I'm mildly inebriated right now, having partaken in a particularly vicious Squid Girl drinking game. Two gin and tonics is enough to get me a little loopy, apparently. But, that's not why we're here.
Last week, as I was biking home from work, I had a bit of a realization; for the last ten year, approximately every two years, my life hits some sort of major stepping stone. Stay with me a moment as we saunter down this alley.
2003
Probably one of the smaller items on this list, I became an admin of the YPN in late '02/early '03. This saw a very large uptick in my time spent doing web development. From YPNgine to Tetra, it occupied quite a lot of time and is certainly integral to where I am today.
2005
In November of '05, I got my very first job as a layaway runner at Walmart. I almost consider this as the beginning of my modern life and certainly influential in the being I've become; learning the way of the world and coming out of the introverted shell I had adopted through most of my teenage years.
2007
October of 2007 saw me leaving the comforts of the Midwest for the first time and beginning my college life in the far reaches of Orlando Florida. A lot of my rougher edges in terms of design and development were sanded down while there for sure, though I've since made strides to drop the moniker of designer. Certainly I grew socially while there, but still didn't live the typical college student life. Also, it was during this time that I developed my interest in anime, for good or ill.
2009
Having graduated from college, I began my life in the professional world (late '09, but '09 it was). These times were absolutely influential to myself as a front end web developer, owing quite a lot to my fellow coworkers (the Frenchie in particular). It was certainly a trial by fire as I learned how the corporate world operates and how to most effectively make one's way within it, though I'm certainly still learning on that part.
2011
This year was big for two reasons: I finally learned my true worth as a developer and I finally began life outside of the domain of my parents' household. Certainly, the latter is a major milestone for any individual, but I guess little else happened that year outside of beginning to realize how I could push the boundaries of being one's own keeper... like late night Taco Bell runs :)
2013
This all leads into this year where I find myself permanently moved to a foreign part of the nation and working at a major company in the internet sector. It feels normal and yet surreal at the same time. Through all the previous years, I always had this nagging feeling that I was waiting for something, the kind of feeling of anticipation that you have around Christmas but less so. I could never put my finger on what it was I was waiting for, but that feeling has nearly vanished since I've been here. Where I had cognitively resigned to working at a news station for the rest of my life, my gut had other plans and is now satisfied with the position I find myself in. Of course, there's still
The Future
Given the above as a foundation, considering major life events happen every two years, let's consider extrapolating this out into how I'd like things to pan out.
2015
Despite never having worked at any establishment for two years straight, I'll still be at LinkedIn and now an "old-timer". More importantly than that, I'll be "going steady" with a very nice girl. Now, I would prefer that this actually happen before the two year marker much like the later items on this list.
2017
By this time, with any luck I will be married or engaged to the aforementioned "nice girl". Now, four years is a fairly small time span to find "the one" or a person coming close to, but I've witnessed this happen first hand and it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility. Of course, if I continue to sit on my hands waiting for Mrs. Hackmann to waltz into my life, it becomes slightly more muddled...
2019
In a word, fatherhood. The last two or three years I've been feeling the pangs of wanting to have kids. A daughter to dote on and/or a son with whom I can show the wonders of nerddom (actually, all of that can apply to both). Either way, children with whom I can share the wonder and magic of the world that we live in.
The next six years should be interesting for sure and, if the past has shown me anything, will bring with it absolutely nothing that I imagined it would.
