Attack of the past, flood of the future

Last week, I had dinner with two retirees from my job, and three co-workers. Everyone was in their sixties save for one person who was a few years old than I. Retirement is something I've been thinking about since pretty much day one of entering the professional workforce (and something my company has been really good about framing), and after this year, I'll be just over the halfway point provided all goes as planned.

One of the other things forty has brought into perspective is that I can know recollect times in twenty year chunks. I have my ol' LiveJournal here to take me back to how things were going ten years ago, but alas, I threw out my old journals from my teenage- and college days some years ago.
In 1998, I would've been in my junior year, living with a trio of girls right next to campus, and unfortunately, starting what would be a period of speed dependency that would take me into next year. I had started a relationship with this guy I'd been introduced to who worked at a local movie theatre, and who wasn't particularly attractive, but I had desperately wanted to have sex.

In addition to the speed dependency, I was also in a politically correct phase, and completely missed the come ons by curious straight guys--an egregious oversight of the past if ever there was one. It was a short-lived relationships, three months, I believe, and as the months would progress, my dissatisfaction with Santa Barbara and boredom of life in general would be countered by that delightful powdery substance. Needless to say, it made me persona non grata among my roommates, and by the end of the school year, I would be moving out.

In addition to working at the radio station, I had jobs in the audio visual department, a coffee shop, and the dining commons, the last three of which I eventually got canned from for missing too many shifts. This dropped my income down, but I still managed through courtesy of those lovely school loan checks--which I am still paying off to this day.

The year would get much more interesting as I entered into my senior year in the fall and turned twenty one, but we'll leave that for later on this year.