Commentary on a past life
Throughout my life, I’ve done a good job of hoarding paper. Contrary to what people tell me, it’s not a problem. Mainly because the cache is well organized, I don’t see a problem with the stockpile. Whenever I gather a sentimental paper, I first three-hole-punch the memento, and then store the souvenir in one of my many Goodwill procured binders. After showing these “scrapbooks” to my girlfriend, she said I needed to change the name to something more respectable. I noncommittally said ok sure, whatever.
In addition to my impressive “archives” of past life events, I’ve also done a decent job of recording my life in “diaries”. Wait no… I’m being told to call them “journals”... I’ve done a decent job of recording my life in “journals”. In this post I’m going to share February 15th (today’s date) from as far back as possible, while at the same time, poking fun at the younger version of myself because it’s easier to beat-up people younger than yourself.
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Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 (Age 14)
2nd day
Went to park
Math Count’s test
warm sunny
Dog pood on carpet
Commentary: I liked the bulleted list format, but the parallelism is atrocious. Even reading the nearby entries, I’m struggling to understand what “2nd day” means. Lastly, why is dog poop a top five highlight of the day?
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Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 (Age 15)
School / Mr Schmidt very angry at some people ☹️ / had NNU soccer game today / no one told me😠 / need to start planning ahead for college / got netflix The Truman Show 😀 / watched Lost / lots of HW
Commentary: It seems like I knew what was going on, but not why. For example, why was Mr Schmidt angry at some people? I thought about making the comment that 15 is too early to be worried about college (which is probably true), but being proactive helped me get into a prodigious school, so high-five to past self. Lastly, does anyone else remember getting Netflix on DVD? Good times.
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Friday, February 15th, 2013 (Age 16)
Dotty Clark Ski race :) Skipped school
Fun skiing :)
Team got 1st :)
I got 1st also :)
Watched 20-20 on cruises :)
Commentary: The parallelism is a little better. The smiley faces might be redundant to a statement like: “Today was a good day”. For background, the Idaho ski team (from my 1A, 100-person school) wasn’t anything impressive. Basically if you had $50 and a free Saturday, you could join the team. Lastly, I’m not sure if it’s nostalgia clogging my memory, but life seemed simpler in 2013. Today I’d consider watching 20-20 a waste of an evening, but maybe that’s poor perspective.
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Monday February 15th, 2016 (Age 19)
Worked out x2. Scale said 142.2 which is a record, but I went after lunch and before I pooped so maybe not technically.
Commentary: Was this worth recording?
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Wednesday, February 15th, 2017 (Age 20)
Feel very lazy. All my thoughts have been on FM test on Saturday so I don’t feel motivated to do any studying, except for that. Studied for 3 hrs then watched 28 Days Later. Did intramural futsal. Really fun. Only problem with that, I didn’t talk much. I was too quiet. Shoot. Got care package from mom :) Called Sue and arranged plans for a ride to the test center. Just in room, bored now.
Commentary: Scorates once said: “The examined life might produce some regrets. Best to live in the moment and neither think about the past nor the future. Ignorance is bliss.” Maybe that’s a misquote… In college I may have (but definitely did) invested too heavily in the academic portion of school and not enough in the social portion. An important life lesson at least for myself: Try to live your life with balance.
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Sunday, February 18th, 2018 (Age 21) - closest date
I apologize that these writings are so infrequent. I love Sundays. LOVE. Sundays are so great. Today I went to church. Good info about marriage. Then I went to a lacrosse game. Won 23 to 4! Wow, that’s embarrassing. It was nice to be outside. Then went to a women's basketball game. We lost vs Louisville (#4). Watched Game of Thrones season 6 finale. Very good. Worked out. Leg day. Did squats for the first time in a very long time. I’m not as strong as I thought. Dinner. Walked to CVS and bought shampoo and conditioner in one!!! Amazing! Walking to Franklin Street I took an MP3 player and listened to it. Made me so happy. Back to the dorm. Did laundry. 11:15 now.
Commentary: Apology accepted. Even from my own perspective this seems overly optimistic. For clarity: All the sporting events at UNC (even the basketball ones) were free, so I attended a lot. Back in my day (should be read with an old man voice) you were allowed to gather in crowds of more than five and didn’t have to wear masks; crazy, I know. How was it that I just learned about the two in one shampoo/conditioner at age 21? Lastly, I concluded each entry with the time, which seems like a boy thing to do. Jotting down just the details, no emotions.
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Monday, February 15th, 2021 (Age 24)
Had the day off because of President’s Day. Snowed into my apartment because Seattle’s has god-awful snow management. I wasn’t here for it, but didn’t this happen two years ago? Are you telling me this is the city’s response after being prepared? However, this did give me the opportunity to write, so that’s nice. Afterwards I might read. Just chillin’ out maxin’ relaxin’ all cool.
