Research, Journalist v. Writer, and Staying

30 Rock (Photo credit: Arbron)

Andy Rooney (Photo credit: billypalooza)

Big news! I was planning to leave the United States to continue studying to my immigration status, but thanks to Obama's newly announced executive order, where in those who entered the country under the age of 16, are presently under 30, and have distinguished themselves through military or academic excellence (and who have no criminal record) will be given a two-year deportation deferral (i.e. temporary protected status, IMHO) and work permits in the coming weeks.

Sounds great! But what my family and friends will never understand is the psychological toll this news had on me when I first heard of it. Imagine how much of a system shock it is to go from having to leave the country to continue pursuing an education - essentially, to be exiled, if you want to put it in dramatic terms - to simply being told, "no, you should stay here". I mean, yeah, it's a good thing, but it's not easy to chow down. Also, the fact that I'm staying here means I'm no longer doing something different from everyone else, which gave me a sense of uniqueness and achievement in and of itself.

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On top of all this, I've been having career choice troubles! For long, I've been deadset on becoming an investigative journalist. But as I've grown up and fallen in love with things as disparate from one another as the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock versus the idea of driving a city bus, the stubbornness has faded and given way to contemplation. Yes that's right, I'm stuck between being a journalist and being a writer and being a bus driver. Imagine that.

I spend a lot of time on the computer, as I'm sure many people do. But every person does something different in that time. Most kids my age watch Youtube videos, play MMORPGs, etc. Well, in an attempt to seem more intellectual than I really am, I spend my time doing research on a wide variety of subjects, from deciphering based rapper Lil B The Based God's lyrics to understanding why Andy Rooney was so popular in the first place (RIP, Rooney).

In the meantime, summer has been very busy. In difference to other summers, this one has proven to be an interesting poutpourri of wanting to be independent, wanting to get laid, wanting to find a job, and wanting to live everyday like it's the last day of summer.

'Til next time!

Research, Journalist v. Writer, and Staying