Top 10 Forecasts for 2010 and Beyond From The Futurist MagazineSo, here we are 10 years into the new millennium, and it has been something for me. Like most people, I'm sure, this last year has been up and down for me. I've been unemployed for a while, and yet my doctor and I finally have my chronic headaches under pretty good control where I can now live a normal life, or as normal as I get anyway. I lost my dear uncle to heart disease, and yet my cousin (his daughter) finally seems to be getting her life going, and I managed to find a decent apartment after moving out of his house. I got to reconnect with my brother which was nice, even though he still managed to piss me off in his short stay here before he moved to another city. But that's always been our relationship - I still love him.
I went to my cousin's wedding (which I had to talk myself into at the last minute - I despise weddings) and had a good time and drank lots of beer and ate good food. One other thing that happened to me was my decision to become a vegetarian for reasons of health and conscience. I don't judge anyone who still eats meat, because I was a carnivore for all of my life until recently. But things have changed for me. I just don't feel right eating meat any longer. I'm also trying to eat healthier as well (which is my New Year's resolution - losing weight would be cool too), which means I'm trying to watch what I eat and use organics as much as possible.
I had a pretty interesting year as far as music goes. I saw White Lies after a friend talked me into going to see them (thanks Maggie!) at a small club that they will never play in again, no doubt. I got to the meet the kids from Jared Mees & The Grown Children when they played a small show in Indy and they signed their CDs for me. They're good kids and have potential, I think. The best show I saw all year was probably Margot & the Nuclear So and So's at a local place that used to be a small neighborhood theatre. They're a great live band. The theatre was a dump and smelled, but the show was rockin'. And of course if you read my earlier post about the show with Kate Havnevik and Levi Weaver, you know how much I loved that one. There wasn't a lot of new music from bands I already like, but I know many of them are working on new stuff.
So it was a pretty good year all-in-all. I woke up everyday above ground, so it can always be worse. As Eric Idle sang: "Always look on the bright side of life."
Musically I've changed dramatically over this decade. At the beginning I was a music snob that thought he knew what was good, and pooh-poohed anything that I didn't like. I was contemptuous of anything new or unique, and I never would have listened to the stuff that I listen to now, or gone to the concerts that I've been to in the last few years. There isn't much that I don't listen to now. If I hear something that sounds good or interesting to me, I listen to it, and don't judge it based on some preconceived notion of what's acceptable. And what I don't like, I just say it's not for me, and I leave it at that. If you like it, cool! But I don't find that there's much that I don't like since I've allowed myself to be less demanding and strict.
The last 10 years has been interesting for me to say the least - easily the most eventful decade of my life. In the last 10 years I have lost my mother, grandmother, two uncles and an aunt. I saw my country get attacked and then get involved in two separate wars; watched the Internet struggle to find it's stride and become the indispensable beast that we have today; and celebrated as we elected the first person of color to be our leader. I struggled with my identity the first half or so of the decade, and finally became the vegetarian-liberal-atheist that I am today. I started out this decade as a fundamentalist Christian that voted as a Conservative Republican, listened to gospel and right-wing radio, and hoped that I'd make it to heaven some day. Although I still have some of that person in me, I'm a completely different person. Not that every religious person is like I was; I was a special kind of crazy.
Gone is the credulous person that believed everything he was told, replaced by a skeptic that is more liberal than those I despised in my former life. See what can happen in the span of 10 years? Mind you, there is a small part of me that misses being naive and starry-eyed, but only a very small part. It was a process that did take some time and much seeking, but I never would have predicted that I'd become who I am today. I lost a dear friend because of it (or what I thought was a dear friend), but gained a whole new appreciation for this life and a joy that I can't explain. All of the fear and dread and the self-loathing that marked my old life is now gone and I'm a better person for it. I still have some stuff to work on mind you; I probably drink too much, and I'm still not good at making friends, but it's all just touch up work to me.
I also conquered some demons when I earned a college diploma back in 2005 and graduated as a co-valedictorian (Although I'd still like to get a 4 year degree, and believe me, the valedictorian thing doesn't impress me either.), and even worked as a corrections officer for a few months which I learned from. So even though I don't have many friends, my good looks left me years ago (and thus my attractiveness to the ladies), and I'm deep in debt and being chased by debtors while I can't seem to find a steady, decent paying job, I wouldn't trade what I've learned and experienced these last few years for a great job and perfect family if it meant giving up the person I am today.
I hope it was a good start to the millennium for you, and that you are looking forward to the rest of the century with me. I have hope that we are advancing and becoming a better species, and that the next decadal report you read from me, if I'm so lucky to still be here, will be about how far we've come and grown. And lastly, I hope the next 10 years will be the best years of your life - with many more to come.
