See, in my younger years (which I say lightly as I am currently only in my mid-20's) my eyes swelled with the pride of a philosopher that would someday author the world's next great literary piece. I had a vision of touching people's lives, not in the pursuit of riches, but in the mission of bringing clarity to happiness.
And then I found my path straying from what I had always planned.
I left my small town, actually more prone to refer to it as a village, and journeyed nine hours east to Indiana. I had a year to transition to the different moods, mentalities, and cultural subtleties that were unfamiliar to my life back in small town Minnesota. And trust me if you wish to say all people are inherently the same, it is not true. People in one region simply do not act or think in the same way as people in another, completely dissolving any notion I will ever have of what a normal person's life should be.
I have now been living in some region of Indiana for the last seven years at the time I am writing this dialogue.
One year of high school followed by four years of college and two more in the professional work force as a Marketing Analyst.
College was a bittersweet experience brought on from my own naïve perceptions and beliefs about education. My freshman year I was on the verge of failing out of school as I habitually skipped class despite getting perfect scores on tests. Coupled with the fact that I was attending a school that I really couldn't afford, I found my optimism, creativity, and general excitement to change the world slowly begin to dwindle.
Over these four years I dabbled in philosophies, creative writing, religion and psychology majors before finally landing in communications and marketing. I had lost my vision of becoming the world's next great author, and my confidence began shrinking as I noticed that I truly celebrated a life of mediocrity. Don't get me wrong, I am good at what I do, but I was unclear about what I did. I still believed that my perspective on life and farm-grown hard work gave me an edge over my classmates, but by the time I graduated my creativity had been expunged on the realities of being broke and without a plan.
My one saving grace of college was meeting my now wife. After a year of losing control of my grades, she set me straight and gave me something worth working towards once again.
Because of her I was able to straighten out my life, and grow up a bit. I was fortunate enough to acquire a great job right out of college working as a marketing project manager for comScore, Inc. Shortly after I felt that I had a stable lifestyle, I finally asked her to marry me after four and a half years of having her in my life.
And that brings us back to now; a moment when clarity seems to finally be regenerating my creativity and imagination.
My past has become a learning experience of celebrated mediocrity. I am by no means an expert in any single path of skill, but I tout a broad understanding of skills. I believe that it is important to understand the various elements that affect your life, and therefore, I believe in not specializing in any single one thing. Combined with my farm-boy upbringing, I believe you do everything right the first time so rather than producing a shoddy piece of work quickly, I face longer time frames with a better outcome. I have no problem looking at something I want and saying I will have it in one year... no sooner!
And thus my project begins. In the beginning, this blog will be scattered, perhaps visually distorted, containing typos (I do know how to spell so I apologize if an occasional taht slips in place of that... but in elementary school we learn about contextual reference, and so I trust your will understand what I am saying)
This blog is simply a dialogue among the many divided interests I have in life, and a reflection of how I perceive my world to be. I invite you (when I get it setup, and so long as they are intelligent) to leave your comments, and help me to grow as an individual.
I am a writer, a designer, a developer, an artist, a videographer, a photographer, a marketer, a gamer, a reader, a wood worker, an appreciator of a good drink, a film enthusiast, a family man and a husband.
