10 Years From Now: Dec. 2022

            So here it is, December 19th, 2012. Just last week (12/12/12), I made a video with my thoughts, hopes, predictions, and questions for my future self. I hope to reply in December 2022 (at age 35!). It's funny to think of all these things that have transpired in the past 10 years. I've gone from a 10th grade High School student to a college graduate, working in the real world for the past few years- amongst other things.
Below I will write out many of the things I spoke about in my 10 year video as well as some other things.


Various Predictions by December 2022:

-The world will not end on 12/21/12 (end of Mayan Calendar--an ingenious people!), but there may be some weird, cult suicides. Maybe. We'll see in 2 days.
-The US national debt will exceed 22 Billion dollars (currently at 16 Trillion).
-The US debt come back to bite us in the butt and will have to cut the budget like crazy because they were idiots for spending so much more than they had in the first place (this may take more than 10 years as people won't be willing to give up their way of life- or vote in politicians who would hope to remedy this bad trend).
-China will be even more of a world super power. It'll be interesting to see just how they develop and use and/or abuse their people to reach those ends. I can't see the US using them for cheap labor forever (or them lending us $$ because of our debt).
-Marijuana and Gay Marriage will be legalized in at least 25 states. The government would love to tax the sale of this drug.
-The standard of living may decrease. People will work more but earn less.
-Lebron James will (sadly) have another championship ring on his finger (he currently has one).
-A terrorist attack by Islamic Extremists will occur in Europe, especially with growing, marginalized Muslim populations in that more secular, Western society- there's bound to be a crazed nut in the group, unfortunately.
-Freedom of Speech will be hampered due to the aforementioned attacks, with societies not wanting to offend certain extreme members of a religious group. For example, certain cartoons of a few have sparked riots and killings amongst Muslims. Therefore, the non-Muslims must tolerate (adopt?) this new culture/religion and not in any way offend it in the name of political correctness. I fear this may eradicate Democracy in these sorts of regions in the future (but that may be over a century away). Right after 9/11, I'd hear talk of this radicalism being a type of Trojan Horse in certain countries. I'm glad I won't be around if/when it gets that bad.
-Another large-scale school shooting will happen. There was one just last week at an Elementary School. I predict some measures will be taken to tighten what can be sold, more involved background checks, etc. Nothing drastic though.
-Myy nearly 5' 8" self will no longer be able to grab a 10 foot basketball rim at age 35 as I can now (after running a little). I wish I could keep my awesome speed and athleticism forever! Haha.  And I won't be able to do a standing jump onto 4 foot tall stack of large tires like I did this week at a gym without any warm up at all.
-There is a 75% chance I'll tell a girl "I love you" during the next ten years. (wooo, lucky gal).
-My sister will have a baby, I shall be an uncle!
-Gas will be nearly $5.00/gallon. It's about $3.75/gallon but it should be under $3.00!
-There will not be a medically discovery to cure Cancer, AIDS, or Alzheimer's by 2022.
-College tuition costs will continue to rise and student debt will be ever growing (not a surprise). "Congrats, you just graduated with a debt almost the size of a house!"
-More newspapers and magazines will go out of print as the emergence of tablets over the past few years paved a way for reading periodicals digitally. Newsweek will no longer be in print after next month! Although I enjoy magazines, the real, tangible ones.
-Online shopping will be even more used and big box stores will suffer. Amazon.com is a good one.
-New York State minimum wage will be $8.75. It is currently $7.25/hr.
-I predict no major changes in how a car runs, i.e. via gasoline. They have cars that are Hybrid and have a charge to them, runs with gas and electric, but those cars are somewhat pricey. I could see the norm for cars going from almost 30 mpg to 40 mpg. We need something safe and re-usable, like water. A boy can dream...
-I predict I still won't have consumed a drop of alcohol, smoked, or have a tattoo. Tattoos will continue to grow in popularity with more and more people "having to have at least one".
-I will have a bunch more grey hair :p
-I will have been baptized (I'm sucha hold-out for things, darn it).
-E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial movie will be 40 years old and I will see it in theaters (if they show it). I saw it in theaters in 2002 and 2012.
-I predict an increase in hearing problems (at older age) due to people's use of those annoying little headphones blaring in their ears.
-People will have stronger addictions to technology, such as cell phones and Internet (just like today). It's weird feeling less safe when you're driving when you don't have your cell phone with you. But it also is liberating! Anyway, with the older generation dying out, we'll see more people glued to their cell phones, unable to withhold from using it while out with friends and family (that's annoying to see now). I miss the early-mid 1990's sometime. Playing outside. No Internet. We had TV and some video games but we weren't slaves to it. I can't fathom how my grandparents had fun in the 1920's, 30's and 40's with no electronic media entertainment. Haha. Even my parents in the 1950's and 60's had it good. Everything seems more controlled and monitored these days, and sometimes that's a negative. Just hearing stories of my parents or grandparents in their younger years...
-I predict the sport of Ultimate Fighting will still be growing as it's been in the mainstream for a few years now. I don't see the appeal in its brutality. 
-More regulations and precautions will be taken with Football (NFL) as more negative side effects of the sport will be realized (head injuries). It's obvious banging your head for years will mess you up some how...
-I predict there will be more sex/violence/swearing on mainstream TV and movies. But that's also been a slow trend over the decades. Reality shows/music of the past decade have just added to that.
-I predict people will have less privacy and be more willing to give up that privacy. If you told someone 10 years ago that a Google search of them may tell everyone their address, how much they make, etc, they'd freak out. I still don't like the thought of that. I envy people who are off the grid! The Internet knows so much about us already as it is. But I guess that's where peoples lives are now, whether socially or for business.



Questions for December 2022:

Will I be married?
Will I be single?
Will I have children?
Will I live in a house or an apartment?
Will I have the same employer/job?
Will I have a smart phone (instead of my beloved, ancient flip-phone: $15.00/mo unlimited text, 10 cent/min talk- insane! People are spending over $70/mo for their fancy phones...gross.)?
What has been your favorite movie(s) in the past 10 years?
Will Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III be the better QB in 2022? They are both rookies. Luck seems more grounded/safe but RGIII seems more exciting and likable at the moment.
Will Justin Bieber still be famous? (not sure why I asked this but he's semi-young and famous, so he's the guinea pig. Sorry, everyone).
Will Major League Baseball replace umps with visual technology? I can't see baseball tradition giving up on umps any time soon.
Will Hillary Clinton have ran for President in 2016?
Will any new truths about "9/11" come out?
Will Israel be attacked by a larger nation?
Will there be a Palestinian State?
Will the fears of Iran obtaining the nuclear bomb be false?
Will US dependency on foreign oil greatly diminish?
Will Ron Paul seem even wiser by 2022 (although he may not be alive). He sparked in me a renewed interest in politics this past year. Adherence to the principles of the Constitution and Liberty isn't as popular as one may have initially thought...
Will a evening movie ticket be over $15? Currently it's over $9.
Will there still be a dollar menu at Wendy's? Doubtful... Maybe a two dollar menu.
Will a large scale terrorist attack happen again (I'd put my money on it, although maybe not of "9/11" proportions, and probably not in the US).
Will Gas be over $5.00/gallon?
Will health insurance costs sky-rocket? Will it be a big issue like it is today, along with taxes, the economy, etc.
Will I have traveled to Europe? Get any good pictures? :p
Will I have sky-dived? Scary thought.
Any major leaps in medical technology? It would be nice to replace knees, cartilage in a more "real" way.
Any chips implanted in humans yet (that may be a 2100 reality). A digital world awaits. I wonder when paper money will disappear and everything is digital/online?
Will the Internet be governed? Please, no. Let the people speak.
Any claims of human cloning?
Will scientists find evidence of (microscopic) life on Mars?
Will humans walk on the Moon - or walk on the Moon again?
Will they still make DVD's for consumers to purchase movies? People can download movies to their computers and store things online now.
What will the status of Facebook be? It's pretty dominant now, usually glance at it every day.
Will there be any new developments in the "In God We Trust" saying on US Money?
Will there be a push to stop printing the dollar bill and penny in order to save money?
Will plaid shirts still be in style? They entered the fray a few years back and I'm always thinking they will look quite dated one day! I have a handful full of 'em and my favorite shirt happens to be a blue one of those.
Will working out continue to grow? Cross Fit has grown steadily over the past couple years, although it's still small. A visited a free church gym with my friend Jo'lani a few weeks back where they had a fun, 1 hour cross fit type work out. Running events have picked up too. I just started obstacle/mud runs this past summer- fun stuff. It's interesting to look back at military guys in the 1940's- overall, they weren't nearly as muscular as guys are today. I think guys who get jacked and live in the gym are a little crazy though...
Will girls with noticeably larger muscles be seen as attractive? Not talking about a toned, slim body. I mean a gun show and a 6 pack. I hope not.
Will my friend Jon (and Moriah) be married and with an additional kid besides Gabriel? They are engaged to be married September 2013.
Will my friend Kyle (and Ashley) still be teaching in Syracuse or will they have gotten lucky and be teaching back home?
Will my friend Sean be living in North Carolina working for a different accounting firm than he is now?
Will I have laser eye surgery? I don't mind glasses but I hate contacts.
Will I have eaten an Orange?
Will microwaves or cell phones be deemed harmful in anyway? Not included texting-while-driving.
Will people, especially girls, ever realize that tanning as a hobby is bad for you and looking orange/fake is not attractive? Yuck.
Will cursive still be taught in schools?
Will my church, TFHNY, have grown even more? How so? There are currently a handful of thousand attendees. It's grown a bunch since I first attended 10 years ago. They are talking about a future church site on the other side of the county. I hope they have wireless video cameras by then for their broadcasting.
Will there be big improvements in movie-making/CGI? Gollum already looks much better in The Hobbit than he did in The Two Towers, when he was already ground-breaking in Dec 2002 (wonder if they'll go back in a future relase and upgrade the computer-graphics.)
Will 3D still be a gimmick for movies or will new technology come about to greatly improve the visual experience? I still prefer 2D. I saw Avatar when it came out in 3D and was not impressed. Now they are experimenting with HFR (48 fps) per second with The Hobbit, although I've yet to see it in that format- It looked weird online, like a live play on TV in HD. I want movies to have that "movie look" :)


Other:
-Favorites from the previous 10 years (2002-2012):
CD: Rush of Blood to the Head- Coldplay
Movie: LOTR Trilogy, The Prestige
TV Show: The Office (first few seasons), The Bachelor (haha).

-Noticable changes in media/tele-com technology in the past 10 years: Digital Camera's emergence, HD-TV, Facebook, Smart Phones. What will be next?




         -I'll check back on this and add comments as needed in response to the topics above.

RKG 12/19/2012
nd I'll

"Life is but a vapor"

I've randomly been inspired to start blogging again (Uh oh). I'm looking forward to expound on some thoughts, histories, and other things that I find interesting. A personal smorgasbord of sorts.
Why do this? Well, for a while now, I've felt that time has been flyinggg by (of course it's stalling while I'm at work) and I'd like an online time capsule to capture certain things. It's crazy to think that one day I will be old (God willing), much slower...but wise beyond my years.
 It would be nice in future years to be able to reflect back with the aid of these writings and photographs, either by me or the people who experienced that moment, and understand what an aspect of life was like- context is important! Seemingly everything is digital now so let's hope the Internet doesn't explode and die anytime soon. Hooray for people preserving histories and memories with paper.  Okay, enough of this rambling! Haha. Let's do this, ®¥ªñ.

November 28, 2012