Writing the Future

“I'm writing the future, I'm writing it out, loud.” - ‘Future’, by Paramore

Fun fact about that song: it is (to my knowledge, at least) the longest Paramore song to date, as well as the one containing the shortest set of lyrics. It really isn’t too hard for me to relate my life right now to one of my favorite band’s tracks. This post-secondary period of my life is undoubtedly one of - if not the - most crucial life-defining ones. These next few years in the engineering faculty will be the longest sustained level of intensity I’ve had to endure thus far, but it’s one of which I’ve just scraped the surface. Now, the majority of the lyrics themselves don’t really relate to the experience; it’s their placement in the song (and the subsequent arrangement) that hits home. Hayley, the lead singer, runs through them in the early stages of the tune. There isn’t too much in terms of rhythm or melody happening here, just a gradual build up. In the same vein, this first year so far has seemed to act like the tone-setter. In terms of actual learning specific to my discipline (Computer Engineering), we haven’t focused an awful lot just yet. However, it’s the rigmarole of learning that engineering demands of a student that’s being instilled in us this year. And, akin to the slow rhytmic start jumping to a heavy one, the increase in course difficulty was a sharp yet still admittedly gradual one.

The rest of the song plays out as a heavy instrumental. As the days go by here in university, the daily routine sets in, and sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between what seems like a continual weekday cycle of residence -> campus -> class -> residence. And yet, halfway through the song, if you’re not paying attention to the time stamp, it sounds like you’ve already reached the conclusion. The beat fades out until only silence remains. But then, just as you think you’re about to swap tracks, you hear the guitar riffs kick in again. Similarly, we have breaks throughout our time here (reading week, winter break, etc.) that signal a time to pause and relax, before hopping back into the learning environment encompassed by the campus grounds.

Much like the album containing ‘Future’, university comes at a period of life I’d label as self-titled (for reference: the album is called ‘Paramore’). I’m very much still discovering who I am and what I want to do in the future, growing as a person with each passing day. At the end of the day, what I’m doing here at U of T really is about ‘writing the future’, setting the foundations for what I want to do in the years to come.