The Big Digital Hits The Big 3-0

So...today is my 30th birthday. And it seems like it should be a time for reflection, not that I don't do plenty of that already. Seriously though, how often is it that a person has a 30th birthday? Not very often. Birthdays marking the decades of one's life are pretty big milestones on the journey of life. 10 years ago, I was in the MTC, still about a month away from leaving for Argentina. I didn't even have my first webmail address yet. 20 years ago, I don't really recall where I was, but I was in 4th grade. 30 years ago, well I don't remember much of that.

Definitely this 3rd decade seems to have gone by the quickest, but in retrospect, I still managed to accomplish quite a bit. I finished one degree (Computer Science) and nearly completed another (Biomedical Informatics). I've managed to stay out of debt and even save up a bit of money. I own two computers (and gave away a third). I've made lots and lots of friends. And considering that when I returned to Salt Lake following the mission I knew at most a handful of people. I feel lucky to have been blessed with all the great friends that I've made along the way. For all my work with computers, I definitely still think that people are what make life enjoyable.

I am, of course, still single, a fact of which I am very much aware, and with which I sometimes I think am getting a little too comfortable. I certainly don't spend all my free time scheming of ways to find me a wife. But I do think about it, and I do try to be out there looking, dating, you know, doing the thing that we single people do. Seeing my brother's family, I definitely can see that there is a lot of great things that I'm missing out on. I don't feel like I've had moments where there was someone I could have married and I turned my back on that, so I don't generally feel too guilty about not being married. I just haven't found someone I wanted to marry who wanted to marry me back. Still looking. Hopefully ten years from now I'm not having this same discussion with myself.

In the next ten years, I do also hope to get a job with benefits. I guess I've had things like health insurance during my last four years as a full-time graduate student, but I definitely wouldn't call that a job. Working regular work hours five days a week might be a pretty big shock to my eternal student workdays that are pretty flexible, so long as I get done what needs getting done. But I'm sure there are benefits to the old 9-to-5 grind. Not having to scour the internet for new roommates every couple month would be one of those. I also have a dream of some day driving a car that was built in the same decade in which I'm driving it. Yes I know, my dreams are lofty, but they say that you should aim for the stars.

Anyway, at this milestone in my life, I guess I feel pretty okay about things. My life is far from perfect, but at least I have an idea of where its headed and I feel pretty good about the direction.