There's an ice box where my campus used to be

I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold, I'm so cold...

Okay not really, but by Oklahoma Standards it is pretty cold. And icy, which means that life in Oklahoma has ground to a standstill. I am used to snow days coming from the Northeast, but ice days? What, jackpot! It's like have another weekend except it's in the middle of the week. What have I done with this unexpected free time? What haven't I done is more like it!

-I haven't studied for my comprehensive exam that is on Saturday (I have to pass to graduate, no big deal).
-I haven't applied to any jobs.
-I haven't spent hardly any time in the office.
-I haven't started writing my paper due on Thursday.
-I haven't cleaned (my apartment could use some upkeep and my office needs a lot of work done)
-I haven't taken down my mini Christmas tree (it has been more than a month since Christmas, I probably should let go...)

"Productivity" has never been a term associated with myself, unless connected with the term "low", but this is getting ridiculous. At least I am being unproductive with free time I guess and not during crunch time when I have to get things done. We will have tomorrow off as well because people here do not know how to drive in ice or snow and also don't know how to put salt/dirt down to mitigate the dangers associated with ice. I'm okay with that I guess, I can still get around and all my meetings are canceled!

Okay now it's time to go a bit deeper. Time for me to philosophize a bit (is that a word?) about life. To put down Rule #2 in Carl's Rules for the Book of Life. Cervantes (the guy that wrote Don Quixote, a book about a crazy guy on a skinny horse chasing windmills in Spain---and I guess some other stuff) wrote, "The road is better than the inn." Is this true? If given the choice to leapfrog time and space and arrive at a desired destination (whether it be a job, a family, or a higher tax bracket) would you do it?

As a kid/teenager/undergrad I might have said take the destination. Why? Because sometimes it easy to be so focused on where you want to be that you lose sight of where you are completely. As a kid I wanted to be an adult because I wanted to be able to have more freedom. To watch more TV, to eat more junk food, to be able to bring drinks into the living room without spilling. As an early teenager I wanted to be 16 so I could drive. As a later teenager I wanted to be 18 so I could graduate, buy lottery tickets, and vote. As an freshman in college I wanted to be a senior so I could buy and drink alcohol (legally) so I could graduate (again), so I could make some money (still hasn't happened by the way), and so I could have a "real" job (also hasn't happened yet). Now what? Am I still looking forward to new destinations?

The answer, as is often the case when looking at things like this, is both yes and no. Am I excited to move forward to a new milestone/chapter/era in my life? Yes. But at this point would I fast forward to get there quicker? No. Thinking about this reminds me of the movie "Click". Adam Sandler's character obtains a remote which allows him to control time. Inevitably (after some fun) he fast forwards himself to what he believes are important goals or times in his life. In the end he realizes however, that life's destinations aren't as worthwhile without the journeys it takes to get to them, and he regretted all the things he had missed.

That's kind of where I'm at now in my life. I am grateful to have reflected on this now and not 20 years from now. As much as I would love to see how it all turns out I can't sacrifice all the other things that are going to happen along the way. Sure, I'd love to be married some day, but without the process of finding the right person and building a relationship and sharing a bunch of memories, that marriage would not be as fulfilling.

So write it down, Rule #2 in Carl's Rules for the Book of Life:

"The road is better than the inn."

And in other news, here is my

Photo Recall - Day 24:


This photo was taken during my first year at OSU during a snow day. As you can tell there is not much snow (I think total we got maybe 6 inches, although people who have never been around snow now remember it to be more than a foot haha), but the chance to sled was too good to pass up. I managed to pile 8 people into my Honda Accord, including one whose legs were sticking out of one of the rear windows and we drove around looking for a decent sledding hill. Oklahoma is known for rolling plains, so there wasn't much available, except for the hill at the archery range. There we sledded the afternoon away on cardboard boxes and on plastic/rubber lids because of course there were no sleds to be bought (D'oh!). That is Kristen, my first partner in crime, getting a big push down the hill. From the look on her face you know she was not ready. Oh well!