#21 rambles

Being 21, it means that I can legally purchase and consume alcohol in public settings. What it does not mean however, is that that is all I ever want to do. My idea of fun does not include going out to a bar or a club and drinking until I can't feel my face. Anyone who knows me knows that that's just straight up not who I am.

The reason why I don't go to parties is because I know what happens when people have too much to drink and I don't want to be someone's drunken makeout buddy. I will gladly listen to all the shit that happened at your party and then judge you for it, but don't expect me to grace it with my presence because I'll just sit there and be pissed off at everyone around me because they're shitfaced and won't remember my bad attitude the next day anyway.

That also means that I don't want to drink with just anybody. I want to drink with the people I'm the closest with. My friends. I mean like my real friends. Not the people I pretend to be friends with because I have to put up with them on a daily basis or the people that you're really good friends with and they are just kinda forced into my life because I'm related to you.

So yesterday, I was watching Tyler Oakley's newest video and he mentioned a quote that he saw and that really spoke to him. I hadn't heard it myself until this video and it made me start thinking. "No glory in the process" at face value is the idea that nobody cares about how you achieved something, but the fact that you achieved it. So this got me thinking about how this relates to society. Humor me for a moment.

Think about the people that are incredibly successful today. Think about those household names. Particularly those ones that are famous for what seems to be no apparent reason (coughKARDASHIANScough). Why are they famous? What did they do to deserve more attention than people who save lives every day, whether its working in the medical field, police force, military, etc. Why are these people worshiped? Because there is no glory in the process. 

It kinda ties in with the whole idea that "almost doesn't count." Nobody cares if you almost saved a life. You either did or didn't. Nobody cares if you almost caught the bad guy. You either did or didn't. Nobody cares if you almost fixed the economy. You either did or didn't. And that's awful.

People want results and nothing else. Part of that is taught in some school systems where the only thing that matters is your final answer. When it comes to something like mathematics, yes, there is a definitive answer, but its always been drilled into my head that you need to show your work. Part of the joy of the electronic age is that we can figure out the answer by simply punching an equation into a computer. We see the answer on the screen, write it down, and move on. There's no glory in the process. 

This applies to so many other fields. Broadway shows can be made or broken by one review. And those reviews look at the product. Not the process. Some shows take months, even years, until they are finally performed in front of an audience, but none of that matters if the product isn't up to snuff. Process means nothing. Results are everything.

A restaurant can serve you a plate of food that you don't enjoy, and suddenly you never go back there again. It doesn't matter that whoever cooked it could have been going through some family troubles and was just having an off day. Results are everything. 

So how do we fix this? Simply put, we probably can't. What we can do whoever, is begin to appreciate the amount of work that has gone into making our lives easier. Someone had to code this website that you're looking at right now. Someone had to create the technology in order to allow me to type this and listen to music at the same time. Someone had to put in hours upon hours to write, record, and edit this music that I'm listening to. So much time goes into things that we take for granted.

As a theatre major, I hear all the time that I have it pretty easy when it comes to classes and stuff. This is actually far from the truth. Here's why.

Endless Reading - There are so many plays out there from centuries and centuries of authors. Greek plays, Shakespeare, Modern drama, and every single time in between contains a plethora of plays that are significant and its impossible to read all of them in your lifetime.

Creating A Show - Part of being a theatre major typically includes being involved in productions at your university. In order to put into perspective how much effort goes into a production, think of it this way: Science classes usually come with some kind of lab. Think of rehearsals like a lab. Except that its usually five times a week, for roughly 4+ hours a night. And that's not counting the time that goes into design work, dramaturgical research, and any other work done outside of rehearsal like working on memorization.

Ephemeral - All of that work that goes into a production? Yeah, it only lasts for a couple of performances in the college world. You can work your butt off for a month and end up with 4 performances. Countless hours of work, all compacted into a series of ~2 hour performances. 

This new year brought with it the same things that new years always do: promises to be a better person, the agonizing fear one being one step closer to whatever year it is you're graduating, and the chance to look back at an entire 525,600 minutes (sorry, had to). That stroke of midnight means so much more to us as humans than just a new day, month, year, whatever. Its a new start in some eyes. The thing is though, there is no such thing as a "new start." You are the product of your past, and no matter what you try and do, you can't change the fact that every single movement you've made has affected you in some way. 

Now, I'm not going to try and say that every move you make needs to be consciously determined and planned out because there are too many of them to be worrying about, and you'll end up wasting your time. What I'm talking about here is actual decisions. Should I read over my notes one last time, or watch just one more episode? Should I go out with my friends or have some "me" time? Should I ask for help or try and figure it out on my own? Every day we make decisions, and sometimes they are wrong. Learn from it and don't make the same mistake twice.

People say every year "New year, new me!" And often times, those people end up making the same decisions that they made the year before, essentially wasting an entire year. People are calling for change, but one person cannot be solely responsible for that change. Change is a group effort. Whether it is the inspiration to make a change, motivation to continue that change, or providing feedback on any changes made, one person cannot do it alone.

Howdy folks!

In honor of my 21st birthday tomorrow, I've decided to do something a little different with my Tumblr over the next year. Twice a week (Every Sunday and Thursday), I'm going to try and make some kind of post here on lands-uncharted. These will usually just be little rambles spurred by something going on in life.

The point of this is to not only let out the frustrations that come into my head, but open them up for discussion. Think of it as a public journal if you will that you can fuel with your own thoughts, and maybe inspire future rambles.