I am extremely hungover (or rather was around 6 AM but now mending satisfactorily) and now 28. I can't think of any sage advice to hand out, but maybe if you guys have any specific pressing questions I can take a whack at it. Also, now sporting an extremely skinned knee. Wanna see? Remembering now how last night I saw a girl I sort of know and told her I thought she was really cool and I thought I annoyed her last time I saw her but I hoped not because I thought she was a neat person. And so on. She told me that was definitely not the case, and we did two back-to-back shots. woof
Yeah, I sat down and graded all my recent years like a month ago, I admit it. I gave 25 a C. It wasn't bad but it did tend to go downhill. There were a lot of changes that proved more stressful than positive. I think I started out 25 pretty optimistic but by the end of the year felt kind of caught. Since I just turned 28, I don't know. I gave 27 an A and I stand by it. It was a year of personal challenge and growth. I've done very well at work this year. I'm very positive about 28, considering this foundation and all. There's a lot of promise and I feel well poised to make the most of it. I guess I'm finally maybe embracing being a grown up.
Thought Experiment: I wonder if I can figure out what 25 was for me... Checked LinkedIn. Apparently I was working as a Multimedia Designer at NASA's Ames Research Center in California. Therefore I was still married. Living in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. Probably riding either a BMW R90/6 or Yamaha XS1100 to work down highway 280 every day. I had long hair. I generally brought my lunch to work and ate it in this hangar, which was empty at the time. What else? Shaggy was singing Oh Carolina and Cypress Hill were Insane In The Brain, Radiohead were Creeps, and Nirvana was singing about their Heart Shaped Box. Big year for movies.... Jurassic Park, Sleepless in Seattle, Groundhog Day, Ms. Doubtfire, Cool Runnings, Robin Hood - Men in Tights, and Dazed and Confused, to name a few... Hm. Other than that, I don't remember a lot about 25 years ago.
It's so weird how memory distorts time and erases all the boring parts. I clearly remember my time abroad in Canada feeling like an incredibly long time, while simultaneously having forgotten most of the parts that made it long. And that was only three years ago. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure I kept a simple diary for a few months in Evernote back in 2012. I wonder if I can dig that up... edit: I found it, and I kept it up for almost two years! Glad I did, lots of small memories that I vaguely remember.
I just wanted to say that I still have your "When Did You Begin To Become A Real Person?" thread stickied from the first day I joined pubski. It's been super helpful for me to read pretty often.
I...actually wasn't expecting that kind of response. From your more recent Pubski-isms, it does seems like you've been doing really well for yourself! It's been good to read those kind of things.
I rarely lose whole memories while drinking. Whether that means I don't drink quite enough to get there, or if it's a gift, I don't know. But I like the ability. I was walking my (even-more) drunk friend back to her house where we had started the evening. She was not walking very well. I had an arm around her. It was a clumsy affair. Right after we crossed a street I could kind of see her start to go down. If you've ever had a slow fall where you have the time to think "Oh, shit, I'm falling" but just don't manage to catch yourself or do anything to prevent it - it was like that except I saw it start with her, and then she went down, and I went down with her. She does not remember this but she only has bumps and bruises. I'm pretty sure she managed to fall on her side or butt; she twisted in front of me. This was about 10:30; we'd started early. And the shots. shudders It wasn't too bad, being drunk helps with that. It hurt but I walked quite a bit after any.way. When we fell some people on the balcony of the bar across the street made fun of us, so I flicked them off and told them to eat it. They didn't say anything back. D:
Driving through San Francisco at rush hour. Needed to change lanes. Guy in a VW very aggressively wouldn't let me do it. Fun fact about driving a 911: an astonishing percentage of the traffic you interact with hates you on sight. I thought it was just me. So okay, get behind him, things are fine. Proceed to watch him cut off two people in a hundred yards changing lanes. he still ends up behind us. Proceed to watch him cut off two more people in another 200 yards. Pulls up next to me, tries to cut in. Can't. We make it to a light. He and his buddy are staring at me, very proud of themselves in their volkswagen. "Excuse me," I say. "Does your mom know what a bad driver you are?" Fucker blanches like an almond in boiling water. "Uh, what?" "Does your mom. Know what a bad driver you are." "Uhh.., what do you mean?" "I'll let her know next time I see her." Proceed to leave the light at exactly the speed limit. Watch him nearly rear-end a garbage truck. THAT is 25: vulnerability to "your mom" insults.When we fell some people on the balcony of the bar across the street made fun of us, so I flicked them off and told them to eat it. They didn't say anything back. D: