Day 194

194/365, originally uploaded by Aaron LaRue.

It's New Year's Day and everyone's feeling the spirit. Especially the people who manage the chalkboard in this gas station bathroom located in middle-of-nowhere, California.  

I thought the "THKS" at the end was a nice touch, too. 


We drove back from Mammoth today, which gave me a lot of time to think about what's going to happen in the next year. I'll be done with this 365, which will be weird. I will have graduated from UCSB, which will be even more weird. Hopefully I'll go to Europe for a bit, but other then that I have no idea where I'll be living or what I'll be doing by January of 2012 (assuming the world persists past the ominous 2012). It's pretty crazy stuff to think about!


It makes me think that resolutions are kind of trivial. Get in better shape? Be more organized? Be more adventurous? Does stating that as a goal in the beginning of the year really matter? They are arbitrary goals in the first place. I think most people have forgotten their resolutions by March anyway. So I'm not going to make a concrete resolution for the year. I just want to better myself. Emotionally, spiritually, physically, intellectually, whatever. Shouldn't you be working towards that everyday anyway?
 

The naysayers may naysay, "Well how do you know you are succeeding? Those are still arbitrary goals." And I will tell them "Because I will be happy", with a smug look on my face. Because if you live to better yourself, and make yourself a priority, you will be happy, and that will radiate out to your friends and family and through your work and everything else in your life.

I do have concrete goals, though, things I'd like to accomplish in a set amount of time. Being a student, I have the luxury of the quarter system. Beautiful 10 week chunks that break apart my year and allow me to see whether or not I'm meeting the challenges I have set forth. So in a few days, I'll have my goals for the quarter.

Until then I'm gonna relax, because nothing feels better then being stress free. Here's to 2011!