Moving

I'm moving this blog to http://craighagemeier.wordpress.com/

Youth

Youth
By Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

Hyperextend and Release

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. -- T.S. Eliot

Let me start by apologizing to my two loyal readers -- I've been meaning to update this for a few months now, but I didn't know what I wanted to say, and I didn't have the time to say it. Also, let me apologize to you now in advance for this entry -- four months of thoughts in one post is bound to get long and messy.

In November of last year I picked up two part-time jobs, in addition to my full-time work. I had been randomly applying to interesting-sounding part-time jobs for awhile, then one day I found two; in hindsight, I should have bought a lottery ticket that day, since I ended up getting both. I was unemployed my first year out of college (and unable to collect unemployment) and as a result I still have a mound of debt, so I accepted both job offers and decided to work three jobs for as long as I could handle it.

One of the jobs is working as support staff for a Michigan Avenue clothing retailer. Not much brain-power required. I show up. Pick the clothes up off the floor. Place the clothes in the right location (and on the correct type of hanger). Smile at the customers. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Literally. In a four-hour shift, I've re-folded the same sweater more than 100 times. (Yes, I was bored and counted once.) Some days I'd compare the workload to running up a down escalator; try as hard as you can, you're not going to make much progress. But if you don't try at all, you'll be stuck on the ground floor with your shoelace caught in the grating.

It's completely different from my full-time job. No computer monitors. No ergonomically correct office chairs. Putting on my headphones and tuning everyone out is not an option. Oddly, more than once I've gone to this job in a bad mood, and by the end of my shift I'm happy. I'll give the music and decor of the store some credit for that. Most of the people I work with are kids who are either in college or recently graduated. They're interesting to talk to because I can relate to where they are. Underemployed? Been there. They have interesting questions to ask, and I hope I've given them good answers. Some of the other people I work with are like me; they have full-time jobs elsewhere. One girl is a chemical engineer. Another guy is a consultant. The education level of some of the people folding sweaters is surprising.

The other job is a work-from-home job. I watch videos that are being uploaded to the Internet and then write titles, descriptions, program summaries, etc. The subject matter is usually interesting and I've learned about some pretty random things: why London created the South Bank, how Anheuser-Busch brews beer, how enviromentalists in Asia are using Buddhism as a vehicle to encourage people to save the planet. I'll never forget the day I was paid to watch The Terror of Tiny Town.

The writing job is very similar to my full-time job. Reviewing online content. Stress over meeting deadlines. It reminds me of when I worked for a dot com. I'm finding that after using my brain all day, it's the last thing I want to do once I get home.

I think the first job is helping me to become a well-rounded person. It's forcing me to work on my people skills. It's reminding me that presentation is important. It's showing me that sometimes I get tunnel vision. Getting the work done is important, but it's not always the top priority.

I think the second job is not good for me. It's adding more of the same to my plate. More stress than my full-time job, for less pay. The day I turned into a cranky old man and yelled at my neighbor for making too much noise -- I wasn't trying to sleep; I was working. Although she's had that one coming for awhile; using powertools in your apartment after Midnight is never a good idea. I've come to the realization that what I've received in paychecks is less that what I've paid in units of my life. However, I now have a functional home office, which makes me better at my full-time job. I've learned a few other lessons as well, but I'll stop now before I start ranting.

That's enough on the topic of work for now. If you want more, watch Celebrating jobs -- all kinds of jobs: Mike Rowe on TED.com.

__________

In Janaury I took a trip to New York City. Courtesy of my full-time job, I flew first class. Once I landed I took public transportation instead of a taxi. That journey was the most exciting part of the trip for me; navigating my way around an unfamiliar city with only a map and a bus pass. It reminded me of when I first moved to Chicago; back when I didn't know that taking the Green Line to Chicago's south side (Stony Island Avenue and East 63rd Street) was a bad idea. Plus I've always been a fan of traveling like a local. I took a bus to Harlem, then tranfered to the subway. I saw a pretty broad range of people in less than a few hours, and feel pretty comfortable in New York City now. Once you know how to move around and which direction is North, you are liberated.

I met up with Jade who had a luxurious room at Le Parker Meridien. The first night we toured Midtown on foot and saw the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Times Square, Grand Central Terminal and Rockefeller Center. My camera battery died pretty quickly, so I'll have to visit those sites again sometime. My friend Quebec lives in Brooklyn, so we met up with him for drinks and stayed out until the sun rose.

Next day started on a slowly; after finding some much needed coffee, we took the Staten Island Ferry to get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. After that we walked around the Financial District, I grabbed the bull by the balls, and we stumbled upon St. Paul's Chapel, which has been turned into a 9/11 memorial shrine. Quiet reflection ensued. That was the happy accident of the trip. Later that day we took a walk through Central Park to see the Bethesda Terrace and the Bow Bridge. There was some discussion about if the rocks in Central Park were landscaped and placed in specific locations, or if they are naturally occurring and in their original locations. I think they're natural, but I'm still not sure. Do you know?

We spent the last day of the trip exploring the Museum of Modern Art. Jade understands art and shares the knowledge, so I got more out of the visit than I would have if I had gone alone.

In February I took a trip to St. Louis for Mardi Gras. Some of my friends and roomates from college live there now, so it was a good weekend catching up with some of my brothers. The day started out with beer and eggs, and 14 hours later we were still standing. I got into a fight on the way home from the bar, and it's not a very good story. Essentially, someone was being a jerk, I over-reacted to the situation, and I got punched in the face as a result. I was wearing my eye glasses (with an expired prescription) that day and I was too drunk to duck quickly. When the guy punched me, the lens of my eye glasses was pushed into my eye socket and it broke a bone; when that happened, one of the nerves in my face was irritated. In the weeks that followed I went to the Emergency Room and a pair of specialists; the left side of my face was numb and I was seeing double. It's now seven weeks later and there are still some issues, but I'm around 95% healed. The nerve was plucked like a guitar string, and only time will make it stop vibrating and settle back to normal. The lesson I'm taking away from that is, being right is not always the most important thing. It's not my job to police the world. Sometimes I need to let go. Just let go.

There was a major layoff and reorg at my full-time job, which happened the Friday before Mardi Gras weekend. That Monday I went to work, met my new co-workers and bosses, and had the pleasure of explaining that I was 'in a bar fight' more times that I would have liked. Timing is not always my friend, and I do not always leave a good first impression.

As a result of that experience, I decided to quit drinking for awhile. After experiencing the excesses of Mardi Gras, living through the scarcity of Lent seemed appropriate. Also, I was training for the inaugural Illinois Marathon and I read that alcohol negatively affects muscle growth. I' haven't been able to train properly for the marathon and need all the help I can get. I haven't had a drink in 48 days now, and compared to quitting smoking it has been easy. Granted, I rarely go out to bars anymore; if I had tried this at age 21 it would have been more of a challenge. I have gone out with my friends a few times; if you want to experience being in the world but not of it, stay at a bar until closing time and stay sober. My friends started repeating their conversations, almost as if they suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Overall, not drinking the past few months has been good for me, but I'm looking forward to having a beer at the marathon finish line.

__________

Tomorrow is the marathon, my second, and the experience is not like the first at all. For my first marathon, I was stressed out and worried. Will I be able to finish? Can I really do this? The fact that I had tried two previous times and failed only made that worse. I'm not feeling that pressure this time around. I know that I can finish a marathon, because I already have. Even if something goes terribly wrong tomorrow, it will be okay. I don't need to prove anything to myself.

My next-door neighbor is a woman who has been running for over 60 years. I remember her telling me once that your first marathon is unique; after the first you start focusing on running faster and getting a better time, and that takes some of the joy away. I'm not feeling that type of pressure this time either. If I set a personal record tomorrow, I'll be pleasantly shocked. For my first marathon, I trained three days a week for over a year. For this marathon, I've been lucky to run two days a week; there were several weeks where, due to the workload and schedule of having three jobs, plus the inclement weather (winter in Chicago, enough said), I was only able to run once a week. That has me nervous. A marathon is like a mountain or the ocean; show the proper respect or you'll get maimed. I should have trained more, but I did the best I could. Tomorrow I'll find out if it's enough.

Hyperextend. Defined as the extension of a joint beyond its normal range of motion. My knees hyperextend, which is part of why I failed the first few times I attempted to run a marathon. Eventually I learned where my limiting points were. Three jobs is too much for me too handle. I've gone too far and now know more about my limits. After tomorrow's race, I get to take some time off from training. I also plan on quitting one of my jobs next week. Release.

Since I need to be at the starting line early tomorrow, I should end this here and try to get some sleep. View the photos from Winter 2009 and I should have another story for you soon!

Wordless Wednesday - Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)

First

I was on the train with the "Welcome to the Blue Line" conductor again this morning, and that reminded me how long it's been since I wrote a real update. Let's begin with a quote:

Do one thing every day that scares you. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

For me, doing things the first or initial time is what I find scary. Think back to the first time you drove on the highway, or your first semester in college. Do you remember feeling all of that positive nervous energy? You had no idea what was going to happen, but you closed your eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped off the cliff.

For the past two months, I have scared the crap out of myself on an almost daily basis.

I've been training for the Illinois Marathon. Since my running watch died recently, I've been training with the Nike+ Sport Kit. The sensor isn't very accurate, but having audio feedback has been fun. Every time you hit a new milestone, a famous athlete comes on and congratulates you. Paula Radcliffe congratulated me the 'first' time I ran 8 miles. Lance Armstrong praised me the 'first' time I burned over 1,000 calories in one workout. My iPod has no way of knowing that I've actually run a marathon before, so these aren't really 'firsts' for me; these checkpoints are 'the first time since...' moments for me.

Last weekend I was scheduled to run 9 miles. Due to work (I have three jobs now), Sunday morning was the only time available. It was freezing outside -- five degrees. But I am not a hamster; I cannot run for 90 minutes on a treadmill. So I layered up in all of my warm running clothes and headed out the door. It was the first time since 2007 that I ran 9 miles; the first time since who knows when that I ran in single degree temperatures; the first time since... that I ran on ice.

I do not like ice. Ice scares me. If I never saw ice again, I would not be sad.

But I live in Chicago. If I plan on running a marathon in April, or simply leaving my house before then, I don't see any way to avoid this fear. So down the lakefront trail I went. There are a couple places where the trail is pushed out to sit on top of the seawall. It's fun to run along the edge on a warm windy day, getting drenched as the waves crash over you, watching where you step so that you don't fall in.

You can imagine what the top of a seawall looks like when it's five degrees outside -- very similar to that freezer you've been meaning to defrost. Last weekend, life was happening on that 10-foot stretch of pavement. An elderly couple was out for a morning walk, both doing their best to hold each other up. A man was struggling not to laugh as his Great Dane slipped and slid around the corner. I was resisting the urge to drop to my hands and knees and crawl. I was terrified that I was going to fall again. As I was clutching onto the wall I had to laugh at myself, because being afraid of falling is ridiculous.

I will fall again.

Maybe I'll get hurt; maybe I won't. I can't let my fear of falling stop me from trying. I can't quit. I can stay inside where it is safe, or I can drop some of the walls I've built, crawl out of my shell, and get back to the business of living life.

I remember the first summer my dad had his boat. This was before he knew how to read the depth-finder; before he knew where the channels were. I think we were grounded by an unexpected sandbar more than once that summer. But eventually he learned where the water was shallow. He learned what places were to be avoided. What landmarks to sight. He even learned enough that he was able to teach other people how to navigate the lake.

I've been getting my daily dose of fear in places other than just running. My first interview since... My first freelance writing job... My first date since... My first December working women's clothing retail (that one has been interesting)... I'm excited to see that my friends are all scared too. Having their first babies, moving to different states, finishing school, buying their first houses, ending bad relationships, starting new relationships...

I'd like to tell you that everything will be okay. None of you will fall again; none of you will run aground. But you will. We all will. Here's what I can tell you: When you do fall, your friends and family will be there to help you get back up. You'll learn where the sandbar is. I'll learn to stay off the seawall in January. Each time we get up, we'll go a little farther before falling down again.

Stay safe out there!

Wordless Wednesday - Animals

The List

One day this past July, I found myself upset about turning 30, which did not make any sense; I turned 30 in November. At the time of my actual birthday, I did not want to think about the mile-marker I was passing. I even jokingly told someone "If I don't celebrate turning 30, then it doesn't happen."

A few years ago, a close friend of mine turned 30. His celebration was a spectacle. A yacht was rented. Friends from across the country were flown in. Caterers were hired. There was an open bar. It was the equivalent of a wedding reception, for a single person.

While it was a great party, I wanted to celebrate in a different way. My primary focus at the time was on repairing my ankle and my health; I did not have the energy or desire to turn my birthday into a large event. I wanted to do something small, yet big. I wanted to do something with a small group of close friends; something from my list of things to do in this lifetime — my "Bucket List."

Skydiving.

It was exactly what I wanted to do, but there was a problem. On the day I had scheduled to jump out of an airplane, it snowed. Apparently skydiving and snow do not mix, so the outing was rescheduled for the spring.

Eventually the snow thawed and the make-up date approached. Then there was another problem: the friend who was crazy/brave enough to go with me needed to reschedule, multiple times. I began to think that my friend would never go, that the nerve had been lost. My thoughts snowballed.

I began to think about what I had wanted from life. I had everything I asked for. I had the job, the home, the car. From the superficial checklist, I had everything but the relationship. In dinner-party-small-talk, I could call my life a success. The problem was, my life was nothing like what I had envisioned. It was boring. I thought it would be different. I thought there would be more.

Do you remember when you reached this point? 30 is not a magic number. You may have reached this moment earlier in your life, or later. What did you do?

I became fixated on skydiving, and may have bullied my friend in the process. I had talked about doing this for so many years; it was time to take action. How could I move on with my life, if I couldn't call my own bluff and jump out of that plane? Life may not be what I imagined, but if I rolled over now, it never would be. I was prepared to jump on my own.

While I was prodding my friend to either commit to a make-up date or to bail out now, I started thinking about my list. It had always existed in my head. Now was the time to commit it to paper; to make it a reality. 50 Things to do Before You Die. At first, I couldn't think of that many. I looked for inspiration online. As I was collecting ideas, I found one that changed my thoughts.

Attend a concert.

Initially, I felt pity. Who was this unfortunate person who had never heard live music? I had gone to my first rock concert when I was a teenager, and had been exposed to live music in general before that. Then I realized, I could be reading the list of a teenager who lived on a farm in Iowa. Someone who, due to age and geographic restrictions, had limits to what they could achieve. But someday, this person would be old enough to drive.

Suddenly I realized it would be impossible to limit my list to 50 items. There had been a point in my life when I dreamed of attending a concert. I dreamed of moving to a large city. I dreamed of skydiving. Life may not be all that I had envisioned, but looking back at the road I've traveled, it was anything but boring.

My friend did eventually reschedule the skydiving adventure, so I did not have to jump alone. I do regret not taking any pictures, but film can never truly capture an experience like that. Since turning 30, I have not only gone skydiving, but I have also completed a triathlon, participated in Bay to Breakers, and visited the Seattle Space Needle.

Here is my list. The goal is to complete at least one item per year, and to also add at least one item.

• Learn to surf.


• Visit Stonehenge.


• Visit Paris.


• Visit the Colosseum in Rome.


• Sleep under the stars.


• Ride a horse.


• Run a marathon.


• Complete a triathlon.


• Participate in Bay to Breakers.


• Ask a stranger for a date.


• Drive on Route 66.


• Ride a rollercoaster.


• See the Grand Canyon.


• Visit San Francisco.


• Visit Las Vegas.


• Get a tattoo.


• Get something pierced.


• Join a protest.


• Donate blood.


• Get kicked out of a bar.


• Crowd-surf at a concert.


• Sing on a stage in front of people.


• Live/work in a high-rise building.


• Visit the Seattle Space Needle.


• Visit Ankgor Wat.


• Set foot on each of the seven continents.


• Climb one of the world’s Seven Summits.


• Ride an elephant/camel.


• Travel India by train.


• See the Taj Mahal at sunrise.


• See elephants/tigers in the wild.


• Participate in a Carnival parade in Brazil.


• Visit the statue of Christ the Redeemer.


• Dive the Great Barrier Reef.


• Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia.


• Catch sunset over Ayres Rock, Australia.


• Visit the source of one of the world’s great rivers.


• Climb an active volcano.


• Participate in Burning Man.


• Attend the Olympics.


• Partake in a Japanese Tea Ceremony.


• See wild game on an African safari.


• Drink beer at Oktoberfest in Munich.


• Attend a football (soccer) game in a country where it matters.


• Visit every capital city in Europe.


• Sip a mint julep at the Kentucky Derby.


• Stroll along the Great Wall of China.


• Walk the Inca trail at Macchu Picchu.


• Run with the bulls in Pamplona.


• Visit a concentration camp.


• See the Northern lights.


• Drive a husky sled.


• Get a dog.


• Swim in the Dead Sea.


• Visit the pyramids of Teotihuacan.


• Visit the pyramids of Chitzen Itza.


• Visit the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Sphinx of Giza


• Climb 1,652 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.


• Read "Anna Karenina" and explore Moscow.


• Ride a cable car in San Francisco.


• See a Redwood tree.


• Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.


• Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.


• Visit the top of the Empire State Building.


• Visit the top of the Sears Tower.


• Visit the top of the CN Tower.


• See the Ruins of Pompeii.


• See the Parthenon/Acropolis in Greece.


• Swim with a dolphin/shark.


• Go deep sea fishing and eat your catch.


• Learn to speak a foreign language and use it.


• Buy a boat and learn to sail.


• Grow a garden.


• Skydive.


• Participate in Escape from Alcatraz.


• Bungee jump.


• Bike the Pacific Coast Highway.


• Raft through the Grand Canyon.


• Fly a plane.


• Drive a race car.


• Watch the launch of the space shuttle.


• Travel into space.


• Complete an Ironman race.


• Participate in Ironman World Championship - Hawaii


• Float in a hot air balloon.


• Visit a nudist colony.


• Create your Family Tree.


• Restore a classic car.


• Drive across America from coast to coast.


• Ride a motorbike on the open road.


• Ride a mechanical bull.


• Volunteer/teach.


• Publish an article.


• Write a book.


• Be someone's mentor.


• Get a masters degree.


• Find a job you love.


• Be free from debt.


• Buy your own house and then spend time making it into exactly what you want.


• Attend a service for every major religion.


• Make a list of your five weaknesses/most annoying qualities and work on them.

What things on your list have you already done? What are you still hoping to do?