In a lil less then one week, on June 21st, i'll be 31...and thats more numbers then i care to use. You see, I like math about as much as I do wearing pants, which is to say I don't, but apparently, some people have made laws requiring their use.
So, 31. And yet i still live at home and am still in the never ending process of getting a degree...apparently living up to that stereotype. I get to see firsthand our natures youth grow up...the aging of, "Generation Y" if you will...and man is that scary...seems like just yesterday some of these kids were turning 5, now they're sitting in a class next to me telling me how, "awesome" it is they can stay out till 4am and wake up in 5 minutes ready to tackle the day and how it will "always be that way." Well junior, I come to you from the future with a little thing i'd like to call reality. It won't always be that easy.
I can't believe I've made it this far to tell ya the truth, I thought for sure a random oven explosion woulda killed me by this point, what with my penchant for random food creations...or perhaps i'd come across someone who didn't like one of my pictures beating me with a fish...which, I've always wanted to do to a few people...y'know, just to hear the sound it makes.
I don't know what to make of it all to be honest. It's a bit surreal. Everyone says "you're supposed to be an adult", but all the "adults" I see are miserable, so whats the point? Plus, i'm pretty sure my Amazon.com wishlist exempts me from being an adult...
I think you're supposed to have fun in life, but it seems a lot of people have forgot that. Yeah, I know...me, you, whoever...will undoubtedly face a lot of struggle and have a lot of bad days, you can't let them own you.
Think about it. Would you rather see a picture of you looking like you just went to a funeral or a picture of you having lunch with Weird Al? We all know Weird Al is the man. And lunch is fun, because its not breakfast, which in my opinion is the most restrictive meal of the day. If you have a burger for breakfast people think your insane because burgers aren't classified as "breakfast food." That...in my mind kinda makes breakfast foodist. I think just went on a tangent and invented a term...go me.
I do tend to ramble like a lunatic at times, but the doctors say thats alright as long as i eat my pudding....man I talk about food a lot....i'm a fat guy on the inside. It all works out since I run, and probably due in part to this running I have knees that hate me. Will I stop? Nope. Why? Because that'd be admitting I let pain win and if you go down that road, its never a good thing. You just have to look at pain and tell it, "nope, not gonna happen."
You need to stronger then pain....and yes, I know I sound like Sylvester Stallone there, but it turns out he was right on that one...and probably also right on, "The Expendables", which I still haven't seen...i'm waiting for a nice lovely lady to join me to see that...because any girl who is willing to sit and watch explosions and 2 hours of likely awful acting is a keeper.
The single life, while it does have its benefits(all the LEGO I want and i can crap with the door open), it does kinda suck seeing all you happy people bitch about relationship problems or constantly ramble about your significant other while most of the time i sit or lay alone wishing I had someone. I'm happy for ya, all...well...most...ok...some of you, really I am, but you bet your ass i'm jealous, and for damn good reason.
But still, throughout that all I don't want to let the world keep me down. I've been here almost 31 years and that means something, it means I've taken hit after hit and i'm still here. I'm still standing, just like my city, which has taken many more hits than me. We're that annoying 3 year old that doesn't shut the hell up in the movie theater.
That I realized today when out for a drive. It takes drive and tenacity to survive, but it takes a special breed to survive in this city, and I've managed to do it with surprising efficiency. That, I think- is why some people dislike New Yorkers, because we're a reminder of the fact that there are tough people in the world. People who like to say, "no" to things, not question them, just say, "no" to them, we're that bombastic. But i'm gonna let you in on a secret, if you're reading this, and you aren't from here, you at least know a New Yorker, and that is enough to make you tough. I hereby imbue you with the toughness of a mother of 6 from the South Bronx. I give you the tenacity of a firefighter from Bed-Sty, the bullishness of a homeowner from South Beach...the REAL South Beach, not the crappy one from Florida, aka Americas Wang.
I'm here for a reason, you're here for a reason, we all are...we're survivors...we're dreamers, we're supposed to be happy, and achieve our goals, whatever they may be, whether its making art out of paper clips or filming really weird porn, you have to push forward to make that dream happen...You need to learn to not be afraid, not let fear and pain grip you, that...is your mind giving up before your heart does.
I've made it this far, and have every intention of going a lot further and so can you, all of you. You all have the ability, the drive and passion to be that photographer, to be that firefighter, to be that baker, to be that crash test dummy, or to be whatever it is you desire to be. You do have it in you, you just gotta look for it, you gotta dig like you're goin for the best booger ever. You'll find it, its there. Trust me.
Be bold, be creative, be daring, just don't be boring...and if anyone tells you that you "can't" do something, work that much harder to prove them wrong, but more importantly, to prove to yourself that you CAN. Surround yourself with people that will lift you up, that will tell you to never give up, that will give you that extra kick in the ass when you need it.
This is what I've learned in my 30 or so years on this planet. Oh, and don't cross the streams.