Allow myself to introduce... myself. Yeah, I just stole that from Austin Powers, but it's sort of vintage, as that movie came out over twelve years ago. It was that long ago, yes. Regardless, I am the titular Matty, one half of the eponymous "Stilly and Matty". I am the Right Coast, or East Coast half of the team, writing to you from a sunny and warm Halifax, which is being both unusually sunny and unusually warm.
This blog came about when I started making fun of Stilly for her lack of Blog updates.
No, really, that's pretty much the truth.
She had a Blog, which I found through her Facebook, and it ended just a few days before meeting me, which was too bad.
You see, Stilly and I came together with 51 other university students and university-age folk to take part in a Summer Mission project called Impact Saskatoon, which was held in the city of the same name in the beautiful province of Saskatchewan. Being faithful Catholics (she's better than I am), we wanted to keep the flame alive after having lived for the Gospel and working hard (and playing hard and praying hard) all Summer. Through the wonders of social media and technology, Stilly and I can keep in contact, but more importantly, we can spread our net and inform the denizens of the internet of what is going on in our lives.
Maybe Stilly would disagree, but I don't really have a SUPER exciting life, but my life does have its foibles and fun, and my mind has it's opinions and outlooks. Plus, there's the whole concept of context; if I wanted to, I could dip my toes in the beautiful Atlantic Ocean, and look beyond to try to see the moors of Scotland, the coast of Portugal and the shores of Africa, while seeing the streets of my port city en route to the water. On the other hand, Stilly can, if I understand correctly, go to the Pacific and look for the shores of China, Australia, and Atlantis. Actually, sorry, that's wrong. Atlantis is clearly in the Atlantic ocean, as the etymology of the word suggests. My bad, all.
So there's context. Stilly and I share our Catholic faith and a number of other things, but we're divided by circumstance and by the Dominion of Canada, which isn't actually called that anymore. This is our introduction, but I figured I'd let her do more intro on herself. We'll alternate, so that one of us doesn't dominate this Blog.
I also through I'd offer a little different content after the bold, asterisk ellipsis.
* * *
Welcome to the land beyond the bold, asterisk ellipsis. I've always liked that style of writing, the one that allows such things. It might've been in Harry Potter, so I'll pretend I'm being cultured and British. Hmm, yes, quite.
I've been thinking a lot lately about my future, my plans, and my finances. Now, before you skip ahead because that sounds boring or something, it's far more interesting than that.
I've alternately (alternatively? Maybe?) titled this entry "Growin' Up", after the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name. The lyrics of that song don't really reflect my thoughts on the idea, mostly because he was still pretending to be Bob Dylan then, and didn't have a very coherent lyrical structure. Regardless, these things sort of pile up into the ideas of growing up, that is, maturing. Getting older. Becoming an adult. Or, becoming a young adult, as it is apparently alright to say.
I'm hitting the practicalities of growing up, and it's okay. I'm now approaching them from the viewpoint of the practical.
Before, I don't know, maybe the Summer, I generally strayed away from making grandiose plans. I mean, I had some large, vague ones, but nothing more immediate. A year ago, for instance, I was going into my second of four years of a Bachelor of Journalism programme. Yeah, my school spelled 'program' like that, so maybe that tells you a bit about it. From this, I was going to graduate (in early May 2011) and find some work in the area, maybe in radio, maybe in newspapers. Who knows. But I had that plan.
I realized, however, that I was dreading my Journalism courses that came in January 2009. They didn't interest me. I was bogged down by that idea. So I dropped out, and went into a Bachelor of Arts program (now at a school whose spelling seemed more in line with late-2000s North America) with a declared major in Political Science. Yeah, I declared a major halfway through my second year, SO WHAT. I was pretty confident, okay?
So I went from vague plans about my future to no plans about my future. "What will you do with a degree in Journalism?" asked relatives and strangers. "Become a Journalist, of course!" I would respond, with a lot of enthusiasm, apparently. But now, when asked what to do with a Poli Sci degree, I usually honestly respond that I'm not really sure, but I'm willing to find out. I don't have a dead-end degree by any means, it's just not as clear. And no, as a lot of people wonder, I'm probably not going into politics, at least not for another ten years or so, if that, and that's also very vague. Although I appreciate the questioners often answer that I'll be Prime Minister. Thanks, that's cute of you to say. And if you don't vote for me, you better pay my campaign expenses instead.
Moving on.
After the summer, because of a number of social changes in my life in friends, 'friends', and employment, I'm looking at a lot of things in my immediate future. I used to think to myself that if I made plans, that they wouldn't be following what God wanted, and He would dash them, so just put 'em away and meander through life. But I'm seeing that that is a negative way of looking at my situation, and to a certain extent, irresponsible. I have to ask myself where I'll be next Summer, what job I'll work when I get there, where I'll live next year, what my last year of university will be like, and really, what will I do with this degree. So there's changes! Heck, I'm even going to start keeping a budget, so I can make those things happen.
So growing up. It's happening, right now. Just not maybe in the more juvenile sense, as I would have looked at it before.
That's all for Matty. Still, the ball is in your court. Or, the ball is in your province.
No comments:
Post a Comment