One giant leap...

I recently celebrated my 23rd birthday. My friends and I marked the occasion with an evening of decadent food, ever-flowing drinks, and non-stop dancing. While celebrations were light-hearted (and wonderfully collaborated, thanks to aforementioned friends), there shone a noticeably heavier glow from the light of those twenty-three candles. This feeling of mounting maturity and responsibility may have been contributed to by the fact that, for the first time in my life, I am not headed back for another year of school. As my friends and boyfriend begin their mornings with a crisp walk to campus, textbooks in tow, I stay at home - usually attached to my computer and phone for the latest job listings and contact calls.

Yet, I can't say that I'm not embracing my new Age Box (I just checked one for 23 - 29!). And I actually think that this may be precisely because I am not headed back to school for once, and because my future has never felt more in my hands. (Whether that's a good or bad thing is still to be determined - I kid, I kid!)

Turning the big 2-3 also has helped me to adopt a more accommodating attitude toward change. What was once a big, bad, six-letter word that found me hiding under the covers, the notion of change is no longer so intimidating. Example: My techno-phobia. I don't think my post about starting a blog quite conveyed the extent of my unexplainable and, now I realize, pretty irrational aversion to new 21st Century technology. But it can be summed up with a simple analogy to water's dislike for oil. Throughout college, I guess you could say I chose to be blissfully ignorant of words like i-pod, Blackberry, and Flickr. I mostly stuck with the basics - texting and Facebook - all the while claiming to be 'an old-fashioned girl'. Once I finished school and found time to start reading things again, I realized how far my ignorance had extended. Somehow, it had turned into fear.

So when the boyfriend's birthday gift to me was a small, sleek, and oh-so-stunning emerald green i-pod, I hate to admit that I wasn't too thrilled. I was actually terrified of having to learn how to use it! I gave a "Thanks," before muttering, "but I like my CD's" under my breath. Now, this is not an easy thing for a young, supposedly hip Generation Y'er to admit. We are hailed as the most tech-savvy, the most computer literate, the most adept with every teeny tiny device that's been dreamed up in the past five years.

But here's my official statement: I'm not. I'm not even close to being savvy.

Here's another statement: I'm working on it. I am adapting. Not only do I love how that green piece of metal shines on my bookshelf, I also love the 230 songs I learned to put on it. (One small step for Gen Y, one giant leap for me..)

And this blog. I haven't been the most frequent updater in its first two months of conception, but I'm feeling more and more excited each day about the work I want to put into it. Its leading me to seek all kinds of information on ideas and words I would have turned my nose against a year ago. And now that I've got this neat new layout, I feel like its a place I can visit more often. I hope at least a few others out there will too...even if its just my mom and best friend.