I was reading a post on my friend Whitney’s blog about the current state of her life and thought I would flesh out some of the ideas it conjured up for me.

I think I’m in a rut in my current place in life. I’m 24 years old and have been a graphic designer and out of school for over 2 1/2 years. I live at home, but have to move out by my 25th birthday in February, so the clock is ticking. I live in a 10×10 room that has too much stuff in it, basically in anticipation of moving out. I work at a small printing company doing graphic design where I don’t get paid enough. I have a girlfriend named Corina who I’ve been seeing since last August and hang out with alot. I go out on the weekends and generally spend money. I play soccer once a week in an overage league with a bunch of friends. Other then that I don’t do much aside from playing Xbox or Gamecube and working on freelance jobs I pick up on the side.

Since having a girlfriend, many of my friendships have waned. I always said this wouldn’t happen. I wouldn’t be that guy. But that’s exactly who I am. I still hang out with my old friends from time to time, but it’s not the same. The spark is gone. There used to be an air about hanging with my friends. Like anything could happen. If I had 5 dollars in my pocket at the start of a night I could have a great time getting up to some craziness. Now is the time all my friends and I wanted. To be free to do whatever we want, unencumbered by teenage money restraints, parental control and borrowed vehicles. Now all(well most of) my friends have jobs, own their own cars and are free to do whatever they want. We always used to say once we had our own cars we’d take crazy roadtrips and do generally stupid stuff with that freedom. Hasn’t happened. Everyone is more worried about putting mileage on their car or having too many people in it to go on roadtrips. I’m just as guilty as the next person. It seems everyone has grown up and gotten responsible. It happens, but it doesn’t make it any less hard to take.

I’ve been trying to steer my life in a different direction of late. I’m trying to be proactive. I signed up for a course in Flash animation at Conestoga College. Should be fun and will give me something to put on my resumé. I desperately need a new job. I need to make more money so I can move out, or else I’m going to be mightly poor. I started this site as an outlet for myself. Not since I ran OasisCentral have I felt I actually had an outlet to pour myself into. It feels good.