Original post can be found here, and is a great read. It's been almost two years since that thread (87% of the way to 2 years...WOW) and that's a decent amount of time.
How have your thoughts changed, if they've changed? Are you doing what you thought you'd be doing? What would you have done the same / differently over the past 2ish years?
Ping list, oh well.
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Instead of being a performing bassist, I'm currently embracing the possibility of being a musicologist, or maybe going back to be an early music musician.
I'm still gonna be a lady, tho.
Well damn.
- If everything goes according to plan (Which it won't, and that's ok) within 5 years I'll be,
Graduated from school,
Check.
- Gainfully employed somewhere that I don't hate,
BIG check.
- Looking for a plot of land somewhere to invest in and,
I mean, I'm looking. Very very passively.
- Building a self-sufficient homestead somewhere cool.
Kinda dependent on the previous condition. But I have a few rosemary and cilantro plants in my apartment.
- Probably throw a girlfriend in there somewhere too, but that's really just up to chance. I date a lot, but very few girls stick around. I'm trying to figure out if that's because I'm picky, or because my personality is just incompatible with most women between the ages of 19 and 23.
Well that certainly happened.
...I think Im doing okay.
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Damn. :)
I've fantasized about having my own cottage/lodge in northern michigan for a long time. Now I'm looking at lots trying to find a good mix of seclusion and accessibility. On that regard I'm really conflicted. I love the thought of a deep woods retreat, but at the same time, being able to walk into town would be sweet, especially in a place like traverse city.
But I only know a teeny bit about real estate and next to nothing about construction.
My entire extended family is from the Keewenaw! It's certainly attractive, and Copper Harbor is like a 10 minute drive from where my Grandpa was born.
The U.P. would be ideal if I wanted to live a more monkish existence. But there's something about the area around Traverse City. It feels like an optimal mix between wilderness and civilization.
it's interesting - I remember that post like it was yesterday and I couldn't figure out what to write then.
So this time I'm forcing myself to be a part of this. I kinda love-hate this question. I'm already in the quadruple decades... so there's a fair amount of "shouldn't I have this figured out by now?" in my head - but I feel like we can re-invent just about any time we want. I am solely responsible for the life, care and feeding of several other humans, so I have to have some grounded sense of reality in my imaginings...
I'm going to be a better husband.
I'm going to be a better father.
I'm going to be more connected to my friends.
I'm going to own some commercial real estate.
I'm going to enter a film into a festival.
That's a good start...
- I'm going to own some commercial real estate.
Cool! My mom bought a big rowhome in Baltimore and turned it into three units that she rented out mostly to Johns Hopkins graduate students. Only problem was... she bought it in 2005, and had to sell it in 2009. It was pretty hard to watch her, and by extension our family's, project unravel. The plus side is that the three other houses she owns and rents out are all still around and doing really well. It's because of my mom's success that I always considered real estate as some sort of way build wealth.
What are you thinking?
1) The first three are easy and commendable.
2) Commercial real estate is a den of pit vipers.
3) Film festivals are an utter and total waste of time and money. Make a film, put it on youtube or Vimeo, then take what you learned and shoot a feature. Seriously. Fuck festivals.
Commercial. There's probably a different word I should have used for this... I mean to say I'm knee deep in starting an apartment building project. Not the kind of nastiness you e been dealing with.
Festivals... Ok fine. It just seemed a little more attainable than the feature at this point. Or at least a logical next step.
An apartment building is still damn impressive. Put it this way: I know enough about apartment buildings to know if they're worth owning or not, and I can easily see going that way. Commercial? Well, there's money to be made... but I think I'd rather prostitute my body, and that's fully knowing just how little I'd make.
Film festivals are a loss leader for all involved. They primarily allow big fish in small ponds to feel bigger. We got into like 20 of the 30 we applied to, which I hear is semi-unheard-of, and it was still a distasteful experience that made me want a shower.
I'm doing it. It's tough, but I think I like where this degree is going, though it's pretty apparent that my personality clashes with some of the expectations that others in the program have of what people in this field are typically like.
Hope all is well in the 'ski.
Wow, that thread is older than my account!
For my answer: fuck being realistic. I'm going full dream life.
I'm gonna be an actor. Gonna be a musician. Probably a writer. Maybe a professor. Definitely working at a radio station in some capacity. Definitely speaking/writing/reading German on the regular, maybe translating stuff for $$$.
Ideally I'll have a romantic partner. Right now I'm surrounded with people that see me as the really smart kid-- not exactly the most dateable archetype. But in two years there'll be people my age around here, so eh?
I maybe wanna live in Austin again after college. Just for a couple years. Then who knows? Germany?
Oh, I should've specified. I meant Germany!
How is Austin though, I don't know much about it except that it's in Texas
Ah, Freiburg is so very pretty! Also literally the hottest place in Germany.
I'm more confident that stuff I said there is what I want to move towards. I don't really want to conquer the world, I just want to be able to carve out my part where I can enjoy life and indulge my hobbies. I'm actually surprised that I thought of that ~2 years ago, I had thought this was a more recent development.
Right now I am applying for jobs as I finish my degree. Knowing where I want to go makes it easy to figure out jobs will be incompatible with that.
- So I want to become the best version of myself that is possible. I want to make the large amount of years that lie before me the best that I can. Every year a better than the last. While I know that is influenced by tons of factors outside of my control, it doesn't stop me from chasing every opportunity on my path.
I am glad that I am still taking on bigger and bigger challenges, learning more about myself and the world. But I'm also realizing there are parts of me that I can't / won't improve. Reading back my post, I think I achieved what I set out to do, but I also think it's woefully optimistic to expect that to continue (indefinitely).
I wasn't here all that long, but I figure it will be nice to start somewhere. When I grow up I might like to work for the State department, or an International NGO. I'd like to finish my epic fantasy work, and maybe profit off of it a bit (or not). I think that's a good start.
- Given my 'druthers I'd sell the novel for a gajillion bucks and move the fuck and gone out of LA but the only thing stopping me from doing that is the fickle taste of the marketplace and the aforementioned Youtube cartoons. Just haven't had time to edit shit in like four months.
Well, I now have an agent and I'm writing this from a hotel in Eureka, with my shit in a United Van Lines truck heading for Seattle. All in all, win.
- Davison Road is OPEN but travelers beyond Gold Bluffs Beach Campground (e.g., en route to Fern Canyon Trailhead) should be prepared for small stream crossings across the roadway. High clearance and/or 4-wheel drive recommended.
We're actually pretty serious about doing this. The last time we had "small stream crossings" however we got the Fit up to the floorboards in water. It was sporty. The Fit handled it just fine. But then we discovered as we came back from a hike in Santa Barbara that someone had legitimately flipped a PT Cruiser end-over-end in the last river we didn't cross. I still have pictures somewhere.
Anyway. We now have way too much shit and a toddler in the car, so I'm not sure how river-fording I'm feelin'. And an 8-mile hike... mm. Maybe not with a toddler, considering we have a carrier, not a full-blown kidpack. What say you?
ugh... tough call. Our low riding minivan packed with 7 people and 3 weeks worth of stuff made it... but honestly I would feel terrible if you got stuck. I was there last summer - and there were several "normal" cars in the parking lot. I mean - it wasn't 4x4 only.
The hike is TOTALLY doable with a toddler... but you know what? might be good for another trip when she can walk a little more.
Safe travels my man.
Seeing as I've yet to respond to any comments in this post, I'm hanging in on not having a single clue. Neat that you dug this post up!
You can thank chatter for that, I saw a couple recent comments in it and thought it would make an interesting follow-up.