The more things change . . .
A recent email about alumni updates from my college class officers alerted me to the fact that I have now been out of college as long as I was in college. Of course, this also means that I have now been out of high school for twice as long as I was in it. It's remarkable, really. In those eight years, I've completed six years of higher education, lived in four major metropolitan areas, traveled to dozens of states and a handful of foreign countries, had one real job, and had what seems like an endless stream of temporary and part-time jobs.
Those things have had an impact; I'm certainly more independent, more cynical, more adventurous, and less timid than I used to be. At the same time, however, my favorite day of the summer is still the Fourth of July and my favorite part of the day is the fireworks. I've written about this before, so I won't go into the details of my affection for fireworks. Instead, I'll note that tonight, when Mayor Villaraigosa announced at the Woodland Hills fireworks display that 40,000 people were in attendance, I had the exact same reaction I would've in college, high school, or probably even grade school. I thought, "Wow! That's twice the size of Watertown."
South Dakota, it seems, will always be my yardstick for measuring new experiences. In the past few weeks alone, I'm sure I've compared drive times, distances, populations, skylines, communities, and personalities to the ones I grew up around. I'm also sure my habit of putting things into South Dakota terms is at least occasionally annoying to those of my friends who aren't interested in the miscellany of my home state, but I'm hoping it's also occasionally a little endearing.
Anywho, I also realized this evening that I've spent the past five Fourths of July away from home. So, I've decided that next year I will do everything I can to spend the Fourth at home. It's time.
Those things have had an impact; I'm certainly more independent, more cynical, more adventurous, and less timid than I used to be. At the same time, however, my favorite day of the summer is still the Fourth of July and my favorite part of the day is the fireworks. I've written about this before, so I won't go into the details of my affection for fireworks. Instead, I'll note that tonight, when Mayor Villaraigosa announced at the Woodland Hills fireworks display that 40,000 people were in attendance, I had the exact same reaction I would've in college, high school, or probably even grade school. I thought, "Wow! That's twice the size of Watertown."
South Dakota, it seems, will always be my yardstick for measuring new experiences. In the past few weeks alone, I'm sure I've compared drive times, distances, populations, skylines, communities, and personalities to the ones I grew up around. I'm also sure my habit of putting things into South Dakota terms is at least occasionally annoying to those of my friends who aren't interested in the miscellany of my home state, but I'm hoping it's also occasionally a little endearing.
Anywho, I also realized this evening that I've spent the past five Fourths of July away from home. So, I've decided that next year I will do everything I can to spend the Fourth at home. It's time.
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