First Post

I have been thinking a lot about what I "need" to do in life. I haven't come to many conclusions. I really dislike the idea of sitting down to a desk job immediately, living to make my company 1% higher sales volumes and having a wife and 1 1/2 kids while living in a pretty little house with a picket fence. So when faced with the question of what I am going to do with my life, I tried to approach it a little different than most people.
This last year I was given a small college scholarship from my high school. At the awards ceremony, like most, they would introduce the award to be given, announce the recipient, then proceed to list that persons college aspirations and plans. It made me almost sick to hear the plans that some of my class mates had. Some listed how they were planning on doing four years at this school, medical school, than traveling to the South Pacific to practice medicine on cannibalistic tribes in Papua New Guinea, or maybe how they were going to do two years at one school, then transfer to another school for the experience, then maybe get their degree in dance theory and history or something of the like. These were the same kids I saw partying every weekend, never having an original idea in their life (except for their random conglomeration of career paths they hawked as their future) and generally living to over-satisfy the stimulation of their every whim. I know that just in the summer since hearing about these plans, most have them have already changed them, and if they haven't , they will in the next year. Well I don't want to waste my time, so I started thinking about the problem and realized these people were trying to understand what they were going to do in life, but they had no idea who they were. I think that is the problem that so many people have, is they don't understand themselves. That's not to say that I know myself perfectly, on the contrary I learn more about myself every day, but I have been making an effort to do so by reading till my eyes are shaking, talking tell my face hurts, and writing till I run out of things to say. Which doesn't happen that often....
What I have found is I have a tendency to feel obligated to things and I'm a sucker for a sob story. I want to do something, affect someone, utilize the mind I have been given by God and see the world. I have an affinity for learning and the expression of beauty, be it painting, photography, cooking, music, or just the simple act of observing and enjoying. I guess I really enjoy life, and people, and I want to make sure as many people get that opportunity as possible. Knowing these few things has led me to the flexible conclusion that I want to write for a living. Or at least find a way to make my passions and love of communication help other people.
There you have it. That is the process I am going through. I know that it is subject to change, but I figure if I want to be good at something, I have to practice and spend time doing it, so that is what your reading. This is me.
-Zachariah J. Middleton