Why Hello There?

So it has been quite a while since the last post. In fact, I have gone on several weekend trips, finished a summer quarter (but not in school) and run a lot of miles. At the same time, Apple is starting to ban sales of competing tablets, Google has bought Motorola Mobility, Nortel patents were purchased by a group of tech leaders, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple and DoJ is filing against the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile.

In other more meaningful news, I have had a wonderful summer! I was able to learn a lot from my internship, including what I kind of want to do with my life. Now that my summer internship is over (but I have elected to stay with the department indefinitely), I actually have some time to reflect. So a couple of things to reflect on:

1. I am not that special. While this may seem very depressing and against the current teachings of grade school, there is actually some solace in this. Since my path is not unique, there are many that I can rely on for advice and help. I was the oldest in my internship group this summer, two having just finished their freshmen year and one just starting college in the fall. Interestingly, I can sense a part of my life that mirrors every one of theirs. Whether it's a personal thing, a coming-of-age transition or trying to figure out a calling, I saw my life being repeated by them. Just as I gave them advice, I was able to receive advice from my friends who are older and wiser. Previously, I had just taken their stories and experiences as anecdotes, but really those stories were chances to analyze the decisions. The reason this blog is named Forked Path Life is not just that life is a series of paths (decisions) that people take (make), but it is also a history for ourselves and others to observe and reflect upon. Hopefully, my friends will find my advice as useful as I find theirs.
2. It doesn't take much for the future to hit you. The good thing about school is that everything is planned for you. You have to take X amount of classes in categories A, B and C. Generally, this leads to lots of planning, or in other words control. As an American student, life can become very much a series of wish years of plans. Junior high (low levels of planning) followed by high school (general awareness of the importance of planning) and then college (general awareness of the importance of planning multiple times). As my internship was wrapping up, the other interns and I started discussing plans for when school started. While discussing our classes was a relatively mundane task, my lack of a solid idea of what my next four or five years (if I get really lucky) after college would be like started to really sink in. Pelotonia is the annual charity bike ride for the James Cancer Hospital; a great experience that can definitely challenge the body. Since the department has many avid triathletes, this was something we (the interns) considered doing together next year. While discussing a training plan, it really started to sink in, that I may not be around Columbus at that time. That for the first time in a few years, I have no clue what will be happening after the second week of June. Needless to say for the next few minutes, I was lost in my own thoughts during that meeting. Even now, I continue to wonder what I will be doing in a year.

And (hopefully) all posts will end with a picture or video that I thought was pretty inspiring, interesting or moving.

This links to a video by Neil Pasricha, who created the blog 1000 Awesome Things. In the video you highlights the reason behind his blog and the life lessons he learned from it. http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome.html