I’ve an image file on my computer that says “Life is beautiful.” I was going to print it out and hang it up until I realized this: I don’t think the word “beauty” is enough to capture this life. (“Life is many things, including beautiful” probably wouldn’t read well on the wall.) The shortcomings of this adjective make me think there’s one problem with intense, focused training: it reveals the world to the participant in one dimension, from one angle, in one color, from one perspective. Yet the glory of living pushes out from the uncountable, myriad aspects of reality.
I hope I don’t miss it all because I was attempting to write about it.
Today marks my first day of dental school classes, a day that I am sure will be indelibly imprinted on my memory for the rest of my life. I’ve been prepping for today for the past 5 years and suddenly, as if from nowhere… here I am. In anticipation of The First Day, I have worked on:
a biochemistry degree
study skills
paperwork juggling
being less dumb (in a broad sense)
housing location
finding a quiet area to study
finding a table for that quiet area (thanks, grandpa Bup!)
figuring out how to get to the U
being less dumb (in a narrow sense)
getting a job in my “year-off”… which is what you call it when you don’t quite get in the first time
calculating my loan totals (and payments when I’m done)
…and even coding a durable version of this website to last through school
I thought I had anticipated everything, and yet I didn’t count on the incredible level of apprehensiveness and nerves. I wasn’t tired at night, and then exhausted when it was time to get up. I was concentrating in class, but feeling like I couldn’t absorb a thing. A day full of dichotomy, yet straightforward and not over-scheduled.
Once these first-month jitters die down, I hope all the preparation pays off.
One luxury of working for a year instead of coming straight from undergrad: perspective. The isolation from the real world in higher education is a double-edged sword — it is both a shield from the harsh light of reality but also a roadblock preventing one from enjoying the benefits of being part of the workforce. For me, imagining that light of a 9-5 (not 7-sleep) job at the end of the tunnel helps pull me through.
A few notes: I’ll post a bunch of recent State Fair photographs and then daily photos will cease here at tumbledry. After 3+ years and well over 1100 photos, I will only have time to post but a few snaps per month; I hope to show only the best/most memorable pictures. I will miss you, daily photos.
Text updates both short and long will absolutely continue — this is my life journal and it only ends when my life does.
I was planning on ending there… but gosh that sounded rather morbid, no? Here, I’ll fix it:
Here are some of the lyrics to Joshua Radin’s song “Everything’ll Be Alright (Will’s Lullaby).”
But I look at you
Warm in your dream
While your mobile dances above
And I think to myself
It’s a beautiful night
And I know everything is gonna be alright
Yes, now I know it’ll be alright
You can listen to the full song at Last.fm. It’s a great song and every time I hear it, I’m taken back to August of 2007, driving to the Kaplan course in Minneapolis to prepare for my DAT.
Axel Peemoeller designed the signs for a parking garage in Melbourne. What’s so special about that? Well, he won multiple international design awards. This was his solution:
