Freshman Seminar – Spring 2015, DTD

Adjusting to Baruch has been a very interesting experience for me, one that I believe I can say has gotten better with time. The first thing I realized about this school is how hard they make it for you to pay your tuition. I just want to give them my money dammit! I quickly realized my physical/mental limitations with regards to how much I can accomplish in day.My wisest decision so far was dropping my 7:50 AM speech class, just saying. That being said, I enjoyed my other classes much more than I originally thought I would. Theater in particular has been a great experience. I kept most of my bad habits…I still procrastinate, but so does everyone. Some things never change.  Oh, but despite my jokes in class, I really did learn how to deal with stress. Stress isn’t helpful, it just takes energy. I like to just shut it down, roll with the punches, and keep moving. There will always be failures in life, if you can then you will take preventative measures. If you can’t prevent them, then stressing won’t help anyways. Just relax.

Too much stuff has been uploaded, so there’s not room for a meme…but here’s the URL:

http://ifunnyweb.com/funny-fry-college-meme/

There is a saying I’m often reminded of lately: having a midlife crisis. This usually refers to fifty years old doing crazy things like partying and buying new cars to reinvent their youth. I’m only 20 years old, but I’m pretty sure I’m having a midlife crisis. I’m looking back on my life and can’t figure out what I want now, or what I’ve ever wanted for that matter. We are always told to follow our passion…passion is supposedly a diamond in the rough of life. My only problem is that I can’t seem to find my passion. To me, the concept of passion is similar to the concept of love at first sight. It sounds like a nice idea, and like something that could work in theory….but it just never seems to happen to me. I often wonder if I made some essential mistake in life that made me immune to passion. After high school all my friends found their passions and pursued their plans, but I’m still here 2 years later with no plans and a serious case of existential angst. See, part of what’s bothered me is that ever  since middle school I’ve thought that your life has to be completely planned out. You have to know what job you’re going to work, and how you’re going to get there every minute of your life. However, I had a revelation on my last trip to London. Whenever you travel you have a choice, you may go to all the tourist destinations that people tell you to go to (the ones with the highest ratings and the longest lines), or you can do something different…My favorite way to travel is to go without a plan. I like to set myself down in the middle of an unknown city or terrain, pick a direction, and go full speed ahead. When I start out I’m always afraid of getting lost, but so long as I keep going I almost always find something phenomenal, a place that I can personally connect with. Upon experiencing this again in London, I thought that maybe life is also a bit like this. It is quite possibly that maybe I don’t have to have the plan that everybody tells me I should.  When in doubt, maybe its best to just pick a direction, push yourself forward, and see what you can find in the midst. My hope is that some things in life are worth chasing blindly.

A friend once described me as an interesting person that doesn’t do interesting things….at the time that this was said I felt very insulted, but as I sit here struggling to find words to describe myself I can’t help but feel that maybe he was right. The events of my life hardly portray who I am, but I suppose that is the burden of summation is it not? So without further ado….I’m a small town kid. I grew up in a Colorado town named Durango. I often refer to it as the foil to NYC. Literally nothing is similar between these two places except that they both get very cold. Throughout my life I have been very involved in music, at one point I played in both band and orchestra. I was definitely a bit of a nerd. After high school I took a year off of schooling, and moved to NYC on a bit of a whim. On Oct. 18th almost two years ago I flew into Newark with pretty much nothing. I had some clothes and a girlfriend, but no possessions, no plan, no job, and no apartment. I was terrified and determined, and more importantly I’m still here. If there is anything that my moving to New York taught me, its that crazy, stupid actions sometimes work out. The only thing I love possibly as much as music is traveling, and I’ve made it a priority to travel overseas at least every couple of years especially now that a few of my good friends live in other countries. Oh, I also like lifting things up and putting them back down….I’m a pretty strong guy, but what I love most about lifting weights is that it is a constant reminder that there is always another level that can be achieved. And that’s about all you need to know about me.

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