It’s been a while. 2015 was a year I was so busy, I decided not to focus on updating my blog. One of my resolutions for 2016 is to change that, especially as this is a year of upheaval and change, which must inevitably come every so often.

In reflecting on my year, I will highlight the most important points:

• Readjusting to campus life after spending a third of year abroad in Czech Republic, Europe.
• Joining the Diversity Brotherhood Rangi Ya Giza (“A Darker Shade”)
• Spending the month of May sketching out my Honor’s Thesis for Senior year.
• The privilege of receiving my first car, a 2015 Ford Focus.
• A road trip up to my home suburb Wilmette for several weeks, with visiting my RYG brother who also lives in Alabama along the way.
• Flying out to California to lead the Socal Adventure FYJ for incoming Freshmen.
• First semester of my last year of college: including beginning fieldwork on my Honor’s Thesis, beginning my Creative Writing capstone, taking up leadership positions in RYG and being elected to run the Indoctrination Process for the Spring, conducting 19 credits worth of work on campus, and finally beginning my work as Program Assistant (i.e. Student Director) of the Proudian Honor’s Program on campus, ultimately acquiring 13 new scholars.

That was last year. This year, will be even more grandiose and mysterious. Who knows what I’ll be doing even 5 months from now. As that is, it also brings with it a mixed bags of emotions. Excitement, sadness, nervousness, anxiety, curiosity, and confidence among others. It’s bizarre. It seems that every step of life, it feels so strange that I am once again at this cross-roads, but perhaps that’s because I’ve never truly been at a cross-roads before. So much of life has been pre-school to kindergarten to elementary school to middle school to jr. high school to high school to glorified high school (oh, sorry… I meant college, cough). You see, every single year. Every single one without fail for the last 18 years or so, I have gone to school from Aug./Sept. to May/Jun. Every single one of those years I’ve had a Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, Spring Break and of course, Summer Break.

But now… there’s no more automatic trajectory. Grad school? Or not? Job? Or not? Abroad? Or not? Truly, I have the choice to not go to school, to not follow this prescribed life of a upper-middle class, white, male living in the United States. It should be noted, that this is because of my professional and academic interests, they do not necessarily demand grad school.

So what happens next? That’s the big question, of course. No one knows yet. Not even me.  In the meant time, it’s important to appreciate the little things that are currently in your life. For me, this occurred as I began to pack up my things in my house. I admit, I have immensely enjoyed going retro the past few winter breaks, pulling out the N64 from Nintendo and playing some of my old favorites. However, after my brother flew back out to L.A. a week before I was due to depart, and I was left wrapping up all the controllers and putting the console away, I did wonder… why hadn’t I appreciated more where the N64 had sat all break? Now, perhaps that example is a bit extreme, heh, but the point is the things we miss the most sometimes surprise us. It’s always worse to find out when it’s too late.

Looking to the future now, though, I have a lot of high hopes for my last semester in college. Doing a better job keeping up to date with friends, even friends on campus, successfully completing a number of rewarding projects before the semester ends, and ultimately, walking across that stage, April 23, and understanding as the curtain descends and I step out for my last bow, that everything and everyone the last 4 years has all been for this: preparing for what is coming next.