A Scratchpad For My Thoughts At 30

I’m Humberto Saabedra. I’m a 30-year-old writer as of Friday May 8th 2015 and I’m not sure how I went from a struggling retail employee bouncing from job to job, sometimes holding 2 jobs at once as far back as 2008, to a somewhat known pop culture and tech blogger in the space of 8 years.

I’m also one of the few disabled bloggers actively contributing articles on a regular basis to a couple of outlets as well as writing on my own. I never thought I’d make it this far in terms of a writing “career”. I never aspired to be a journalist in the conventional sense, nor did I ever see myself as a writer.

I grew up enthralled by video games, classical music, early German and European techno along with classic rock and 80s synthpop. Along the way during my childhood, I had a total of 18 surgeries to correct orthopedic issues stemming from developing symptoms of Cerebral Palsy, which resulted from being born prematurely at 6 months and developing hydrocephalus.

I was crazy enough at one point to believe that I could have a career in motorsport, either as an engineer or even more unbelievably, as a driver. I never really pursued either option, because I was guided to chase “safer” alternatives. I still dream of sitting low in an IndyCar, even though realistically, my body couldn’t handle the strain in its current condition.

I ultimately chose not to go to college because I was afraid of seeing my family disintegrate, although I realize now that was an unwise decision. I plan to go back to school to chase a long-desired Economics degree and hopefully learn much more.

As I live each day of my 30th year, I’m beginning to realize just how lucky I am and how the direction I’ve taken in my life has shaped who I am. I know I care about my family and I know I enjoy writing. Outside of that, I know I want to fall in love and do the things that are supposed to be marks of adulthood, but I’m unsure if they apply to me.

All I know is that these past 30 years have been an interesting whirlwind, but I think I’m ready to make actual progress and grow even further as a person. I’m only writing this because I’ve had these random thoughts in my head for a couple weeks and I wanted to put them down somewhere.