Life So Far

I think it's been a while since I've actually posted an honest update about my life.  I tend to avoid these, but here it goes.  

This semester has been busy to say the least.  I was offered a position as a Business Analyst with my brother-in-law's software development and consultation firm at the very beginning of it and I accepted with honor and excitement.  Here was someone who recognized potential, and decided to gamble, take me on, and give me legitimate clients from day 1.  While I started with only 1 client, that has quickly grown to 2, and potentially 4 in the very near future.  I've spent my Thursdays leaving work from here at Clarion around 4:30 PM to head to Pittsburgh for more work obligations and some good ole family time.  I have to say, without the latter factor things may have been a bit overwhelming, but the mix is the perfect cocktail.  The kids allow for a perfect release of my pent up zany tendencies.

On top of this, and I know this is somewhat sequentially backwards in terms of narrative structure, I've taken on a wonderfully exciting and demanding position with the Center for Applied Research and Small Business Development Center up here at the Clarion University Barnes Center.  What does it consist of? A little bit of everything.  I'm part of a team of extremely talented students and professionals.  Our goal is to market and develop the structure of the NWPA Innovation Support Program, a brand new project dedicated to economic stimulation via the industries of Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Manufacturing, and Pharmaceutical technologies.   We just had our first open house for the program this past Friday, and it was a smashing success.  It made me realize just how lucky I am to be surrounded by the people I work with and have the ability to do the work I do.

Did I mention I'm still a full-time MBA student?  I think I lucked out here, because the class load this semester is relatively manageable.  The classes are in fields I never had much trouble in, and course content is interesting considering a lot of it correlates to the work I currently perform.  

But even with all of this, there is still more that I'm absolutely ecstatic about.  Faith, luck, or whatever you prefer to call it has surrounded me with some of the best co-students and friends up here.  My fellow MBA students and I feed off of each other and keep each other on track in terms of school demands.  Moreover, a few of us are progressing through the channels to present one of our Organizational Behavior projects at some Graduate and Economic research conferences.  We just landed an amazing faculty sponsor in Dr. Sandra Trejos, and I know with her to assist us we can potentially turn what started as a course assignment into a legitimate academic contribution within the annals of management research. Fingers crossed.

To top it all off I've been able to pursue one of my longest standing passions, music. Near the end of last semester two friends and I discussed the idea of getting together and playing.  But what started off as an idea transformed into the perfect social and creative outlet.  I don't get many moments where I can just enjoy time for myself.  But these few nights of meaningful conversation and music have meant the world to me.  Through all of it, they're the moments of my week where I feel right at home, where I know inside that I'm on the right path.  We just laid down a high-quality audio track and also recorded an amazing video to accompany it.  Even better we've been practicing for what I guess you can call our first, "show," but it's really just an acoustic set for a friends' local business event.  As for the video, it should be popping up sometime soon within the next week.  Stay tuned.

So I guess that's my life and you know, lately I've been thinking a lot about how people constantly focus on the future, how they tell themselves that someday, I'll get to where I want to be, and when I'm there, I'll finally be happy.  Well, the future has been the furthest thing from my mind.  I get to wake up every day and engage in work that challenges and excites me, and I'm surrounded by some of the most meaningful people I've met in my life.  

It's funny, as a kid, I used to dream of this moment.  But I think what turned it from a dream into reality was that I decided to use my imagination as fuel to drive my work ethic all while focusing on enjoying every day as it comes; I suppose you could say, seizing it...   I think if you follow that code, one day you'll look around you and be mesmerized by just what passion and honest intent can bring to one's life.  

In closing though, to paraphrase from one of my favorite philosophers and theologians, Alan Watts, I will say this: life is a song, a complex symphony of sonorous ups and downs, and just like a song, you're not supposed to focus on the finite aspect of the inevitable end, rather, you're supposed to sing and dance while the music is being played.  

To me, that's what life is about. Don't believe me? Well then honestly  look around you, open your ears and listen, and feel, then you might see that we're all playing part in creating the wonderful harmony that keeps the world spinning.