Concerning Balance

Over a month ago I wrote about progress and that it was one of the two most important aspects of life. Finally, after many years of wanting to write about it, I have taken the opportunity to write about the other aspect, balance.

Balance can be a tricky thing. Each day is a balancing act, as we juggle our leisure activities with our responsibilities. A skew in one direction results in laziness, while a skew in the other direction can lead to burnout. Even within one’s responsibilities there is always a balancing act. To which responsibilities should one devote more time?

Parents probably have the most difficult balancing acts of all. Forget about leisure pursuits. They must somehow find enough hours in the day to take care of their work responsibilities, home responsibilities, spousal responsibilities, and even the balancing act of meting attention among the children.

I don’t know if others feel this way as well, but often I find myself in a balancing act in trying to be four people: 1) Who I am, 2) The summative total of what others want me to be, 3) Who I want to be, and 4) Who I should be. There is a daily battle in decision-making. Some days one of those people wins out. Other days it’s another. Nonetheless it is a balancing act.

Even this blog is a balancing act. With my obligations to this blog I have to balance between being boring (the post about my car accident) or interesting to the point that I shirked my responsibilities (the last post). It’s not always easy to talk about San Diego auto repair or to remind you to check engine light within the confines of what I want to speak about. But if a balancing act is required between the content of my posts and mentioning Ford F-150 and the auto shop, it is what it must be.

Balance is extremely important, but I feel that sometimes we feel overmatched trying to achieve perfect balance. Sometimes a 50/50 split is not only unfeasible but unnecessary. As long as we have all necessary components without spreading ourselves too thin, we have all that we need. Life is constantly changing. Sometimes we need to devote more time or energy to a specific component. Devote that necessary time and energy, but do not forget that component of your life is but one of many. Keep fighting the good fight. Keep juggling all that you juggle. One day you’ll be able to look back and be impressed at all you can do. Balance along with progress is a necessity of life.

No, Little Jackie, the World Does not Revolve Around You

For those of you confused about the title, there is a song by the group Little Jackie entitled “The World Should Revolve around Me”. The piece is as catchy as it is preposterous, but needless and oddly placed vulgarities will preclude me from linking to it. That said, as of late I have given some thought to the inherent egocentrism I see in the world and particularly in myself.

In general, as humans we are wired to not only have needs but wants as well. In the privileged world in which many of us live, needs are taken for granted and wants multiply in their stead. The more we have, the more we want. These wants eventually become demands. We take on this sense of entitlement, thinking that there are certain things we should have or should deserve, simply because a desire for it exists. Many of these things are not ours to have. Some of these things are not good for us. Instead of being petulant we must be thankful for what we have and hopeful for what is to come. If we are endowed with particularly good fortune we should do as much as we can to assist those who have fallen upon hard times. The world does not revolve around you.

The world does not revolve around me, either. A couple weeks back I got into an argument with an individual I deeply care about. The individual told me that while I thought I knew everything about that person, I did not. I thought long and hard about that, and I realized one of the greatest errors that I have committed in friendships, relationships, and relational pursuits. I have taken an egocentric view of the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule implores us to treat others the way we would like to be treated. It does not, however, implore us to treat others as if they were us. For far too long I have treated people as though they were Jakob Duehr carbon copies, ignoring past experiences, emotions, and personality differences. My expectations of others should not and cannot be as if they are me. My way is not the only way, and it is likely not the best way.

Both you and I also cannot push for that which we should not push for. What is meant for us to have, we do have. What is not meant for us to have, we do not. Our desires must not get in the way of our purpose. Where we want to be and where we should be unfortunately can be two very different locations. The egocentric mindset convinces us that we are the masters of our domains and our own life pilots. If things are meant to be, they will be regardless of our own efforts and self-imposed timelines. If we go our own way, we may succeed for a time, but we will crash. I have crashed. Do not be so arrogant as to believe that your plan has no flaws. Be smart, take counsel from those you trust, and pursue the path you should take. If it coincides with taking the path you want to take, congratulations! You are fortunate. But if you are among the many who do not have an easy mingling between the proper path and the desired path, be wise. The world does not revolve around you.

I write this to you not to condemn you as egotistical jerks, for if I were to do that I would be the greatest hypocrite of all. I simply remind you that as the world does not revolve around you, it does not revolve around me. Live life with an abundance of hope and a deficit in entitled expectation. Treat others as well as you possibly can. Remember that you are you and they are not. Stop trying to fit the square peg in the round hole. Enjoy today, and be anxious of tomorrow.

Everybody's Got a Price

When I was young, I thought “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase was the most evil man in the world. He would pay people to perform insulting tasks for his pleasure and arrogantly insist that everybody had a price. Obviously as I got older I realized that 1) he was merely playing a character and 2) he was actually one of the nicer people around. I never forgot his cackle and catchphrase. The older I got, the more I realized that everybody does indeed have a price.

Now before you get offended and send me hate mail and empty threats, allow me to explain myself. The price I am referring to does not necessarily correlate to greed. Sure, I have often joked that if I had a price it would be a Shamrock Shake. Honestly, my price is not that cheap. The fact of the matter is that while we choose to believe that our personal code of conduct is concrete and static, offers and circumstances appear to challenge those codes. A person with a crippling fear of public embarrassment might put away those fears if they were given a Toyota Corolla for free. Others might hold out for something more extravagant like a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. When we were in junior high, two of my friends sold the real name of another one of our classmates for spare change and giant Cheez-Its. Everybody’s got a price.

Again, let me reiterate that greed is not the only driving force behind our prices. Sometimes we are willing to compromise our code of conduct when we determine that what we want or need outweighs what we must sacrifice. People believe in certain things, but I would wager that they would (at least temporarily) put them aside if someone they love was in danger. We reach a breaking point where what we want or need overrides the rules and regulations we establish for ourselves.

Even this blog has a price. I have maintained this blog for years because I enjoy writing and expressing myself and a plethora of other reasons that will be further detailed in a later blog this year. But times are tough. Recently I realized I could be getting money for doing something I enjoy. Certainly I have had to tweak some things a bit. Instead of posting hidden links for the benefit of my lone subscriber to this blog, I now post advertisements. I have to alter the content of some of my posts or even write about things I had no intention of writing about. I never thought I would be talking about Chicago auto repair or water pump replacement, but due to the fact that professionally I am not quite where I want to be, I had to do some things I did not expect to do. Am I a sellout? Call me what you will, but everybody’s got a price.

Now that I have established my belief that everybody has a price, I need to say that it is not necessarily a bad thing. Complete rigidity in our lives is not a positive. That said, here are some little tips for maintaining your price. First, don’t sell out for just anyone or anything. You have a code of conduct for a reason. Complete fluidity is as much of a negative as complete rigidity. Second, ask yourself if it is truly worth it. Balance the gain against the loss. Finally, though we all have a price, make sure your price is high. Hold out to make sure the positive outweighs the negative.

Accidents Happen

I am fortunate that I have only been in one car accident in my life. It was not serious, but it was an experience I never want to go through again. Story time!

It was September 2006. I was in my second year of college at ONU and only had classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Only going to school two days a week meant long days. I had to get there early and go home late. I didn’t mind that. However, leaving early meant driving at sunrise. The design of my car coupled with my height makes driving east at sunrise a dangerous thing.

I left that morning from our house in Tinley. I had not even made it a mile when a red minivan pulled out right in front of me! Temporarily blinded by the sun, I rear ended the vehicle. The woman driving the vehicle quickly ran out to check on the van while her son began to take pictures of the accident. However, when the police came, she claimed “personal injury” and demanded an ambulance. Her husband came to pick up the children and wound up rear ending my vehicle! Since there was personal injury involved with my rear ending, I got a court date and ticket. I wound up late to school and only had twenty minutes to take a theology exam. At that point, it felt like one of the worst days of my life.

While none of that was anything I want to experience ever again, it could have been much worse. In Chicago auto repair companies are abundant, probably more so than San Diego Auto repair, so my dad found a place in Tinley to replace both bumpers. I was given a Toyota Camry to use while my car was being fixed (thankfully I was given a car and not the Ford F-150), and oddly that was the vehicle I used to drive my sister and (now) brother-in-law on one of their first dates. The auto repair shop did a great job on my car, and my Cobalt was as good as new. I had to pay a fine in court, and the woman tried to claim “right side injuries” but the ADA declined to press charges. While at the time it was an inconvenience it helped me to be safer and more alert, and I hope to never be the cause of an accident again.

The Importance of Putting Your Best Foot Forward

DISCLAIMER: This is going to be a pretty short entry and not as deep as a lot of my other entries. In fact, when you read this it may seem sort of random. However, keep reading later this month and it will make more sense.

In one of my earlier blogs I mentioned that I am not the biggest fan of Tiger Woods. His personal misdoings really don’t have much to do with my dislike of him. In fact this dislike started even before he defeated my beloved Rocco Mediate in the 2008 U.S. Open. I generally have issues with the overly successful. That said, over the years Nike has done a great job of marketing Woods to make him as tolerable and even (gasp!) likable as possible.

Nike has always been good at touting the successes of the athletes they sponsor. From Woods to Michael Jordan, the brand can tout itself as a winner because it associates itself with athletes who can truly claim to be the best in the world at what they do. Whether showing footage of an incredible shot Woods hit or airing a commercial highlighting Woods’ club-handling prowess, Nike makes the association between the athletes they sponsor and success. This in turn not only makes their products more marketable to the average Joe but also makes their athletes more appealing to the American public.

In the case of Tiger Woods, Nike has done an exceptional job of humanizing him and highlighting the importance of family to Woods’ life in commercials like this. While the company can do nothing about Woods’ continued ability to shoot himself in the foot, they repeatedly make remarkable attempts to make him seem more like a man and less like an island. Without the marketing Woods has received over the years, his winning would still speak volumes, but it is likely that he would be even more disliked without Nike’s attempts to give the public a reason to like him.

So what is the point of this? We are our own personal Nike. It is our job to make ourselves tolerable and likable to potential friends, employers, and love interests. We all have our selling points as well as our flaws. While it is necessary to be cognizant of our flaws, it is necessary to build around the strong points. We must recognize our successes to truly put ourselves in a position to succeed in the long-term.

Pay no attention to the people on your screen

I have never understood society’s worship for those of marginal fame. Sure, I am a big fan of Randy Orton and I loved Scottie Pippen’s work with the Bulls (and was so elated when he returned in 2003), but when the cameras are off them, I stop caring. I just don’t get why mainstream society scrutinizes anyone who is even remotely recognizable.

Jerks exist, but being a jerk is not exclusive to being famous. Granted, some celebrities are absolute jerks and deserve to be recognized as such. Tiger Woods is an infidel. What he did is absolutely uncool. For that, he owed his wife much more than an apology. He owed the same to the sponsors who did keep them. But he owes me nothing. Tiger Woods has absolutely no accountability to me. The worst thing he’s done to me was indirectly cause me to waste an afternoon watching him beat Rocco Mediate in a playoff for the 2008 U.S. Open.

I’ve always thought Ben Roethlisberger was a piece of work. I can’t stand him. His actions range from immature to dangerous. He owes a lot of people a lot of apologies. But the only apology he owes me is for being the beneficiary of one-sided officiating in Super Bowl XL. Simply because I watch (and root against) him does not give me any right to judge him or demand any sort of behavior from him.

Unfortunately we live in a society where the general populace renders their lives as mundane at best or meaningless at worst. Instead of doing something about it, society latches onto whomever or whatever is interesting at the moment. We live in a society where people can become famous for being famous (e.g. Paris Hilton, any of the Kardashians). We live (and leech) vicariously through these people, feed off their successes, hold them to higher standards than we hold ourselves, and feel betrayed when they inevitably falter.

Living in the spotlight does not take away the humanity of any of these people. Many famous people do not crave as much of the spotlight as they receive. When we commoners falter, we do not owe an explanation to the entire world. Just because their failures occurred with a camera does not mean that they owe us anything. We are accountable to those we are close to.

The best advice I can give is to not idolize those whom you do not know. Live your life, worry about yourself, and be the best you can be. Set high standards, but set them for yourself. “Common” life will seem much less mundane if an air of accountability is present.

Progress: Keep Moving Forward

Progress is a tricky thing. It is at times difficult to be gauged individually, and the rate of progression varies not only from person to person but from situation to situation as well. Sometimes it is very difficult for us to keep moving forward, especially when everything around us seems to be falling. At times it even hurts to keep moving forward, but progress is a necessity. It guards us from two very dangerous things.

The first thing that progress guards against is regression, which makes a great deal of sense because regression is the very opposite of progress. The worst thing we can do is to fall back to where we once were. We work so hard to get from where we are to where we want to be, and to return to an inferior version of ourselves would be a demoralizing blow. Not only is it demoralizing but it is also a massive waste of time. Very rarely do we get closer to where we want to be without spending time getting there. To regress from that point not only wastes the time we already spent but also adds additional time to simply return to where we were. The statement “Sometimes in order to take two steps forward we must take one step back” is occasionally true, but a continued habit of moving backward will never take us to where we want to be.

The other thing progress guards against is stagnation, or a settlement in one place for a prolonged period of time so that neither progression nor regression occurs. Stagnation comes in a variety of shapes and forms. At times it exists because there are impediments to progress that must be dealt with. At other times it is a result of complacency. This is the scary form of stagnation. In this case, we are not where we want to be, but we are farther along than when we started. We take too much enjoyment in what we have done that we lose sight of what is still left to be done. Stagnation can be described as this: Say I am on a road trip from Illinois to Idaho. Along the way I make a stop in South Dakota. I am fascinated by the sights and stay there. Enough time passes and I miss my targeted arrival to Idaho. Sure, I am farther along than when I started, but I am not yet where I want to be and am wasting time.

I know that there are times that it is hard to move forward. Other situations in our lives can discourage us and cause setbacks on our path. We must not lose sight of the finish. Some journeys take much longer than we would like, but as long as we keep moving forward step by step we will end each day closer to the finish than when we started the day.

Sometimes in order to move forward to make the brightest future we must let go of what we have today. I know this is not easy. I am living this myself and don’t particularly like it. Since I graduated college I have not exactly had a ton go right in my life. I have had one amazing thing that has unfortunately had to occur at the wrong time of my life. To make the best future for myself and whom I believe to be part of my future, I must do things the right way. It’s not easy now. I know some might hate me for it, and that hurts, but I do it as much for them as I do it for myself. I need to keep holding on and keep moving forward so that the best of our todays will be the worst of our tomorrows.

Forever Young

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever, forever
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever
Forever young
-Alphaville, "Forever Young"

Sometimes I think to myself, "I never really did grow up, did I?" I still have memories as a young child of crying myself to sleep because I wanted my growing up to slow. Personally, the inevitable reality that I had to get older against my wishes was an unfavorable idea. Growing up was simply not in my plans.

The future was able to be put on the backburner as adolescence made the present less grim. I won't deny that my teenage years had some drama. However, things were fun, and it is easy to live in the moment when the moment is good. When things started to turn, I forsook the present to instead focus on what once was or what could be. What is became less important than what if. In my toughest trials I realized that growing up was the only thing to do. I thought maturity was the only path I could chase after. Quite honestly, my college years were the peak of my "maturity." At least, I thought so. It's amazing how things can just come to you.

Things got tricky when I started my student teaching experience. I felt more alive than I had in years and finally had the confidence to match my abilities. I felt younger, so I acted younger. In my social life and in life in general I began to take more risks. As I realized the past had passed it became more prudent to live in the here and now. While I am cognizant of my missteps, I have been wrong to myself for mistaking this change for personal regression.

Growing up and staying forever young are not mutually exclusive. Growing up is taking responsibility for better or for worse. It is not sitting on your porch complaining about how things were better in your day. There is no reason not to feel alive, even as things are changing.

When I turned 23 earlier this month, I felt old from a chronological standpoint until I realized that I act younger at 23 than I did at 18. I no longer clamor for the past, as I have realized that it was not as amazing as I had believed it to be. Even if it was, it is not coming back. I am also mindful of not focusing too far into the future. While it always good to plan, nothing ahead of us is guaranteed. Therefore, I live in a world where hope is more prevalent than expectation. I do believe that the best of my todays will be the worst of my tomorrows, but I realize that what I can affect most today is today itself. I may always act young. I do not apologize for that. I promise my best efforts to be grow up in terms of taking responsibility for who I am and what I do. I also promise to be forever young.

The Worst of My Yesterdays

NOTE: I actually wrote this for a composition class back in October. I chose to publicly post this for your reading pleasure. Also, in an attempt to be less slanderous, I replaced the offending party's name. Enjoy.

It was supposed to be the perfect day, a perfect ending to a perfect trip. Unfortunately, it will forever be etched in my memory as one of the worst days I have ever experienced. While it would be an untruth to state that my life changed drastically that day, it did serve as a catalyst for some necessary personal changes.
Before I delve into the events of the day itself, it would be irresponsible of me to not provide a background for the events. I had decided to reward the completion of my undergraduate studies with an April vacation with one of my closest friends. He wanted to experience our country’s great landmarks, and I desired to take the opportunity to enjoy warm weather and to meet a long distance friend in Florida. We compromised and decided to spend two days in Washington, D.C. and five days Tampa and Orlando in Florida.
That week we had the time of our lives. We climbed the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and drove past the Ford Theater. We saw Tampa Bay Rays games, toured the Kennedy Space Center, and basked in the sunlight at two beaches (Cocoa and Clearwater). Everything had gone perfectly except for two items: I spent too much time in the sun at Clearwater Beach and was badly sunburned, and I had yet to meet my friend. One of my most important reasons for taking the trip was to finally meet her. Based on the long conversations we had and the chemistry these conversations seemed to suggest we would have, I believed that a face to face meeting would jumpstart a romantic relationship. I began to worry that we would never meet. This was remedied that night. She called me to arrange a meeting at the airport before my flight departed. Hope turned to excitement and excitement to expectation. This was going to be the best day of my life!
I was so excited that I could not sleep. Though we were not scheduled to check out of our hotel until just after five o’clock in the morning, I was up at three to get ready for my 7:30 meeting. I showered, shaved, and showered again. The odor of my Michael Jordan Cologne permeated the room. I dressed myself in a brand new shirt, my favorite pair of jeans, and my “lucky” argyle socks. After prodding my traveling companion until he awakened, we were finally ready to leave.
In order to reach the airport in Orlando, we had to make a two hour drive from our hotel in Tampa. It was not an easy drive partly due to construction and partly due to the obstruction the sunrise caused on my sight. Loud, driving music blared from the speakers for the duration of the ride for the purpose of keeping us awake and easing my nerves. While it succeeded with the former, it failed with the latter. After two hours, we finally reached Orlando. All that was left to do before meeting S-Blah was to refill the gas tank of the rental car and then turn in the car (a serviceable 2008 Kia Rio). Once we reached the gas station, my day began to fall apart.
Just before we arrived at the gas station my phone received a new text message. I waited until we reached the gas station to check it. It was from S-Blah. My heart raced as I braced myself for the contents of the message. It read: “Recent sleep depravity has made me hungover (sic) with sleep. Will not make it to the airport.” I was crushed. The person that I had cared so much about that I spent thousands of dollars to travel a thousand miles to meet not only canceled on me but had the audacity to do so in a written message. I was extremely disappointed, but resigned myself to the fact that things could get worse. No sooner had I made that resignation, things did get worse.
After filling my tank with gas, we arrived at the Enterprise Rent-a-Car facility to return the vehicle. I was in a daze as they examined the car to ensure that it was in the same condition that it was on Wednesday when we picked it up. We signed some papers, and we caught the shuttle back to the airport for what we presumed would be a long wait there before our flight.
It turned out that our early schedule was a blessing in disguise. As we went to check in our luggage we were asked to show identification. I reached in my pocket for my wallet. It was gone! I was so upset about being stood up by S-Blah that I neglected to put my wallet back in my pocket after taking it out at the gas station. Both my friend and I remembered it being in the cup-holder of the car after that point, so we took a shuttle back to Enterprise to reclaim the wallet. When we returned to Enterprise, the manager said the car was just cleaned and there was no report of a wallet found. The manager suggested I return to the gas station to check to see if I had left it there. While I ran a mile in my black “Chuck Taylor’s” (not the most appropriate shoes for running) down a gravel path in the Orlando sun only to find that my wallet was not at the gas station, my friend sat with the manager of Enterprise as they watched the footage from the security camera. A rectangular black object was seen in the car, but once it went to be cleaned it was nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, the cleaners were independently contracted and could not be directly questioned by the manager. I was out of two hundred dollars in cash, another two hundred dollars in assorted gift cards, and two credit cards. I quickly called to cancel both cards, and we returned to the airport empty-handed.
I would have been upset if the money was the only thing I lost from my wallet. Unfortunately, I also lost all forms of identification and still needed to fly home to Chicago. I was crushed, disappointed, and angry. I soon was able to add embarrassment to my litany of emotions. Since I lacked the necessary identification to board a flight, I had to earn my boarding by “alternate means”. I was interrogated by airport security concerning nearly my entire life. I was asked my birth date, phone number, address, names of family members, destination of my vacation as well as the name of my traveling companion, and even the name of the high school from which I graduated. My parents were called to verify my answers. Any inconsistencies and who knows when I would have returned from Orlando. Once the interrogation was over, I was publicly frisked. As other travelers passed through the metal detector, I was frisked in a separate aisle. As I was frisked, other security members conducted a detailed search of my carry-on bag. My sunscreen violated the size requirement to be brought on carry-on luggage, and I was asked to “willingly surrender” the sunscreen to the airport. That was the metaphorical salt in my gaping wound. I was ready to finally go home.
The flight would have been exceedingly uncomfortable strictly due to my sunburn, but other items made it even worse. We were late boarders, so our seating choices were limited. My friend and I were able to sit together, but we were stuck in the second-to-last row of the airplane and were surrounded by patrons who had no respect for personal space. The passenger to my right commandeered the entire armrest, and the passenger behind me began to kick my seat. Worst of all, the passenger in front of me moved her seat the entire way back. Since I am 6 feet 4 inches tall, there is a general level of feeling cramped in an airplane, but this pushed it over the edge. Mercifully, we landed in Chicago, and I believed our troubles were finally behind us.
There was one more calamity awaiting us at Midway Airport. Our luggage took some time to get unloaded and sent to baggage claim. I quickly found my luggage, but my friend was having difficulty finding his. An hour passed, and it never came. He notified the airport, and they took down his information so that the luggage could be delivered if or when it finally arrived. The amusing part of all this (if missing luggage can be found amusing) is that a labeling error put his name on my bags, and vice versa. The luggage labeled “Jakob Duehr” was missing. Mercifully, the day was over.
That day sent me into a prolonged period of bitterness. My world had crashed around me. It was the first time in my life that I was devoid of hope. While I long struggled with issues of bitterness, I began to get even angrier about the smallest things and hold grudges for the bigger ones.
The day also sent me on a long and winding road to recovery. In an attempt to deal with this bitterness I read a book entitled The Gift: You Ask and You Get.. One of the most important points of the book was that our life is more affected by reactions to life’s events than the events itself. One night while I was tossing and turning in my bed, I thought of the trip and of the book. I realized that I could not control being stood up by S-Blah, losing my wallet, being treated like a member of the Watch List at the airport. I did, however, have a choice to remain bitter or react positively. I realized had a great learning experience that Sunday in April; that is, if I chose to learn from it. That day, though it was one of the worst of my life, helped me to get to the point of letting go of negativity and reacting calmly and positively. It has been said that sometimes in order to take two steps forward, one must take one step back. April 19, 2009 is proof of that.

23>22

This one will be quick, I promise.

As I write this, I am finishing up my journey as a 22 year old. Likely I will have turned 23 by the time many of you give this a read. I thought back on the year I spent at 22, and it was honestly quite a difficult one. Things quite often did not happen when I wanted them to happen, nor did they even go the way they wanted then to go. For my year as a 23 year old, I’m dreaming big. I am not lowering my goals or standards for the sake of a hollow victory. I have purposed to live my life though the 4 P’s.

Patient: Rome was not built in a day. I can not expect things to happen strictly because I desire them to be such. Most good things take time. By rushing, I run the risk of ruining. Things will happen when they are supposed to happen. If they don’t happen, they weren’t meant to be.
Prepared: Be prepared for anything and everything. Be ready to succeed. Treat every day like it is going to be the day everything falls into place. One day, it will be that day.
Proactive: As I said before, things do not happen strictly due to desire. Action needs to follow. The best way to ensure things will go the way I want them to is by putting myself in a position to succeed. Being proactive is a must.
Positive: While not a complete necessity, positivity is a much better weapon to have in one’s arsenal than negativity. There is no reason not to believe.

For those expecting a long blog, trust me, more of those will be coming. I expect big things in my year as a 23 year old. For those who have been a help to me in my journey, thanks for getting me this far. We’re almost there.