I was talking to my 11 year old brother Albert today, and he was explaining to me how slowly time moves for him. Weeks took a while in his eyes, he couldn't understand what all the fuss was about with this whole "time flies" thing. I laughed as he said "I just don't get it. My mom keeps saying time goes by so fast, but it just doesn't for me". Mind you, this is a busy kid. Anyone that's met him or heard be talk about him knows he's not a normal 11 year old. Well, scratch that, he's not normal in a lot of good ways, but in the "he has his schedule packed more than any 11 year old should"- he's completely normal. Tennis on Monday, Boy Scouts on Tuesday, piano on Wednesday, etc etc etc. So I got to thinking.... at what point does time accelerate?
Back in January, I turned 30, and realized my 20's passed by in what can only be described as the blink of an eye. I remember graduating college like it was yesterday. And I have now used 2 cliches in the first 2 sentences of this paragraph and have no issue with either because they are both true. I realize I am "only 30" and have a limited frame of reference with which to judge this- but it seems to me that life accelerates faster as you get older. When I was Albert's age, I guess I was similar to him- wrapped up in the activities of my life, but without the perspective to begin wishing I could enjoy each moment more. I didn't realize how fast something will occur, and how quickly you'll be on to the next one. And how even events that stretch out over years, like college, will still come and go.
One of my favorite examples of this is freshman & sophomore year in college. I think back on the awkwardness of moving in, meeting new friends, worrying about finding people I would want to hang out with for the next four years, etc. Then we went to the dining hall and found that good food was very difficult to make 21 times a week. Boy did we complain about that food! "How do you mess up pasta?!" or "seriously it's salad- how do you screw up salad?!?!" But I've now had this conversations with a few friends, who I originally met in those freshman dorms but have stayed some of my closest friends since, and we all agree- we'd give virtually anything to go back and relive those 4 years. When we were there, we didn't know how good we had it. Now they're gone, and we only have the pleasant memories to recall.
What does any of this have to do with the here & now? Nothing, really, except that I'm more aware of time passing by. When I sat down to write this first blog, I thought I would wax philosophical about what my first year in LA meant. Things I've learned, what I thought, and I still will bring up memories from my first year here- but first I have to acknowledge the speed with which it flew by.
When Kevin & I pulled into LA after our final stop in Las Vegas in April of 2008, it felt like an adventure waiting to unfold. New cities, new neighborhoods, new friends yet to be met, new restaurants to be explored, new bars to try new beers in, just something new every day. And I half-heartedly intended to continue the blog all along, but I sort of knew deep inside it wouldn't happen. I was quickly caught up exploring my new surroundings, and writing just didn't seem to fit. 8 months had gone by before I was in Vegas for CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and was asked to write some blog posts for my company's tech blog. In 3 days I became emersed in the latest techology had to show off, and found myself loving writing about it.
Now after recently marking my 1 year anniversary of moving from Boston to LA, I have re-comitted myself to actually updating "the blog". Kevin has made agreed to guest blog from the east coast, so we'll see if we can get the bi-coastal blog working! 2 guys on 2 coasts with 2 perspectives.
On the plus side of not writing anything for a year, I now have a full year's worth of adventures, observations, sarcastic comments and wise ass remarks to share! I'll post them here over the coming weeks and months as I remember them, as well as throw some things up that I've been wanting to write about. There will be no particular ryhme or reason to it, just some fun randomness.
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1 comment:
I don't remember saying I'd contribute!
Well, I guess I can take some time out of watching How I Met Your Mother at work and write a post to compliment your whinnying.
By the way, I think time starts to fly as soon as we start "living forward" to things. We look forward to the weekend, to getting into a new apartment, to finding a new job, moving to a new city, marriage, kids, etc. We move from an Albert who lives in the moment, and does so really well-- hope he's still shooting guests with his Nerf guns-- to being goal-oriented and marking time not in present moments, but in how long it takes to get to the next milestone.
In reviving your blog, I think you'll find it a little bit easier to live through your first year in LA at an acceptable pace and slow down subsequent years.
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