Money
Money can’t buy you love or happiness. But money can buy you a Bible and a Linux Box and that is all you need. 
That time of year
It’s approaching way too fast. I woke up this morning and realized that today is my last day being 22 years old. This is kind of scary for me. That means that tomorrow I will wake up and be a year older. This kind of thing makes me reflect on life a little. Where has all the time gone? It seems like only yesterday I was graduating high school, or starting college, or learning how to drive. But judging by the date, those things happened a long time ago. Another year in the life of Jabba gone with the wind. What will tomorrow bring? Just a new number to memorize when someone asks me my age? Or is it a whole new chapter in the saga that is my life? Am I any more grown up than I was yesterday? Probably not. Will the guy at the door still ask to see my identification before he lets me into a bar? Will I still have to prove my age in order to order a beer with dinner? Probably. Do I look older? I am still working on growing those sideburns I’ve been longing for for the past ten years. I don’t feel any older, but this is how it goes. Next thing I know I’ll be 43 years old and still wondering where my life is going or what awaits me around the next turn. I guess it’s true when they say you never grow up, you just grow old. But it seems like I just turned 22. Now an entire year has passed and I don’t even know where all the time has gone. I guess if I take a step back, a lot has happened in the last year. I know I didn’t own an awesome toaster oven a year ago. I didn’t have a tiny batcheloresque apartment a year ago. But am I any closer to my goals? Graduation? Fame and Fortune? I don’t think so. But I know I’m getting older and things are just getting more and more confusing and unsure. My mother was my age now when I was born. She had already been married for over five years. My dad was working on a PhD by this age. I don’t know where I’m going to be in five years. Heck, I don’t even know where I’m going to be in one year. Who am I going to know two years from now? Am I even doing what I want to do with my life? I know I’ve been working on a few undergraduate degrees for way too long. This is that time of year when thousands of questions come up in my mind and I can’t find any answers. I always thought that the older you get, the clearer things become. That is turning out to be the biggest misconception ever.
Domesticated
I noticed something disturbing the other day. In past years, when my birthday would approach, I would ask my mom to buy me fun stuff. Anything from gift certificates to cool techie stores, to parts for my car, to a bottle of liquor or just cash. Well my birthday is approaching in a little over a week, and when my mom called me and asked me what I wanted this year, the first thing that came to mind was a toaster oven. I told her that other kitchen appliances or utensils would be helpful, also. She ended up giving me my present a little early this year, and sure enough it is a nice new toaster oven. And the really disturbing part is that I love the thing. I am probably more excited about this than most other presents I have received in the past. Does this mean that I am getting old and ready to settle down and become… domesticated?
