Twenty Three Syndrome

Today is the eve of my twenty-third birthday. 23 appears to be one of those ages that really has no more meaning than another year of life. Nearly every other birthday I’ve experienced had some significance. Normally another year meant I was allowed to do something new, given more responsibility, or I was classified in a different age group. When I turned 21 I could drink, at 22 I was no longer classified as a 21 year old running around misusing alcohol. Have you ever noticed that people are generally considered an adult after 18 except the age of 21? When you are 21, you are a “twenty one year old.” At 23, you are simply older than you were before.

There is, however, something significant about the age of 23. It appears to me that it is a challenging and messed up long year. This is an observation from my life and some popular songs. I’ve discoverd a number of songs where the character of the song is 23. Some are about love which I don’t feel the need to look into, but 4 songs stood out to me. The most obvious is Blink 182’s “What’s my Age Again?” Simply put, nobody likes it when you’re 23. People expect you to start taking responsibility, but you still want to be an adolescent making dumb decisions and having fun. Eminem wrote the song “Guilty Conscience” where the character of the song is fed up with his life and decides to hold up a liquor store. At 23, it seems that one will realize how boring and crappy life can be and want to make rash decisions to make a change or prevent life from becoming dull. Similarly, Coolio in “Gangster’s Paradise” took a “look at his life and realized there’s nothing left”… “I’m 23 now but will I live to see 24, the way things are going I don’t know.” Finally, Incubus has “Pardon Me.” This is my favorite of the four and I think it necessary to include the lyrics.

A decade ago,

I never thought I would be,

at twenty-three,

on the verge of spontaneous combustion. -Woe-is-me.-

But I guess that it comes with the territory,

An ominous landscape of never-ending calamity.

I need you to hear, I need you to see

that I have had all I can take

and exploding seems like a DEFINITE possibility... to me.

So pardon me while I burst

into flames.

I've had enough of the world

and its people's mindless games.

So pardon me while I burn

and rise above the flame.
Pardon me, pardon me...I'll never be the same!

I find those lyrics stunning! Though these songs have some major differences, they all have one central theme. The characters are at a major transition in life that they find unappealing and want to fight against it. Things are not what they hoped to be and they want to act like an idiot, do something radical and crazy, or simply combust and get away. What happens in our society that would cause a person at that age to feel this way? They have graduated college and have spent 8 months or so working. I feel that most people are generally excited about starting a career and contributing to society. The beginning of a new job can be a lot of fun. You are getting a pay check, you are learning and contributing and you are thinking about moving out on your own and looking toward the future. This is all very exciting until 5 or 6 months in when you hit a wall.

If you are like me, from middle school on you have had new transitions every 3-4 months. You start school, hit Christmas, and your classes change around. A few months of that and you hit the summer where you get to have some fun and possibly get a full time temporary job. About 3 months of that, and just when you are starting to get tired of it, you realize you have but a couple weeks left until you can quit and start some new classes at school. This is even more obvious when you hit college and change where you live every few months. It is an exciting life, but it causes some problems when you hit the real world. After a few months of 8 hours a day five days a week work, you start to get tired of it. Normally, that isn’t a big deal because you will be quitting soon and going back to school, but not now… It just keeps going. A couple months later, you start to feel the way the song writers are talking about. Crap! I’m an adult and I’m doing something that isn’t very fun and I’m going to be doing it day in and day out for the next 40 years. When this really hits you, you start reacting outwardly. You will try to be the person you used to be and act immaturely, but you never get that back and it annoys other people. That doesn’t work, so you try to change your life drastically by doing something crazy. You rob a store, you blow some stuff up, or you buy something extravagant that you shouldn’t buy. This temporarily helps, but soon you will feel the same way you did before. These things have failed and you start to get really sad and hate life. All you want to do is get away, possibly spontaneously combust, either way, you question if you will ever see 24.

Since tomorrow is my 23rd birthday, you may wonder how it is that I know these things. Do I expect these things to happen to me? No. In all reality, they already have. I have labeled the cause of this 23 syndrome to be college graduation and starting a career. I graduated a semester early in order to get a jump start on my career. The jump start caused me to experience the symptoms of 23 syndrome at the age of 22. Though I am turning 23 tomorrow, I feel that I am turning 24, which consequently happens to be my favorite number. Here is my simple advice for any of those out there experiencing the symptoms of 23 syndrome: Stop hating life and complaining about it, accept the person you are, where God has strategically placed you for His glory, and turn 24. I expect this next year of my life to be less rash and a bit happier.

Good luck to you and have a Merry Christmas.

Some Things You Ought to Know

Greetings my friends. My mind has been scattered today with a plethora of thoughts and I felt the need to express them. I have spent some time recently reviewing my life and my blog posts and decided there are some things that need to be said and some things that the reader may be quasi interested to find out. For instance, I enjoy using the word quasi whenever possible, which may be quasi weird, but I do not care.

Number 1: the majority of my blog has been rather dismal and I apologize for that. I never used to be a gloomy person, but after a year of being in the real world with “suck the life out of me” kind of job, my thoughts have become cheerless to say the least. That needs to stop. I’ve had the revelation that I’ve been taking life a bit too seriously lately and that is something I never used to do. Though my responsibilities force me to step up my seriousness, I took it to a level that no person took take their life. I’m going to try to cool down my outlook on my life and what is important. The most important way for me to do that is to have a more eternal focus, which leads me to my next item.

Number 2: I have hardly made any mention of the Lord and his role in my life. I am shameful for this fact. I’ve become so serious, so wrapped up in my job and corporate world, so focused on life that I haven’t taken a step back to realize that life here doesn’t matter very much. This world and my life are wasting away and it is merely a springboard to the perfect existence I am going to experience in the presence of my maker. First, that is gong to help me live life the way I should be living, and second, I need to be talking more about God on my blog since he should be my guide to everything I do. I fear that someone I don’t know may read parts of this page and feel bad for me for my misery which would not Glorify God. As John Piper claims, I must be satisfied with my life that God will be most glorified in me, this should shine through in my writing.

Number 3: My office decided to do a gift exchange where a Santa is assigned to each day of December to buy something small for everyone in the office. I’ve got some pretty sweet gifts thus far including today’s gift of a FREAKING HUGE Disney pencil. Part of this plan was to decorate our cubicles and hang a stocking to put all of the gifts in. Since I always have to be different, I decorated for Festivus. I have a 2.5 foot aluminum pole, and Happy Festivus sign with the tag line “A Festivus for the Rest of Us,” two 6 inch wrestling guys with a sign in front of them for the Feats of Strength, and a list on the front of my cube for the Airing of Grievances. I am quite proud of my work; however, nobody really got the joke. Even the people who quote Seinfeld on occasion didn’t get the joke. I am disappointed in them, but also feel very lame every time I have to explain it to someone that stops by and asks “what are the little fighter guys for?” The only real good that came out of it is that the wrestlers who are named Mitch and Johnny often end up in weird positions in the night for my discovery in the morning.

Number 4: Liz and I have found ourselves hooked on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” I downloaded (yes I download TV shows and Movies online, sorry) every episode and we have been watching at least 2 a night. Before proceeding, I must declare that this show is absolutely appalling. It is by far the most sinful and morally wrong show I have ever seen which is an immense statement considering I have seen every episode of Seinfeld and South Park. Honestly, combine those shows together and put them on crack, and you have “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Now that I have cleared myself of any liability since this show is so incredibly awful, it is absolutely hysterical. I love it! There are few people I would recommend it to and I mostly feel disgusting at myself for watching it, but in the end, it has been a great experience and I want more. I am just starting off the third season, and look forward to what is ahead, though I must say that the first season was better than the second. In case you decide to start watching it on your own, I must tag on an additional warning. This show has the possibility of affecting the way you speak to people you care about. Honestly, Liz and I have never spoken to each other with such rudeness, anger, and sarcasm in the history of our relationship. It is all fun and games between us and normally ends in wrestling and loving, but if we were ever to speak this way in public to each other, people would be lining up to give us marital counseling and pour holy water on us.

Number 5: Since I am on a streak of confessions, I feel the need to discuss this. Michael Vick was just sentence to a jail term for his dog fighting fiasco. I’ve heard many people discussing how terrible of a person he is and they can not comprehend a human can be so cruel. In fact, just today my office was discussing this horrible person and how he should be locked up for a long long time and how he must have some serious psychological issues. *GASP* …. I don’t think it is that bad. I know, for shame, for shame. I am such a monster! Chase me to the tower with your pitch forks and burn me alive. But in all honesty, if presented with the opportunity to watch, I would not turn my head. I had a friend with a Parana in college and I always wanted to watch it feed, I like movies where there is a one on one battle, and I have always been fascinated with cock fights and wanted to witness one, and since the moment I found out that a beta fish would kill another beta fish when put in the same tank, I’ve wanted to rush out and get me 2 beta fish. I am curious to see an animal fight another animal. I know it is wrong and I certainly look down on the way the animals are treated when not fighting, but I would probably watch Mike Vick’s terrorizing event and cheer for the winner. I apologize if I have offended you in any way, but it is the truth.

Thank you for reading.

Where I can I Sign?

I had a rough day the day after my last blog post. I was in a bad mood which was contrary to the feelings I had expressed in my blog post causing the “Nevermind” post. I’ve rebounded from that day, so nevermind the nevermind, well… at least most of the nevermind.

This post is not to discuss the meaning of the nevermind, because out of the nevermind, a comment was born. This specific commenter whom apparently does not speak our native tongue has a very tempting offer for me. After translating the Portuguese comment into English I began reading with great delight as I discovered this “person” really likes my blog. I must say, it means a lot to me that others are reading it and finding it interesting. Immediately following this wonderful statement of blog enjoyment, the commenter got down to business. As I can interpret from the broken translation, there is an internet service that will give me lightning speeds over dial up. I began to loose interest at this point since I have upgraded to the ever faster broadband internet access, but alas! This offer is also profitable for those with Broadband. Well then sign me up! The expense in addition to a telephone is apparently quite small while the benefit is very great. I could not be happier about this possibility! Thank you commenter. Furthermore, this offer is good in over 2100 Brazilian cities, which I can tell you is a relief for low cost internet access for my many vacation homes in Brazil. I could not be happier about this opportunity. Where can I sign good commenter? Where?