The Twilight of my Twenties

I begin typing this 1 hour and 2 minutes away from turning 30 years old. I thought it would be a nice thing for myself to sit here and remember everything that happened during the last 10 years. It is funny, but I don't remember turning 20. I know it happened while I was in school in Milledgeville. It was a Saturday (I don't remember that...I looked it up), so I was either on campus, or home for the weekend. Either way, it was 10 years ago...wow.

The #1 show on TV in 1999 was Who Wants to be a Millionaire...sadly, I am still not. The #1 show right now is NCIS. The highest grossing movie on the 2nd of October 1999 was Remember the Titans...my guess is that it will be Zombieland this weekend. The #1 song was Unpretty by TLC and is I Got a Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas (Mazel Tov!!).

In the last 10 years I have attended four different colleges. I have dropped out of two, transferred from one and graduated from the other (though not with a degree, but rather a certificate). I have had my ten year reunion. I wrote a paper on the dangers inherent to the electoral college, and then watched as everything I wrote about happened in the 2000 election. We have a black president, and Bob Barker is our Vice President.

I worked full-time at three different Outback Steakhouses. I moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta, Atlanta to Chattanooga, and Chattanooga back to Atlanta.

I watched the Braves lose the World Series, the NLCS, the NLDS, and the regular season (every year it was harder to watch them lose). I saw the Falcons make the NFC Championship, and then a few short years later, I saw them at the bottom of the league, only the see them fly high again towards the end of my 20s. I discovered College Football and saw my first game in Athens on my 24th birthday (Dawgs beat Bama, but the alcohol got me that night)...I would travel to Athens for two more games on my birthday weekends. I got laid off for the first time. I was unemployed for four months. I found the best job I have ever had, and have been promoted four times. I stopped reading comic books...I realized that, screw it, I love reading comic books, and I read them again. I started attending concerts...the best one was still probably Journey last year, but Barenaked Ladies is pretty darn close.

I went to New York for the first time during my 20s...I have been back again, and again, and again...I can't wait to go back again!!

I have fallen in love three times in the last ten years...only once was I actually in a relationship with that person...once they were married...once they were getting married...none of them live in the same state.

My grandmother died when I was 20 (three days before I turned 21). My uncle died when i was 26. I discovered that I hate death...more than anything except flying. To counter the sadness of loss, I was blessed with an Isabelle, an Ethan, a Paige, a Jacob, a Joey, and Joshua...all of the children more beautiful than you could possibly imagine.

I moved in with a friend when I turned 25, and we became brothers by the time I moved out at 28 (and he ended up giving me another sister when he got married). I moved in with my actual brother when I was 28, and we became best friends.

My relationships with my parents, my brother and my sister all evolved into something that I can only wish that everyone who reads this gets to experience. Nothing in the world can compare to a healthy relationship with that part of your life, and I am who I am because of it. My father had a neck surgery when I was 20, heart surgery when I was 25, and traveled to Thailand when I was 29. My sister found a boyfriend when I was 25...I have an email that I wrote to a friend of mine when they started dating...I wrote that I thought they were going to end up marrying each other...they will be married in February of 2010 (I can't write about it yet though, because it will be when I am 30).

I don't know what the future holds for me (though I hope that I have my own family in there somewhere), but I can say that I am approaching 30 with excitement, optimism, and the knowledge that the next 10 years will be even better than the last 10 years.

Happy Birthday to Me!

The Price and Promise of Citizenship

So the day is finally here. Today was the inauguration of President Barack Obama. It is a day that I have expected and been waiting for since he first spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. He was everything that I hoped, and his speech was incredible. I don't really know what to say about it (it is for greater men than me to critique it). I will say that there will be a day in the future that I get to bring my children to DC and to a new monument that reads the following passage from the speech:

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

I will say that I am grateful for my company. They provided us with an hour of time today to take part in the ceremony in our break room. There were no less than 50 people there, from all walks of life, and you could tell that every single one of them was inspired.

That is the biggest difference. I have now voted in three presidential elections. All three times I voted on the issues, and not based on parties. I have been alive for 8 inaugurations (though I really only remember 5 of them). This one appears to be the first one that was actually inspirational for the vast majority of the people in the country. He truly seems to have created a sense of Camelot that I imagine was what people felt in 1960 when Kennedy was elected. I have high hopes for him and the change that he promises to bring, and I plan on doing my part.

Congrats to you and your family, and godspeed.

Obituary: My Faith in Humanity – Oct. 2nd, 1979-Jan. 19th, 2009

What was once a bright shining beacon in the life of Tim Gordon, has suffered its final insult, and in so doing has withered and died today. Tim’s Faith in Humanity (FiH) was a stalwart and driving force in his life for a huge portion of his life, but it first started to show signs of failing during the release of the reality TV series Temptation Island. Tim’s FiH was unsure how to deal with such a horrible offering on television, and started to crack and give way to the idea that maybe humanity wasn’t inherently good, but was, in fact, a slave to marketing. But his FiH was renewed with vigor after the show was cancelled after a disappointing 2nd season. Tim’s FiH suffered several other indignities along the way (see Rock of Love, Intervention, anything starring David Caruso), but it was once again strong this past week, and believed to be thriving as we entered 2009 with the act of courage and bravery shown by Capt. Sully of US Airways flight 1549. But the turnaround was short lived, as Tim’s FiH was found dead this morning at his desk at InfoMart, an apparent victim of a shock induced heart-attack. The shock appears to have been caused by the news that the #1 movie this weekend was Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Tim’s FiH is survived by his Jaded Viewpoint of American Film Taste (JVAFT) and his Superiority in Entertainment Complex (SEC). There will be no service held, but please keep Humanity in your thoughts and prayers, they apparently need it.