Move Along, Nothing to See Here

I've closed up shop on this blog. If you would like to continue to read my random chatter, you can find me over at my new home at http://www.ciarvella.com. Hope to see you there.

Cheers.

-Matt

My Eagle Scout Regret

I was a Boy Scout. I started when I was in first grade, I think. I kept with it until about 14 when high school and other interests drew me away and I quit. I made it fairly high in the ranks before I quit, only two ranks removed from the coveted Eagle, in fact. There was always part of me that regretted quitting.  The worst part was that getting one's Eagle Scout was something of a family tradition. There are several members of my family that earned their Eagle, including my late grandfather. So I always felt like I'd disappointed them and dropped the ball on family legacy. I didn't feel too bad about it, but it was still there, just one more relatively small regret that I quietly carried in the back of my mind.

After reading about how the Boy Scouts of America are denying the Eagle award to a homosexual teen, well, let's just say that old feeling of regret towards Eagle is back. I regret not getting my Eagle Scout. I really, really regret not getting it.

I regret it solely because it means I cannot be one of roughly three hundred Eagles who returned their hard earned badges in protest for the BSA's bigotry.

Since I couldn't do that, I'm blogging about it instead. Which is marginally less awesome.

Seriously, screw the BSA for this kind of shit and props to Ryan Andresen for speaking out and for not hiding who he is. 

Homecoming

Homecoming 

By Matthew Ciarvella 

I drive with one hand on the wheel and one eye on the road, trying to navigate with the other eye on the GPS. You would think you wouldn’t forget how to find your way home, but navigating by memory only works when you get to a place that you actually remember and the world you remember as a child is so much smaller. It just stops in your mind after a certain point and even though you know logically that there is more to the world beyond that point in memory, you don’t remember what it looks like. You can’t, really. You’re asking for an adult’s responsibility of a child’s memory.

So that’s what the GPS is for. Its faux-female voice is my only companion in an otherwise silent car. “In one point two miles, turn left!” the GPS exclaims with a sort of automated enthusiasm, as if it care whether or not I ever reach my destination.

I miss the turn. It comes up on me suddenly as I’m glancing at the tiny GPS screen and it’s too late for me to get over in time.

Road Rage

It's been a while, hasn't it? I have to admit, the main reason I'm here right now is because I'm tired of banging my head against the wall that has been the process of editing the novel. Progress has been... slow on that project. The main problem is that I wrote the story for NaNoWriMo, which meant I was writing the story without really knowing yet what was going on. I figured I'd just blaze through any sticky points and fix it all on the second draft. Well, now it's the second draft and there's a lot to fix, and it's all very daunting, to say the least.

The other, lesser reason that I'm here is because I'm worried that I'm doing too much typing on my smartphone these days and I fear that I am losing the ability to type without relying on autocorrect.

I actually came here today to tell you a story about something that happened to me today. More after the page break.

In the Waning Hours of 2011

Perhaps waning hours is a little inaccurate, considering my time zone and the fact that it's just after morning here. Whatever. It's poetic and I like it; it's certainly better than "2011: a year in review." Oh, and hello! It's been roughly 1 million internet years since I wrote anything on this blog, which means if you're reading this, I appreciate your continued loyalty in the face of my continued silence.

So this post is going to be about 2011 and what the year meant to me. After 2010, which was a largely negative experience, I wanted to make a dedicated effort to living a better life. Also, it was the year of my "golden birthday" since I'd turned 24 on the 24 (and if you argue that 2010 was the year I turned 24 which makes that the Golden Year, eff off because that lasted for all of seven days.)

How do the years stack up in terms of personal achievement? Let's see: