Tuesday, September 20, 2005

In which Mike begins the new trend of starting all posts with "in which"

Beware: introspective rant to follow.

I think "complacency" is the word of my life right now. I'm getting to that point where I think I'm ready (at long last) to delve into something that isn't school, but it seems like before I get to that something, I have to finish grad school, and finishing grad school entails spending entirely too much time on projects and not enough time preparing for the next step (while admittedly allowing some scant time for socializing and solitude). This is the same spiral I fell into two years ago as I prepared to graduate from Vanderbilt. (Though I'll be the first to admit I put a lot more emphasis on the social program then.) At the same time, buried as I am in project work, I still get that same feeling that I got back then, that feeling that I really don't want to do this for the rest of my life. I've got so much time left, and yet I already feel like my life has already been laid out before me. I keep trying to remember Robert Plant's words in Stairway to Heaven (cited below), but I suppose they are easier said than done. And the most prevalent point is, I really do fear I've grown complacent, that I'm just willing to follow this path for lack of other foreseeable options. That maybe I should have explored the possibilities years ago, but I didn't and now it's too late. Blarg.

In the meantime, Hurricane Rita is supposedly barreling toward Houston. A chart in the Houston Chronicle today indicated that it will be category 4 or 5 strength by the time it hits our home. Oh goody, as if there wasn't enough to worry about already. Hey, Mother Nature, my sister is a tree-hugging environmental science major. Don't you think you could cut us some slack on her behalf if nothing else? But then, of course, here comes more complacency. I'm having a hard time making myself care. Maybe it's denial (there's certainly been a lot of that over the past year). Maybe it's the fact that Houston's drainage system is (of necessity) far better than in any of the areas Katrina hit. But right now my biggest concern is how Saturday's Coldplay concert is going to be affected. Perhaps reality will set in at some point. I keep waiting for it.

But anyway, I really wanted to keep this blog from being a series of rants regarding my personal state of being. Hopefully my readers will allow me this one indiscretion.

Song lyric of the day:
"Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run there's still time to change the road you're on
And it makes me wonder..."
- Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven

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