I know it sounds ridiculous to say summer is just starting, as it is almost August, but I am finally feeling my typical summer high spirits (often reffered to by friends as ‘Summer Brett’). For some reason they were stalled this summer – they commenced as usual this spring with red soxx spring training and opening day, but were beaten back by my thesis and my hustle towards graduation. Although being in China for a month following this was probably the best experience in my life – so far 
– it was not so good for my summer spirits. Returning to the States in June, I felt a bit of a counter culture-shock. Everything seemed so trivial; I hated the simplicity, the lack of challenge and discovery that was omnipresent in Shanghai and Beijing.
I think I now realize that what is best is to seek a balance between discovery and assurance. Still, if I am to lose this balance, I hope to always lean towards discovery. My biggest fear is complacency, to possess a level of comfort and guarantee that inevitably shields any individual from life’s experiences and from their personal potential. I realize I may not be following my personal philosophy by staying in Minneapolis during my gap year, but I am simply keeping in mind the near future of law school tuition and high costs of living. Besides, I still have a lot planned for gap year – regardless of where I am working – and hope to continue to challenge myself (Japanese lessons?!?!?).
I think this realization has been at the centre of my recent high spirits. I am also golfing more, which has a direct correlation to my attitude (sorry, I don’t have SPSS here, so bear with the excel-style chart):
I was also going to make one that had my golf score as the dependent variable, but I’m too busy lazy and it would simply be a straight line, with no statistically significant correlation between my performance on the golf course and my overall happiness
I am pretty much done with the work week already, which has improved happiness indicators. Tomorrow is our company golf outing, so I’ll be hitting up the links all day. Apparently it is my birthday tomorrow (I didn’t forget this year , so I am celebrating my youth – celebrating my birthday the night before, as is my tradition – with a twilight round of golf. But this year I am also celebrating my age (I usually mourn after my birthday…) by taking a little break from work. After the company golf outing I am going to make the drive across Wisconsin to Milwaukee (I might go out if anyone is around on Thursday night… let me know) for the night before heading to Chicago on Friday. I am hopefully going to check out Northwestern and U Chicago Law Schools, catch lunch with my cousin, and hit up Lollapalooza – I just printed my ticket!!! I am definitely looking forward to Bloc Party, who I’ve wanted to see for a long time… Also looking forward to the Go! Team and Mates of State – here is my schedule, let me know if you want to meet up at all.
I may have planned too much for one day though, as I need to get back to Milwaukee for a 7 AM flight to Boston the next morning… wish me luck! I haven’t been to Boston for a couple of years so I am quite excited for this leg of the trip, even more so because I will be checking out perspective law schools while I am there. Then I have a flight back to Milwaukee where I’ll see my aunt and uncle and then back to Kiel, WI – the little city that does BIG things - for the annual Kiel picnic and some long-deserved Schwartz’s, my all-time favourite restaurant (possibly in a tie with Village Wok). I think I will need to get another round of golf in while in Wisconsin as well…
All of this driving in the next week or two might kind of suck (if you know me you know how much I hate driving/traffic/automobiles), but I do love to travel, so I can set aside my distaste. I am hoping to check out Austin City Limits in September and am considering driving, although flying would probably be a better idea. If anyone else is interested, let me know – I am willing to do just a weekend trip, as most are still in school =P Also hoping for Sydney and Spain within the next year (maybe Shanghai again…) – any suggestions for finding cheap flights???
I’m taking a camera along the journey, so expect more flavourful posts when I return
- ブレット
