A Few Notes

There is just a lot going on in my life right now and I can not really formulate it into a cohesive post, so I am just going to put it all down in a list. Enjoy.

1. I just grajitated graduated this morning. This is exciting, but also really sad. Which is how I want to feel. If I was only sad, then it would mean I have nothing to look forward to. And if I was only happy about graduating, then it would mean that I didn’t like college. So feeling excited/sad is just the best way to feel, even if it leaves me in a lot of tension.

2. I said goodbye to most of my friends over the past week. This was mainly just sad, not very exciting. I know that I am going to meet new people and have great friends in the future, but these friends are just so nice, and I like the features they come with, and I don’t want to learn how to get along with new people when I am just so comfortable here. We’ve been busy partying/camping/tubing/talking/hugging/crying/swimming/etc., trying to wring every bit of joy out of our last few days together. It’s exhausting, but worth it. To all of my friends, I say I love you dearly and will miss you greatly and hope to see you all very soon! The Baylor Studs better have a Christmas Party this year.

3. Bear attacks? See below.

4. Yes, I have read Into the Wild. No, I have not seen Deliverence. Whenever I tell people about hiking the AT, they invariably mention these two books/movies, and I make the same lame joke about not dying in the wilderness at the hands of inbred psychopaths or poison berries. Stop worrying everyone, I’m going to be fine. I am a College Graduate.

5. No I will not carry a gun (ahem, Ryan). The AT is considerably safer than the rest of America.

6. People keep asking me, “How will you eat on the trail?” Answer 1: “I’m going to forage for nuts and berries, and supplement my diet with the occasional bear or two. Answer 2: “I am carrying six months worth of Cliff Bars.” Answer 3 (the real answer): I am going to premake about two-thirds of my meals, box them up, and have them mailed to me a week’s worth at a time. I will purchase the other third along the way.

7. I might be going to grad school abroad in 2010 through a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship. I won’t find out if I got it until August, but it would be pretty great if I did!

That’s all I got. But I leave you with this video to think upon:

Conor Oberst Voice < A Dog’s Bark … but I still Like It

So, I know there are a fair amount of Bright Eyes haters our there (ahem, CW). And let’s face it, Conor Oberst’s voice is terrible a little rough around the edges. But I’ll be the first to tell you, that man knows how to write a good tune every now and then.

So, I am pretty much digging his new self-titled solo album (I know, I thought Bright Eyes was a solo project too). It’s got that great alt-country/folk/blues grit that I’ve learned to appreciate over the past few years (see: Wilco, Rocky Votolato, Mojave 3, Sufjan, Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine, et cetera). If you haven’t checked it out yet, or were just thinking of writing it off as more of that “emo-folk-Bright-Eyes-crap,” well, check out the video below and then reconsider:

In other things I like right now, I just finished reading Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, which was hauntingly beautiful. Waugh is kind of like a British and Catholic version of F. Scott Fitzgerald, so that gets him pretty high marks on my list immediately.

He has a wonderful way of merging his Christian beliefs into writings without preaching, really blurring the line between sacred and secular. Which I think is not only beautiful, but very important as well. It’s kind of hard to explain why that appeals to me so much, but I think that the Christian artist shouldn’t see the world as off limits. Our spirituality is a really sticky thing, all wrapped up in this living that we do, and so art should reflect and express that. It’s like Coldplay’s new album. Even though it isn’t a “Christian” album, it certainly reflects important Christian beliefs and values. The last song has a beautiful line:

No I don’t want a battle from beginning to end
I don’t want a cycle of recycled revenge
I don’t want to follow death and all of his friends

In summary: Conor Oberst reminds me of a battered Fender Telecaste guitar, Evelyn Waugh is the man, and way to go Christ Martin for not boxing yourself in.

Post College Is So Soon…

…but it’s okay because I HAVE A PLAN. And HAVING A PLAN makes everything (seem) possible. Seriously though, I have been exploring some pretty neat opportunities. Like doing a Fulbright grant, where basically the US Government sends me to a foreign country to teach English for ten months! Amazing! It looks like such a great chance to serve, adventure, and experience new culture all at once! And the best part is: it let’s me put off doing something “real” with my life.

Which brings me to my next point: I’ve been thinking alot about this whole “get a real job” ideal that I seem to have ingrained in me. I have kind of viewed my life like this: I am born, I go to school, graduate from college, get some more letters to put after my name in graduate school, and then get a Real Job. Everything leads up to this last stage, where I have “arrived” in the Grown-Up World.

But see, after spending much of my summer in what very well could be a “real” job, I see that maybe I don’t want to do that right away…or ever. Why do I have to get stuck on this carreer track to an office cubicle where I am married to my computer? I think that this whole “real” job thing is crap. There are plenty of other opportunities out there that would be more fulfilling, if I just have the initiative and guts to find or make them.

Now this is not to say I want to be a bum or a drifter, like a lot of post-college grads I have met recently. I met this guy last night who graduated a few years ago, bummed around for a few years until his savings ran out, and now he is moving back home with the ‘rents with no plan or prospects. I DON’T want to do that. But that doesn’t mean my other option is to simply resign myself to a job that, although boring unfulfilling, will put me on a good career rat-race treadmill track to Success.

See, I think I have come to the realization that I can have my cake and eat it too. I can do something adventurous like hike the Appalachian Trail and still Achieve My Goals. Keep my eyes open for new and different opportunities. Don’t get tied down to something mediocre because it is secure, when there is something great out there. I really can do anything I set my mind to. Right?

Shameless Self-Promotion

If you head over to the Freakonomics blog right now this very instant you will see in the right hand side of the screen a section called “Comments of the Moment.” [He says smugly while brushing imaginary dust off of shoulders] See the one about museums stealing from each other? Yeah, that’s me.

My Fifteen Seconds

In a strange coincidence, the other post happens to be from one person named “Kent,” which is of course my last name.

But seriously, wouldn’t that be awesome (terrible)? Imagine a world where all the major museums compete in a gentleman’s sport to steal important parts from each other’s collections, with daring heists and feats of bravery. How exciting that would be!