The musical of our lives - 525,600 minutes, how do you measure a year in the life?

I want to tell you about how terrible my life is: it’s 2:45 pm (5 o’clock somewhere) on a Saturday and I’m drinking an Ontario Cabernet Merlot out a Spigelau glass sitting in the Norma Ridley Members’ Lounge at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Allow me to tell you that it has many leather-bound books and smells of rich mahogany.

I’m a pretentious asshole. I know that; you very likely know that. But life hasn’t always been like this. Nor will always be it either, but this is how I’ve shaped my life for now and I am not going to apologize for it.

Over the Christmas break, I met up with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. When asked what I was doing one Thursday night I replied, “I’m going to hang out with my Asian friends…in Markham…to sing karaoke.” I would have received a similar response had I said that I was going to join a motorcycle gang, swim the English Channel and bang heroin into my veins.

It was a highly enjoyable evening; put a mic in my hands and only danger can ensue. Somewhere beneath my uncharacteristically ample chest lies a bonafide Asian. There was a variety of ages at this gathering, which really refers to students and non-students/young professionals. If there was something glaringly obvious it was that everyone who had graduated and was now working is that we’ve all gained a noticeable amount of weight. Sitting at a desk for 8+ hours a day doesn’t seem to be doing anyone justice. For me, anyway, I know I’m drinking way more now than I was in undergrad. Certainly, I didn’t day drink as much as I do now.

This descent to douchedom has come gradually, let me assure you. With each year after graduation passing by, life is no longer measured from September to April, but rather on the fiscal year. Back in fourth year, my housemate/Facebook wife came up with a slogan for the year going into 2008. It was that everything’s going to be okay. In a time nearing graduation and what would be the next step, we’d be thrust into a world of the unknown. Uncertainty and the safe cocoon that was university would be ripped from us come April. Graduate studies at that time weren’t in the cards for us, so we would venture off and try our hand at a new experience in the working world.

Of the four residents of 242 University Avenue, it would take me the longest to find a job out of the gate in September 2008. And yes, minus the disastrous ring in of 2009 at the never-again Courthouse (the last time I will ever go to a club for New Years Eve), everything was, in fact, okay in 2008.

The 2009 mantra was that it’s a learning experience. All of us were in our first jobs (where we weren’t student managers) and learning about the intricacies of industry and perhaps not always being the best of the best and being praised for all that we do. It also ended my contract with the Multiple Sclerosis Society, which was a huge blessing because it allowed (and forced) me to go out and find something to explore what I really might want to do. It took me some time, but by the end of December I had landed in a full-time gig and had totally lucked out with my Craiglist roommates in the heart of yuppy-ville on King West. I rang in 2010 in my new home surrounded by people (and booze) I love.

2010 was the year of yes we can. It may be been a little two thousand and late after Obama, but it didn’t stop it from ringing true. Half of 242 started new jobs that were a better fit in banking and advertising; the other half started new grad programs in public health and law. For me, it was a stabilizing year – hitting my stride as weasel-y Pete Campbell in Accounts, re-discovering ways to love my city, really feeling at home in my home and continuing to forge strong relationships with my friends who are my family.

Yes it’s been winding and uncertain path to where I’m sitting now, staring out the window at this first big snowfall of the year. In hindsight and in brief it may look like it was easy, but if my life is douchey to you, rest assured it hasn’t been a walk in the park to get here. Like anyone’s life, there have been ups and downs, laughter and tears – we all know I’m a sucker for a story. Travel has been my love and since graduating I’ve been to London, Spain, Italy, New York, Vegas, Cuba, New York, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, New York, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Chicago, Miami and New York. So believe me, there is definitely life after graduation on your own dime. It’s what’s been waiting for you all this time. If you want it – go get it.

I’ve screwed up enough times to lose count, but like Chumbawumba has taught me: I get knocked down, but I get up again, because you’re never going to keep me down. We haven’t quite worked out the mantra for 2011 yet. Other than my resolution to acquire the taste of gin (which I swear I’m working on), I’m secretly kind of lobbying for the mantra “grab life by the balls” or “kick ass and take names”. I understand how privileged I am and am eternally grateful for the beautiful souls in my life. I fondly welcome my 24^th year of existence with daylights, sunsets, midnights and cups of coffee.