The busiest, craziest, most exciting time of my life. And when I think about the future, it’ll only get busier, crazier, and more exciting. Gotta love it.

From a Grantland.com (seriously, if you aren’t reading this site, you need to start) article written by Chuck Klosterman. I love the tongue-in-cheek overview of human society.

It’s easy to be cynical, but I’m not like that. Nope. No way. I prefer to focus on the ultra-super positive, which is less depressing and more financially rewarding. I give props to my ninjas and kudos to my serfs. I attack reality with well-placed, nonironic, nonrefundable LOLs. I’m not afraid to tell people how great they truly are, even if they’re average or less-than-average or openly evil. So let’s all put aside our petty complaints and be real, if only for a moment: As a society, we’re pretty awesome.

Now, I’m not referring to American society, per se; I’m referring to human society, starting with the Mesopotamians and ending with the first wave of solo projects from Odd Future. As a species, we’re totally killing it. We’ve already accomplished way more than we deserve: The Great Wall of China (not to mention the numerous Chinese restaurants that share its name), the Renaissance (I wasn’t directly involved with this, but whatever), the moon landing (“maybe”), and countless other triumphs that can’t be counted (as they are unaccountable). We’ve almost totally conquered polio, racial intolerance, and werewolves. Assuming we exclude most of Europe during the 12th century, it’s been a quasi-terrific, can’t-miss, semidelicious 9,000 years — and we humanoids have been the catalyst for everything. Dark-hearted humanity critics always want to rave about how “brilliant” dolphins are, but do dolphins have Twitter? No. They don’t even have Tumblrs.

WE ARE THE PEOPLE, AND WE ARE OUTSTANDING.

If only I could write columns like this. Still a live goal down the line to write a novel.

Top 5 albums released in 2011 (so far):

1. City and Colour - Little Hell

2. Machester Orchestra - Simple Math

3. Bright Eyes - The People’s Key

4. The Dear Hunter - The Color Spectrum

5. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Top 5 overrated albums released in 2011 (so far):

1. The Wonder Years - Surburbia… (blah blah)

2. All Time Low - Dirty Work

3. Sum 41 - Screaming Bloody Murder

4. Eisley - The Valley

5. Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

It’s no secret that I want to do more in my career, but it’s just not the time yet. I need more experience, a more proven track record, and my college degree.

But I connected with some folks on the workplace culture team today. I’m hoping they can get me involved in what they do. I want to represent the voice of the younger people in my company. One of the people on the team asked if she could read the essay I wrote on our generation. I think that’s a good start. That paper barely worked as an academic paper (still got full credit though!) and was more of a soapbox, perspective piece. Maybe I could make some difference.

Because I’ve begun to realize that my lack of effort at times stems not from bad work ethic but from frustration at wanting to do more. When I watch the panels on healthcare, I’m insanely interested. I just wish I was doing something more than being the admin support for the people who make the real change.

It is hard to sit back and pay my dues when I know I can do more.

That concludes my posts for the month. :)

You know, for such an innovative and adaptable generation we sure lose our shit over design changes on our favorite websites. It’s as if we ignore the fact that there are dedicated project teams aimed at improving our user experience.

If we never tried new designs, we would miss out on a lot. Remember how Facebook chat was hated? Remember the initial Twitter backlash?

All these upgrades have improved the experience for some at the very least. For those that don’t need it, don’t use it.

I’m not trying to defend developers, but it’s interesting to me. We try to distance ourselves from the prior generations and their resistance toward change, yet we complain when it happens to us in the most minor of ways.

Stop complaining. you’ll be used to it in a week or so and get upset when it changes again in 6 months.

I always scoff at the notion that you feel differently when you turn a certain age. As if one day could transform you into a man with gray hair and a bad back.

In turning 23, there has been a seismic shift in my life… but not necessarily overnight. There’s the impending fatherhood of course. There is living with my partner, having my own family, having to plan and manage for more than myself daily. There are the increasing stresses of school and work. There is the struggle with where to live and where to work. The struggle to be young at times in the middle of all the responsibility. But something feels different now. 23, for me, marks some sort of shift into the mid-20’s. Maybe some will consider the mid 20’s to be age 24-26 or something like that. But at 23, I feel like I can’t get away with being an early 20’s moron anymore. I can’t show up late to work and have it roll off because they just look at me and laugh and think back to when they were young and out late. These days, I have people who rely on me in more ways than one.

My life is the kind that I don’t have nor really make the time to jump on blogs or be a crooning, artistic muse but there is also an explicit happiness that surrounds me most of the time. Back when I was mired in the “work all-day, come home to nothing but myself” lifestyle, there was a lot of time for creation but a lot more time for loneliness. I used the internet and blogs to seek out some sort of cure for my loneliness. I wanted attention for my music and the things I wrote. I wanted cute girls to comment on my pictures and yearned for some kind of acceptance and community. My friends had moved all over the country. My work friends were just that, work friends. My family could only provide so much.

But now, I have someone to come home to every day. Soon, I’ll have my very own family. I have a constant companion to talk about things with and a place we can call our own, as two people with complementary taste. We like most of the same things. We influence each other’s lifestyles positively. She’s helped me get in the best physical shape of my life. I’ve helped her in ways too. Having a family has given me purpose. I have something to work for every day; because before I had any of this I had a hard time working hard to provide for just myself.

I don’t want to attribute my turnaround in life simply to the addition of a great partner and a soon-to-be daughter. I also spent the last two years simply growing up. My care-free youth didn’t last long, but the ideals stuck with me. I resented being an adult though I had no choice in the matter. I had to pay if I went to school. I had to work if I wanted freedom, etc. But in the last two years I found happiness in the adult world. I like being able to provide for myself. I like being able to take real vacations. I like eating good food and having some nice things. I like having direction.

About the only thing that tugs at me is that constant need for more to do, more challenges. And I don’t get it sometimes, to be honest. I’m having a child soon. I have a relationship to constantly maintain. I have bills to pay and homework to do and work to get done every day. But I still want a better job and another degree (and I haven’t even finished this one!). I want to live in a place that my family would enjoy more (not the actual living space so much as the surrounding city). I want to get in even better shape. I want to record another album. My eagerness for living is simply not flickering away in any form.

And I suppose if that’s the case, then maybe 23 isn’t so different. I’m older, I have already accomplished many of my life-long goals, but I still have many more. And when I think about that, I’m still so young. And that is the most exciting part of all this.

When people on tumblr “ask” each other things like, “when’s the last time you had sex?” When we all know the answer is most likely, “NOT FOR A WHILE BECAUSE I’M ON TUMBLR!”

Just having some fun joking around. May you all get laid tonight. :)

Or something like that right? The youth ideal is weighing on me lately. And not the ideals of open-mindedness, exploration, appreciation, acceptance, or anything like that. No, it’s the youth idea of being carefree and self-serving.

It’s not that I don’t promote finding oneself, traveling, being young and enjoying your life. It’s just that there is this arrogance and selfishness that seems to accompany it. It’s not present specifically in young people, it’s an ideal that takes over someone. I’m sure I have exhibited signs of it at times (we can’t help but gloat when we are doing something we find extraordinary), but I tend to feel more a sense of wonder and appreciation when I’ve traveled to a city like NYC or when I’ve released an album. I’m not trying to say I have all the right responses or answers.

I just see people who take off and live for themselves, which is fine, but then seem to scoff at people who tell them they are lucky. “I make my life the way I want to” they will say, but forget to mention the help their parents and friends have provided. A lot of these people live with their parents or live with support from their parents. These people might sit back and think my “9-5” life is lame and too adult, but may not fully understand that I have to work that job to support myself and my family. And again, it’s not a dig at any particular lifestyle. I’m happier when I share my experiences. I like sharing my wealth and travel and accomplishment with a partner. I like knowing that I work hard to not only please myself but also a (soon to be) child. I do plenty for myself, I don’t need to LIVE for myself.

But others aren’t ready to do that. They want to be selfish (in a good way) and travel and experience and get stupid with friends. It’s enviable for sure. I want to do the same, but I suppose I’d rather save that chapter in my life for when I have more means and more appreciation for the world. My youth ideals aren’t dying, they are being combined with adult realism. I go to school, I play music, I stay active, I induldge in the arts and entertainment, I travel, I work, and I love.

I think the youth ideal at its core is something to be celebrated, certainly something that needs to spread to others who seem to have lost zest for life. But alongside that ideal should be an acceptance of responsibility and a graciousness. Be thankful if you have parents who help support your quest to “find yourself”. Be thankful if you have friends who will spot you for dinner and drinks because you are working a lower end job while pursuing an artistic career. Those with the youth ideal tend to scoff at the corporate world, but those of us who have more than ourselves to worry about find benefit and security in this world. And it is possible to marry the two, I think I do it very well.

What comes from that is a fully fulfilling life that is not just for you, but for others you care deeply about. It’s a life that allows you to give and take in fair ways. My life is long and on the upswing. Would I enjoy a trek through Europe by myself right now? I’m sure I would. But I imagine I’ll enjoy it more in 5 years with my family. That’s my perspective.

I’ve surprisingly been really up on new music lately, so I wanted to offer some thoughts on some of the notable releases (for me at least) of 2011:

Augustana - Augustana: More folksy, less piano driven, less lyrically creative than the previous albums. Yet for some reason, it just hits the right note for me. “Borrowed Time” is a classic Augustana song.

Bright Eyes - The People’s Key: Seeing these songs performed live alongside the other songs from their catalog only cemented the strength of this album. The talking heads are a bit jarring (but still an Oberst staple) but the album has a melodic, agreeable tone. The percussion drives this album so well. Oberst is like a fine wine, gets better with age. Definitely one of my favorites of the year.

Eisley - The Valley: It’s good, it’s Eisley, but it’s lacking. Eisley to me felt like this angelic group of females in the past, but in this album they felt more like fallen angels (totally lame I know). I can’t say if that is a good or bad thing, but while some songs “Mr. Moon”, “Kind” are wonderful, some just leave me feeling unfulfilled. I understand that the band went through some darker personal stuff, but it came across too angsty and wasn’t channeled in a way musically that they were capable of.

Emery - We Do What We Want: Despite the dumb title, this is the best Emery album since The Question and The Weak’s End. I will say that this album made me realize how much I’m over the whole screaming thing in music, but I loved the vocalization so much that I got myself through it. Besides, it’s good workout music.

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues: Great indie/folk album. I will say that this is my first introduction to this band, and I couldn’t be more satisfied. Solid album all the way through. Creative instrumentation and beautiful vocals.

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light: They wanted to rock out, and they did. I mean, it’s the Foo Fighters, they do many things well and this is an album of them turning it up to “11” and going crazy. Gotta love it.

Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math: I talked about this on Twitter a bit yesterday. The album is beautifully crafted and just amazing, but it lacks a certain… passion? energy? that I’ve come to know from MO. This release may need more time in my ears, because I’m confused by it.

Panic! At The Disco - Vices and Virtues: This one got a lot of spin from me. This is definitely a guilty pleasure. There is nothing mindblowing about it, it just works. “The Calendar” is just a great pop song.

Sum 41 - Screaming Bloody Murder: Listened a few times, nothing caught my attention. Stick a fork in these guys.

Unwritten Law - Swan: This was a jumble of that sex, drugs, rock band that is so fun and the more serious Elva group. For some reason it worked. I can’t ever understand why I like this band so much, but this album just made me think, “Hell Yeah!”

There ya go.

Worked, played guitar, made a delicious salmon and tortellini dinner, worked out, listened to vinyls, and watched some TV.

Yes, my life is so busy these days that doing all these things in a single day is an accomplishment. And now I’m writing too! Score!