and thus began his last first-attempt at blogging...

It's official: I have a problem, a phobia, a disease. I can't keep a blog to save my life. And, as I pondered this sudden realization, it hit me that maybe, just maybe, I never had much of anything to say up until this point. I've tried the whole, "Let's tell the world about my exciting high school life," bit, as well as the, "Let's do movie reviews!" thing. Neither were very successful.
I think the problem was that, as with many things in my life, I was simply trying too hard. Profundity cannot simply be forced into existence, this I've learned. It has to self-create and express itself on its own time.
So. Here we are. I start my new life at Elon University in 16 days, and I could not be more excited/scared/nervous/happy/anxious/AAHHHHHH. I'm a regular Holden Caulfield (Side Note: The English Major in me wants to throw in as many literary references as possible. Go read The Catcher in the Rye and tell me you didn't like it. We'll talk.) So far, I have high hopes for my college experience. I'm going to a school that's small, beautiful (it's a botanical garden!), and safe; I'm in the Honors Program, which could prove to be more intimidating than I'm letting on; my roommate is absolutely spectacular (theater major, essentially my twin); and I'll be in college, getting the opportunity to start over and meet new people and think deeply and truly become the person that I've started catching glimpses of here and there this year. I'm hoping that this blog will...
Actually, no. I have no hopes or expectations for this blog. And I definitely don't mean that in a negative way! I'm simply saying that, starting now, I'm choosing to let this blog happen as it happens. No themes, no musts, no pressure. Just me :)
Let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we?
One thing I would like to keep constant with this blog is my inclusion of things that have affected me, either in my past or in my present (and maybe my future). I'll end each post with some sort of...something, be it a poem or an excerpt or simply a thought that has crossed my mind.This post's something is a poem by Walt Whitman (a personal favorite) entitled, "A Clear Midnight." It's what inspired the title of this blog!

"This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson
 done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the
 themes thou lovest best,
Night, sleep, death and the stars."