so let's have 2007 be the year for reVolutions! rather than expend my renewed energies devising self-involved methods for change, why not think at the global level? how am i going to change the world? what can i do to make the world we share a better place for everyone, and not just myself?

i'll get back to you on this. and you do the same. there is much to be mulled, much to be ruminated.
-stephan!e