Growing up

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Well, I want to be an actress. I want to be a dancer. I want to be successful, know famous people, travel, not have to worry about money, do great things for people.

I want to do all of these things. I kind of always thought I'd have a couple of them knocked off by now, but hey, that's life, right? People are always facing disappointments in life. The strange thing is how easily we are put off by these so-called disappointments.

Let's face it: I am a 22-year-old white girl in America (for conversational purposes, let's assume we are part of the pre-sucking America) with lots of talent and potential. 22! That's NOTHING. I have so much time to attain my dreams and goals. Americans and maybe humans in general are always pushing for the now, for the quick fix of problems that aren't even really problems yet. We are so short-sighted as a society that we don't put in the effort to look forward and prepare for the future.

Take myself for an example, a fresh out of college woman who hasn't taken any real steps toward solidifying a career and is just now slowly realizing that perhaps my dreams need just a little time to form and in the meanwhile, I can really dig into my writing and possibly, with luck, turn some scratches into something great.

But most people don't think like that. Most people think it's either now or never. I should know, I was one of those people; in fact, I probably still am, but with a small window of insight.

I don't know what the hell is going to happen in a year any more than I can tell you what the weather will be like in a week...well, that's not really an applicable comparison to someone living in L.A. but you get the point--as Steve Martin said in L.A. Story, "Sun, sun, and MORE SUN!"

People say all you can do is your best and hope something good comes out, like all you can do is sit and wait.

Waiting never got anyone anywhere. George Carlin said that "life didn't arise from the oceans and humans descend from the trees because DNA was mellow. It happened because of something called energy." Energy makes things happen and that's not something you can sit around and hope for. Energy takes creation and in return produces dreams.

So I'm finally, after 22 years of timid anticipation of something happening to me, stepping up to the plate and putting in the energy it takes for things to happen.

What do I want to do when I grow up? It doesn't matter, as long as I do something.