Hindsight is 20/20

I’ve been staring at this blank page for some time now trying to decide just how to describe this past semester.  Several words come to mind:

-        Awful

-        The worst thing ever

-        Draining

-        Eye-opening

-        Magically delicious

Maybe not that last one.  But you get the idea.  Sophomore year has certainly been a mixed bag of experiences.  I will tell you one thing: the sophomore slump is so real.  And I have dived head-first into it. 

            You know, I originally signed up for this class thinking it was going to be about humor.  Instead, the only thing I’ve been laughing at this semester is my rapidly declining GPA (laughing to keep from crying, obviously).  But if there is one thing that I have truly taken away from the past few months, it is that nothing is going to be perfect.  Not everything can go according to plan.  But it usually all works itself out.

            A couple weeks ago, a group of friends and I made plans to have a big Christmas celebration to kick off the advent of finals.  We were going to drive to Dallas to go ice skating at the Galleria and take pictures with Santa.  We split up into two cars, and my friend Gus volunteered to drive me and my roommate, Allegra.  We got about 20 minutes into the journey when we started to realize that the car was noticeably shaking.  This was the moment that Gus decided to tell us that for the past week or so, he had a leaky tire that he had to pump air into every morning because he was too cheap to get a new one.  My roommate and I were horrified for obvious reasons, so we pulled off at the nearest exit into a 7-11 parking lot where we discovered that the tire was now completely flat.

            At this point, the other members of our convoy had already reached Dallas.  Allegra called them and explained the situation as Gus called AAA to get someone to tow his car.  Our other friends came by to pick up my roommate but I volunteered to stay with Gus because I wasn’t just going to leave him alone in this sketchy gas station parking lot.  Eventually the tow truck arrived and a wonderful man named D’Eric came to our rescue.  We had a good half hour car ride to the repair shop, so Gus and I got to know D’Eric pretty well.  And we loved him.  D’Eric is who I aspire to be when I grow up.  His attitude toward life just makes you feel like everything is going to be okay.  We couldn’t let him leave without taking a family picture.

            It was pretty late at night at this point, so the Dallas situation was not going to be happening.  Instead we decided to all go walk around Sundance Square.  Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in the idea of going somewhere exotic to have a good time (if you can really call Dallas “exotic”) that we forget about the beauty in your own backyard.  The Square during Christmastime is certainly a sight to be seen.  Though Santa left the second we got there (he definitely saw us coming), it was still a ton of fun to walk around and look at all the lights and merriment.  Allegra and I were super excited when we got some balloons, though our enthusiasm quickly waned when we realized that balloons on a windy day may be more trouble than they’re worth.  We accidentally assaulted several innocent passersby.  So sorry.

            But all in all, it was totally worth it.  We ended up having a blast, even though it wasn’t quite the night that we expected to have.  We all got into the Christmas spirit, Gus and I made an unlikely new friend, and my roommate got some prime Instagram pictures.  What more can you really ask for?

            You know what they say:  Man plans and god laughs.  I certainly didn’t plan on having such a tough semester, nor did I plan on making as many great memories, either.  I also didn’t plan on liking this class as much as I did in the end.  I met a ton of awesome people, and I think I found my true calling in the cinema business while making our final presentation video. (I’m only half joking about that one.) 

            Sometimes life doesn’t go according to plan. 

            But what would be the fun in that?