Je Ne Sais Quoi

While I'm trying to gather my thoughts for a coherent decade wrap-up post, I can't help but wonder what I must have done to anger the universe. I've learned some valuable lessons this year, such as:

What Goes Around, Comes Around

This is entirely false. Not that I cure cancer, but I certainly don't steal or commit murder. However, you would think I do based on the punishments I've received this year. Meanwhile, I've noticed a number of people who just constantly are coming out ahead and this bothers me. In a similar vein, this also encompasses the "no good deed goes unnoticed" ideology.

When it Rains, it Pours

This is entirely true.

It Could Always Be Worse

This is a big one. No matter how impossible it seems, or you feel like you're constantly being Cleveland Steamered, it could always be worse. Never forget it. You learn that certain things are just simply out of your control and there's no point in worrying about them. Once something's happened, that's it. Just do your best to put it behind you and move on. Easier said than done, but we always have two choices.

1. Accept, move on, make the best of every situation

2. Deny, complain, get angry

I woke up yesterday morning to a smashed passenger window. I was annoyed because it means I have to pay for a new window, and it's cold out. I was originally happy that nothing was taken. Then this morning I went to look for my lucky backpack, which I thought was in the house. I was wrong. I've had this backpack for 10 years and if you've ever seen me you know what backpack I'm talking about - the black Maryland Track and Field one. That thing has been with me everywhere I've ever gone, usually posing as my only piece of luggage. I didn't have anything super important in it, other than 2 pieces of Under Armour pant type things that I enjoy having in the winter. I didn't pay for them, at least, but I will have to if I want to replace them. Mostly I was sad to lose the backpack, just as I was sad when I lost my Terps hat in 2005 and my student ID in 2006. They were just some of the things tying me to school, and the backpack was probably the only possession I truly care about in the world. Its value is immeasurable and cannot be replaced.

But then I realized, maybe it's time to move on. You can buy a new backpack and get new things that you lost. I know it must sound ridiculous that I'm this sentimental over a backpack that was falling apart anyway, but it was important to me, and when you can't go a few days without another rainstorm, it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

I had always considered this piece of material lucky, because it kept me safe in my travels, but how lucky could it be if it was around me through this year?

I have one more day and then 2009 is over. I have never been more excited for a year to end.