19 December 2014

I have a memory I have been flashbacking to a lot recently.

It is of being in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Walking by Star Market on Sidney Street, mere blocks away from the Charles River Basin. I am walking with my father. I am young enough where I am still holding his hand.

The cold bite of the winter tickles my face. My father is wearing a dark blue jacket with red stripes inside. We are walking on the street. Eventually we are in the heart of Harvard Square itself. It is beautiful. Old buildings about, students in the streets pacing quickly to reach their destination.

It hasn't snowed yet, but it is likely to soon. This was the time that my father worked for AstraZeneca, a very well known prolific company that specializes in one of the finest bio pharmaceutical drugs in the world. At the time, Prilosec was the best running prescription drug for acid reflux disease symptoms. My father stood at the forefront of the drug's research in the 1990's.

I have been reflecting on my short time living here in PHX. It was the first time in my short young life that I have ever moved to a separate state on my own. I am grateful for the experience, but I sometimes wonder if my time here is waning. The bubble that I have been surrounded with, the disparity in intellect that I see within the throngs of people that reside here is unprecedented for me, personally.

A person walked past me here at the Starbucks I'm at wearing a "Cal" shirt. I said, "Hey, I know friends that went there!" She went onto say that many people have been to California. I had to explain to her that "Cal" does not stand for California, and that a lot of Californians actually take offense to that, as "Cal" and "Cali" are different abbreviations, after all. I then explained that "Cal" actually is a short hand version of describing UC Berkeley.

She didn't even know what UC Berkeley was.

Last Sunday, I sat at a different Starbucks in Scottsdale. Two middle aged women behind me discussed with each other the notion of glucose. "Did you know that the human body needs glucose?" They then went on to talk about how their kids were taking AP classes in school. They thought that AP and Honors were the same thing. Then they talked about how the SAT exam prepares you for college... I had to leave Starbucks that morning because I was just too appalled at the rampant stupidity. The bubble. What causes this? A lack of government funding in education? Socioeconomic disparity?

I've spent so much of my life being OVERLY humble, short selling my potential, that I believe I have negated my true purpose. I am returning to this purpose, via higher education, college, to get back into music, and specifically digital music production, with PMP certification for project management as a backup (think of a "minor" in college) in case things go south with my intent in pursuing digital music production.