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The 30 Year Old Boomer
5 years ago
General
Well, I hit the big three-zero the other day, am I officially over the hill? There's always the nagging part of you that wonders if you should have accomplished more- everyone knows that they could be more productive, we could've finished that drawing, learned that new skill, invested in stocks or gone dating in that time we spent playing games or looking at memes. I don't think that's reasonable though, at least not to me. Part of growing up is reconising your own limitations and learning to bargain with yourself.
There are things I might have done differently with the clarity of hindsight, but I don't think I have any big regrets in my life and for that I'm pretty thankful. I've done some pretty damn awesome stuff in that time too. In the last decade I have:
-Moved into a rented private flat with friends
-Survived a magnitude 7.1 earthquake
-Volunteered with the red cross
-Built and published a first-in-the-world semiconductor device
-Fallen in love
-Graduated engineering with first class honours
-Had surgery
-Done experiments with a particle accelerator
-Spent a night in an abandoned, haunted mental asylum
-Had a gradual falling out with most of my IRL friends group
-Taught someone who had never learned how to swim
-Fired a minigun
-Sold an electron microscope picture at a charity auction
-Gone diving with a school of hammerhead sharks and with deadly sea snakes
-Got fat
-Built the fastest airsoft gun in my country
-Broken up with a partner of 7 years
-Found sunken treasure
-Stood on the edge of the crater of an erupting volcano
-Wrote a thesis and earned a PhD
-Racked up an enormous student loan
-Made friends from completely different social classes to my own
-Moved back in with parents and wasted a year and a half unemployed
-Started lifting and lost 18kgs (40lbs) in under a year
-Travelled to the US alone to apply for jobs
-Got rejected a whole lot
-Sold all my stuff and moved to the UK
-Got my first professional job
-Made a small group of awesome new online friends from all over the world
-Learned to draw lineart
-Designed a bunch of new characters
-Made accounts on FA and Twitter
-Travelled overseas to play sport
-Met some of my internet friends IRL
-Travelled to a foreign country for a date and got catfished
-Was best man at my childhood best friend's wedding
-Visited the crucifixion site of Christ and the dead sea
-Bench-pressed my bodyweight
-Went for several weeks in quarantine lockdown
-Got made redundant in the coronavirus pandemic
-Started talking to someone I hope will become very significant in my life
/me sips my 30 year old boomer can of Monster Zero Ultra.
Ten years is quite a long time and I think I've managed to fill this last ten with more good and interesting than bad. Spent my birthday in quarantine lockdown with my flatmate and while the future seems uncertain, I'm optimistic about several important things. It feels like the bases are loaded and I'm standing at the plate waiting for the referee to report on whether the game is to continue.
Anyhow, on to the bit people care about! I got some awesome gifts for my birthday that I'd highly recommend people check out here (I'll try to add any latecomers I get too!):
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36253691/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36255250/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36256614/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36264991/
There are things I might have done differently with the clarity of hindsight, but I don't think I have any big regrets in my life and for that I'm pretty thankful. I've done some pretty damn awesome stuff in that time too. In the last decade I have:
-Moved into a rented private flat with friends
-Survived a magnitude 7.1 earthquake
-Volunteered with the red cross
-Built and published a first-in-the-world semiconductor device
-Fallen in love
-Graduated engineering with first class honours
-Had surgery
-Done experiments with a particle accelerator
-Spent a night in an abandoned, haunted mental asylum
-Had a gradual falling out with most of my IRL friends group
-Taught someone who had never learned how to swim
-Fired a minigun
-Sold an electron microscope picture at a charity auction
-Gone diving with a school of hammerhead sharks and with deadly sea snakes
-Got fat
-Built the fastest airsoft gun in my country
-Broken up with a partner of 7 years
-Found sunken treasure
-Stood on the edge of the crater of an erupting volcano
-Wrote a thesis and earned a PhD
-Racked up an enormous student loan
-Made friends from completely different social classes to my own
-Moved back in with parents and wasted a year and a half unemployed
-Started lifting and lost 18kgs (40lbs) in under a year
-Travelled to the US alone to apply for jobs
-Got rejected a whole lot
-Sold all my stuff and moved to the UK
-Got my first professional job
-Made a small group of awesome new online friends from all over the world
-Learned to draw lineart
-Designed a bunch of new characters
-Made accounts on FA and Twitter
-Travelled overseas to play sport
-Met some of my internet friends IRL
-Travelled to a foreign country for a date and got catfished
-Was best man at my childhood best friend's wedding
-Visited the crucifixion site of Christ and the dead sea
-Bench-pressed my bodyweight
-Went for several weeks in quarantine lockdown
-Got made redundant in the coronavirus pandemic
-Started talking to someone I hope will become very significant in my life
/me sips my 30 year old boomer can of Monster Zero Ultra.
Ten years is quite a long time and I think I've managed to fill this last ten with more good and interesting than bad. Spent my birthday in quarantine lockdown with my flatmate and while the future seems uncertain, I'm optimistic about several important things. It feels like the bases are loaded and I'm standing at the plate waiting for the referee to report on whether the game is to continue.
Anyhow, on to the bit people care about! I got some awesome gifts for my birthday that I'd highly recommend people check out here (I'll try to add any latecomers I get too!):
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36253691/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36255250/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36256614/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36264991/
About the "wondering if you should have accomplished more" part: I'm not sure if I can put this into words without sounding weird and awkward, but for someone like me your life sounds like an unimaginable adventure.
I'm not the least bit interested in traveling and exploring the world or even meeting people. I could probably summerize the past ten years of my life in one or two lines.
I can't say I'm unhappy, though. I like things quiet.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: It's all about perspective.
I wish you all the best for the future. And should you ever feel like you could or should have done more with your life, just don't be too hard on yourself. :p
It's been a pretty hectic time, that's for sure and I guess going into the next month worth of lockdown, things seem a little uncertain going forward. I hope I didn't come across as showing off, it's just somewhat comforting to think that I've come a decent way.
Thanks again!
(Also impressed that a can of Monster Zero Ultra is still good to drink after 30 years. :P )
Definitely a positive decade overall! You're a year or so ahead of me but a few points strike a chord regardless! Hurrah for having hope for the future! Good luck with it all :)