QOTD 11: How Far We’ve Come.

April 29th, 2008. I hate myself. I leave work early to buy Grand Theft Auto IV and hopefully escape the self loathing a series of probably bad choices brought on. My life feels like a mess, though it’s probably less of one than I think it is. I’d be leaving for Chicago in two months, and I can’t wait to leave my Podunk town in the dust.

September 16th, 2013. I’m back in my Podunk town and have never been more enlightened. I leave work early to buy Grand Theft Auto V and hopefully spend the next four days playing a game I’ve wanted for a very long time. My worries are many but manageable. My past choices are in the past. My past failures are back there too. I’m not defining myself by who I was, but rather what I could, and will, be in the future. 27 years old doesn’t feel so old anymore. My head is on straight for what seems like the first time in my life. I’m Ricky Williams, I’m Eminem, I’m the guy who came back in a way he never thought he could. Life appears good.

The stuff in-between is a horrible mess and a story worthy of the great American novel. There are celebrities, sexy lawyers who look like AJ Lee and touched me all over, an epic friend-zoning that almost turned into a real romance thanks to a little Jim Beam and bad television, anger over a job I hated that cost me a very real romance, erectile dysfunction, European Football, Noah and The Whale, synthetic marijuana, chocolate mushrooms, despondence, disappointment, detachment, derailment, debt, diets, and finally the decision to figure out what the fuck was wrong with me and fix it.

Thinking back on just how insane my life was between the release of these two games, and how despite thousands of dollars of student loan debt, a writing degree, a TV producer credit, and meeting Aaron Sorkin, I’m essentially in the same place I was 4 years ago. Same bedroom, same bed, same house, same couch. Different attitude.

I think most people break their lives up in eras.I want to hear about yours. Some of you have changed your lives drastically and I’m in awe, I don’t know anything about most of you, and you know plenty about me. Lets change that.

Who were you, and what were you doing on April 29th, 2008, and who are you, and what are you up-to now? What changes are you most proud of, what opinions have your changed and what torches have you ceased to carry? 

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Blog Otter Award: BeardMoney for referencing one of the cooler things about the Sopranos, namely that it became an instant period piece, and knew it. Watching that show now, not only does it comment on our times now, but also comments on the times then, as they were happening. That last episode too, man, seriously amazing stuff.

1. I can go back to more general and less probing questions for the record, I just figure with the wrestling and entertainment content on other features, using this post to explore more existential questions could be a good way to expand our minds in ways we’re probably not used to doing on an internet forum about pro wrestling.

2. I mayyyyyyyyyy have a copy of GTA V to give away, but am not sure. If I do I’m going to run some sort of contest, so stay tuned.

3. In case you don’t feel like oversharing like I have above, feel free to talk about what you think has MOST changed in our world between 2008 and 2013. For me I think it’s been an increase in vitriol, and the unfortunate realization that the internet is for anyone who can read and write, and its nearly impossible to discern who is trolling, who is telling the truth, who believes what, and who just likes to stir shit up for fun. It’s a shame.

4. I’d also like to point out that in my threadjack of the MNOM that I was defending the sexism in that game, not deriding it.