Knuggets – F. Scott Fitzgerald quote edition

I’ve gotten out of my blog routine lately. I’m not exactly sure why. I stopped writing on this blog (obviously) and I even forget to visit my friends’ blogs, which is no good. So I’m back. My summer break is over!

After buying the book two years ago, I finally got around to reading “The Great Gatsby” and finished it last night. Somehow I managed to miss reading it in high school, and lately, I’ve been trying to read all the books I should’ve read long, long ago. And I really liked it! I’m not sure the book would’ve meant much to me at age 15, but it means something to me now. Anyway, let’s plow through some knuggets with the help of some quotes from Mr. Fitzgerald, shall we?

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

Well, we’re about seven weeks away from the start of college football season. I mention this because we’re smack dab in the middle of the worst sports month in America. Your only options right now are baseball or golf. Or the WNBA. Yep. That’s it.

Anyway, I’m excited about the upcoming season. Florida and Texas look like the early favorites, but I’m sure we’ll see a few surprises before it’s all said and done.

Anyway, sometime over the last year or so, I’ve converted from a “sentimental purist” to a “time-for-a-change revolutionary” when it comes to the NCAA post season. I used to defend the current bowl game system vehemently, and always had my talking points in order. But the real reason I defended bowl games so fiercely was not because I really believed they were better, but because I was annoyed that the people calling for a playoff always seemed to be NFL fans. So I was being more defensive about college football as a sport than anything else. “Just because it’s different from the NFL doesn’t mean it needs fixing.”

Anyway, I’ve changed my tune. The truth is, once the bowl matchups are announced, I stop paying attention. I rarely watch more than a few of the bowl games. Why? Because they don’t matter. Aside from the National Championship game, the bowl games have no impact on anything except your end-of-year ranking, but unless you’re #1, what does it matter? To be honest, I can’t tell you where Tech ended up at the end of last year, and it was the best year we’ve ever had.

For a sport in which every game really matters, why are the post season games so meaningless?

Thirty – the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair.

We’re also less than five months away from (gulp) my thirtieth birthday. I don’t know why, but this has been hanging over my head lately. Your twenties are the best years of your life, right? Can I honestly say I’m where I thought I would be at this age? That’s a tough one for me to answer, because I’ve never really been known for my “big picture,” five-year-plan outlook. But the answer is “probably not.” If you had asked “twenty year old Robert” where he thought “thirty year old Robert” would be, “Twenty” would’ve probably said, “Oh, I don’t know. I’m assuming I’ll have a house and a wife and a kid. Now excuse me, I have to get back to this beer bong.” Anyway, I’m putting a little extra pressure on myself right now to get my things in order. Gotta start the new chapter strong, right?

And I’ll just go ahead and answer the obvious question now – where does “Thirty year old Robert” think “Forty year old Robert” will be? Uhh…god, what a depressing question. “Forty year old Robert” will definitely be married. A couple of kids. A house. A dog. A little less hair? Alright, I’m moving on before I make myself sad.

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.

One of the interesting side effects to my impending decade-page-turn is that I’m starting to feel the itch to settle down. Well…maybe not the itch. Right now it’s just a tickle. But it’s there. My dating philosophy has changed in the last year or so. In the past, I would find myself dating someone I wasn’t particularly interested in, but I would keep dating them because…well, because why the hell not? These days there’s a little more urgency in my approach. Not only am I actively on the prowl, I’m also not afraid to cut the cord if I don’t feel like she’s right.

I was dating someone for a couple of weeks recently. She was fantastic in every way – she was sweet, she was sharp, she had great taste in movies, music, books, etc. But something was missing for me. So I cut the cord. It’s a fine line to straddle. Do you listen to your instincts and cut bait before things get too involved and there are too many feelings involved? Or do you ride it out and see what happens? People like to say “just give it a chance,” but when you know, you know, right?

Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.

My annual review is coming up in the next month or so (‘bout damn time, I’ve been here a year and a half). This makes me happy, since it means that maybe (just maybe) I’ll get a raise or a promotion. I’m working on a proposal right now that I plan to present during my review that would promote me and move me to Austin. I’d say it’s got a 24% of actually being approved, but I’m going to try nonetheless.

I’ve been telling people lately that I want to get out of advertising. Marketing is too subjective. Hell, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get a job doing construction. And I am due for another cross-country, life-changing move! Maybe I’ll head out to LA and work at the Scientology Celebrity Centre!

It's good to be back! I'm a little rusty (meh) but the blog is back in business. Please send your mailblog questions to memoirsmailbag@gmail.com. Assuming that email account is even still active.