There’s a lot of hoopla over 2012…
This is the year that the Mayan calendar ends.
Some say it’s the end of the world.
Of course, it could just be the point those wacky Mayans decided to stop calculating…
Or when the white men gave them enough fancy versions of Syphilis to cease all calendar production…
Still, the possibility of something coming in less than four short years is intriguing. Do you ever sit at your computer screen, after mindlessly clicking through websites, checking your facebook, espn.com/nhl, tsn.com/nhl (just in case something’s cooking) and all those other sites that eat up the monotonous minutes of your day- and just say is this what I’m going to be doing the day the world ends?
I have this picture of Barak Obama hanging on my wall next to my computer. It’s a graphic designed image of him in red/white/blue with the word PROGRESS printed on the bottom.
Progress?
It reminds me of an old Disney World ride known as The Carousel Of Progress – where you sit and ride through an exhibit of the progress of humanity. From radios to HD flat screen televisions – we are so evolutionary!
It’s amazing to look at the world day-to-day as opposed to year-tot-year or decade-to-decade. Day-to-day seems insignificant but those years change life and change it fast. But is there progress?
This summer came with very few blogs on my part. Even though- on the treadmill usually, when I’m full of adrenaline- I’m planning to blog daily. But is this tracing progress or monotony?
Well, it’s not monotony, I certainly have crafted my life to this point to be a constant cloud of wonder- I make big plans and let the pieces fall. Sometimes I’m somewhere completely unexpected, but usually I’m right where I started.
If I don’t make progress and the world ends in 2012… what then? Was it all a waste of time? I don’t think so. It’s all about perspective. It always is.
For the most part, my summer was spent in my class and my two jobs. It was the best scenario for me this summer. Just make money. I even wrote a lot.
I still found time for some adventure.
In July I went to Comic Con in San Diego and was quickly exhausted and disappointed by the extreme stream of commercialism. It was choking me. So I found my solace in the panels, listening to writers, people who are pushing bigger ideas, big stories, thinking about our universe and what it means- even in a pulp medium.
Grant Morrison- one of the most successful comic writers in the industry- and for good reason became the focus of my weekend in San Diego. I kept being drawn to his panels. One after the other- and I left with the realization that here was a rare and brilliant thinker. He just seems to have a different take on who we are, and what our purpose may be. And he has fascinating things to say about it. I think it’s hilarious this man’s day job is writing Superman and Batman comics, because in an other age he would be a philosopher or brilliant poet of the Renaissance. You have to always be on the look out for certain marks in life that remind you are exactly where you are supposed to be at that moment. In every instance, in Morrison’s panels, my mind was open and certain I was where I needed to be. Since, aside from reading some his earlier original works, I’ve thinking of the concepts he discussed- even those with My Chem visionary Gerard Way and guru Deepak Chopra. It’s strange being at a geek fest like Comic con and walking away with something bigger- a better eye- heighten senses – to figure out what’s next. What’s progress? Individually and beyond. Morrison and Chopra touched on 2012… they weren’t thinking end of the world – death to all- super volcanoes- they were talking about a new phase in evolution- something bigger something better for all of us…
So do we live today like the clock is ticking or not?
How often do people experience an event, a death of someone close, something that causes them to believe they have to start living life to the fullest?
That’s what we have to wrestle with. How do we know we’re not? Everyone feels burdened by some sort of grind, some sort of anxiety that they aren’t doing enough. I listen to all my friends; my family and I hear that worry. But should we worry? What if it ends in 2012? Or what if those imperfections of the day-to-day are what we need to experience to get to that year?
The highlight of my summer was my trip back to Long Island- it’s almost a joke how being far from home can make home- a place where so many monotonous nights existed – can be the most brilliant vacation spot on Earth. It’s not the places of course; it’s those people who make me feel at peace. They are those markers that remind me I’m where I’m supposed to be – which is confounded when I remember I’m only visiting now. But times are always changing and who can predict what’s next? You’ve lost control!
I spent two weeks –suspended from my personal responsibilities- allowed to be connected with those people that have become m constants. We always meet new people- but nothing is better then those that you already know, and already know you.
For two weeks I felt like I was ready for what comes next because I didn’t care. I live the entire summer- complete with road trips- close talks with old friends- new experiences with old friends- moments that gripped my heart and moments that made me crazy and exhilaration that was enough to forget where I really lived. I was suspended. There seemed to be endless amounts of time.
But then it was over.
I’ve been back in L.A. for a few days- and I haven’t stopped my ferocious pace. I’m trying to extend that lust for life. But I don’t want to try. That’s the difference. Trying too hard makes it difficult.
And that’s why we can’t start living life to the fullest.
Because what we do and the choices we make day-to-day
That’s who we are.
Every time I fly back- whether it was flying back from visiting another city to New York, or now flying back to the next chapter in California I find myself making the same promises and plans to myself. But these plans always go to the wayside very quickly. As I’m sure they do for so many others.
This isn’t a fault.
This is how life works.
On one of my many adventures of my trip home, I ended up at an aquarium in Brooklyn. I was staring at a tank of fish commenting on what a boring existence these fish have. My friend Michael was quick to point out we’re the same, just on a bigger scale.
It blew my mind.
Look at yourself. What patterns do you see?
Are you really going to change them just because the Mayans ceased their calendar production?
2012
Maybe everything will change.
Maybe nothing.
But something always changes a little.
I personally am going to enjoy seeing what does and what doesn’t.
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