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What did I get myself into?
Originally appeared as a Guest Column
at Grayhavenmagazine.com on January 29, 2002

When I was in college, I worked on the school newspaper and I had to write an editorial every week. I hated it with a passion.

Hated it.

Every week I had to rack my brain for a new subject to write about. For those who worked with me, it was not an uncommon sight to see me hiding under my desk in the fetal position. Did I mention how much I hated it?

Well, here I am, out of college, out of the newspaper biz but still in the same position. Except this time, it’s by my own free will. (More or less...)

I must be a masochist.

Anywho, stuck with writer’s block and an impending deadline is not a good thing. (Definitely not two great tastes that taste great together…) So, my dilemma is, “what do I write about?” The obvious subject is comics. This is a site about comics and I’m well versed in the sequential arts. No brainer, right? But I’m so much more than just the comics I read. That and I’d just be preaching to the choir.

So no comics.

I could promote my projects. But what good would promoting projects that won’t see the light of day until a few years down the line? I’m not into shameless self-promotion anyway, so that’s out. Besides, that’s what my website (http://web.njit.edu/~pxc2053/secretPC) is for.

Being out of options and backed into a corner, I do what anyone else would do. I ask my friends.

What should I write about?

your

listen

Nope, no help there. Back to square one.

I’ve got it! Every column should have a message, right? Well here’s mine… (Prefaced with a story, of course, because every message should be prefaced with a story…)

Back when I worked at a 7-11 (a convenience store for those of you who don’t know), one of our regular customers had come in after biking. He picked up a bottle of Gatorade, three cookies and proceeded to the checkout counter.

As the other clerk behind the counter rang him up, she said, “Is that your lunch?”

The man took a bite of his cookie and replied, “Yup.”

“How old are you, like, 30? Shouldn’t you grow up and eat something more substantial?” she asked.

He said, “Hey, just because I’m thirty-something doesn’t mean I have to grow up. I have to be responsible and pay my bills on time, yes. But grow up, no.”

With that, he paid the $2.39 he owed for his cookies and Gatorade and was on his way.

So what’s the moral of the story? The saying goes, “When I was a child I thought as a child and spoke as a child, but when I became a man I took that child out back and had him shot.“ Or something like that. As we grow older we get more involved with being adults and doing what we’re supposed to be doing. We forget what it was like to be a child. We get bogged down with the baggage that comes with adulthood. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Of course, I’m not saying we should all eat cookies for lunch everyday. I’m talking more about recapturing the wonder and innocence of being young. (Of course, many of you out there are reading comics. So in some way, I’m betting you’re already trying to recapture your youth.)

So every once in a while, take some time to marvel at the world around you. Try not to see with world-weary cynical adult eyes but rather, the innocent eyes of a child.

(Y’know, looking at that last part, it seems that I may have borrowed something from something a friend wrote a while back. But if you’re out there, I swear it was unintentional!)

That’s all I’ve got to say for now. Until we meet again, keep on rockin’.

If you enjoyed the verbal stylings of Phil Chan and/or would like to learn more about him, his work or his Secret Adventures please visit his official website at: http://web.njit.edu/~pxc2053/secretPC