Quarter of a Century

25 Years.

No longer able to use the excuse of "youth" for silly mistakes, anxiety attacks or plain simple stupidity; 25 is the age when a person can rent a car without a hassle, is the average age for marriage, and is considered quite bad luck in Thailand. Great. I think it is important here to let you know that I still plan on excusing myself from many a folly and passing it off as youth, and do not in fact have plans to either rent a car or marry in the near future. I also plan on never believing in luck. So, with that... I can't tell you how much I want to tell you all that I don't own anti-wrinkle cream. But I do. In fact, I bought a new jar of Olay Definity™ on Tuesday to celebrate.

Yet, all of this being said, I have a decidedly better attitude than last year. Last year, I didn't want to admit I was actually freaking out pretty substantially. I was starring in to the abyss and the abyss was saying things in Jack Black's voice:

"Dude, you reeeeeeeally need to lighten up. Even The Abyss is less serious than you. You know how that NIETZSCHE dude said "when you stare in to the abyss, it stares back at you?" Well, Dude, I am here to tell you that This Here Abyss is starring back at you and it is something DARK, man. Starring back at you is like a psychotically out of control downer, and you are depressing The Abyss, man. You need to get in touch with your totally awesome awesome-ness and chill the f@%# out. Rock on."

So I tried to listen to the Jack Black character in my head, and to a certain extent it worked. I'm much more in tune with what "the rest of my life" means, and that I am in control of it's direction. Regardless, I am relentlessly working to improve my outlook, and every hour I save is an hour added to my life.

And whatever your ideology, whatever your age, whether you know the shape of a rock or the structure of a universe, the meaning of existence or the specific purpose of an individual life; the axioms remain the same: that it exists and that you know it. Whatever his future, at the dawn of his life, Man seeks a noble vision of his nature and of life's potential. And so do I.

Here's to another year.