My New Year

As of 8:33 PM tonight, I will be 30 years old. My new year starts today. And this new year is looking like it will be the best and most interesting one so far.

When I put on my headphones this morning and hit play on my iPod (random playlists are wonderful), the first song to play was "Throw It All Away" by Toad the Wet Sprocket. Now, I'm not one for superstition, but if this isn't a sign, I don't know what is. The lyrics:

Take your cautionary tales
Take your incremental gain
And all the sychophantic games
And throw ’em all away

Burn your tv in your yard
And gather ’round it with your friends
And warm your hands upon the fire
And start again

Take the story you’ve been sold
The lies that justify the pain
The guilt that weighs upon your soul
And throw ’em all away

Tear up the calendar you bought
And throw the pieces to the sky
Confetti falling down like rain
Like a parade to usher in your life
Take the dreams that should have died
The ones that kept you lying awake
When you should’ve been all right
And throw ’em all away

With the time I waste on the life I never had
I could’ve turned myself into a better man

’cause there ain’t nothing you can buy
There is nothing you can save
To fill the hole inside your heart
So throw it all away
Won’t fill the hole inside your heart

Help me to empty out this house
Wool I’ve gathered all these days
And thought I couldn’t do without
And throw it all away

Ok, not all the lyrics are appropriate. I'm not planning on having any TV bonfires. But the song is about change, about giving up the things that are holding you back as a person. And that's a big part of what this trip is about for me.