Random Thoughts with Will

     As 2017 comes to a close and I try to wrap my mind around the fact that it's about to be 2018, I wanted to look back on the lessons learned over the course of the year. On the whole, 2017 has been a good year to me. I started out the year hanging out at Dunkin' Donuts and drinking coffee...and I'm finishing up the year hanging out at Dunkin' Donuts and drinking coffee. Well, at least I've been consistent. Nonetheless, here are life lessons learned this year: Be prepared to go from 0-100: Just when you think you've got life figured out, everything changes. This happened in January, when I went from binge watching Boy Meets World to accepting a job that would start in about 2 weeks in a city I wasn't familiar with. Suddenly, it truly was "Boy Meets World" (sorry, I couldn't resist). That meant packing everything up, flying out to Houston, apartment hunting, IKEA shopping, etc. A total 180 from what I was doing just 2 weeks earlier.      I

     A while back, I stumbled upon this quote about the holiday season somewhere on the Internet: "I think as you grow older your Christmas list gets shorter, because the things you want can't be bought" (original source of quote is unknown). While there are all sorts of variations of that quote on the Internet, that's the one I'm going to go with.      When you're a kid, there's no morning that's as magical as Christmas morning. Nothing compares to coming downstairs and seeing the presents and stocking goodies from Santa. Christmas is pretty great as a kid; school's out for two weeks, there's lots of candy and treats, you don't have to worry about shopping for people, and you get to open up a bunch of gifts. Naturally, the Christmas list is lengthy and filled with all sorts of toys. It's a pretty sweet deal.      Now that I'm in the "young adult" phase of my life and out of college, I really have started to see that q

     Christmastime is here once more. Break out out the lights, wear red and green, sing songs/carols, and buy the all-important fruitcake! Well, maybe not that last part...unless you're using it as part of a time capsule. Then again, if one is to make a time capsule, there are way better Christmas-themed items to include over fruitcake, like Christmas specials. Speaking of which...      In the spirit of Christmas, here's my rank of the best cartoon specials about the holiday. Each ranking will consist of a brief synopsis/overview and my rationale for its ranking. Before going any further, I thought I'd explain my criteria/thought process. It's Christmas. Above all else, Jesus is the reason for the season. Let us not forget that. With that in mind, I'm not that big into specials that revolve around the "is Santa Claus real" question. Conversely, I am a fan of ones that capture "the spirit of Christmas"and have an overall message that the holi

     Over Thanksgiving weekend, I watched The Parent Trap with my family (the 1961 version with Hayley Mills). Early on in the movie, the two girls are punished at camp and forced to live in the "Serendipity Cabin". Naturally, this is where they discover that they are twins. Well played, Disney.      The first definition of serendipity on Dictionary.com is "an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident". While most people probably haven't discovered that they have an identical twin in a cabin at camp, just about everyone has had those small moments of serendipity, those chance encounters, that make all the difference.       In my life, some of the best friendships I've made have come from spontaneous chance encounters. A friendship with one of my best friends from Virginia first started because we had lockers next to one another and both couldn't figure out how to open them during middle school orientation. Being in the same homeroom h