JK Rowling's Commencement Address

http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html

JK Rowling's commencement address to Harvard graduating class in 2008. It is a humorous, touching and insightful take on the pitfalls of life and the unexpected paths the take you on.

Canto I

People start blogs for a great number of reason, a friend of mine has been insisting that I start one so she "can stalk me" so I suppose the grand purpose of my blog is to entertain her as much as it is anything else.

I suppose I should get started by talking about myself and the place I am in right now. I was born and raised in another world (India). I am sometimes acutely aware that I would be a different person entirely if I hadn't moved to the US at the age of 13. It is true that our environment defines and shapes our character. I wonder who I would have been if I hadn't come along this road and I wonder how many of my friends would have taken a liking to that person.

Is it really this hard to figure out who you are and what you want out of life. I play all the roles, the dutiful son, the efficient employee, the good friend, the affectionate boyfriend but sometimes I feel like I am doing exactly that playing a role, acting in a play, doing the things I am supposed to do. What do I really want to do? I have no idea.

I am 28 and so I suppose its a bit too late to be thinking of such teenage drivel and bit too early for a mid-life crisis so I am not sure where that leaves me. I only know that sometimes I wake up and I feel like a different person than the one I was the day before, my values, my priorities all seem to be different. I couldn't care less about the things that were most important to me just yesterday.

I have no readers as of yet, so I am not sure whom I am addressing this question to, I suppose I am just throwing it out there into the abyss of the internet. Is there something wrong with me? Schizophrenia perhaps? Get back to me on that....