Change is in the Air: An End and a New Beginning for The Highlight Reel

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” - Woody Allen


My name is Aaron Goins. For the last year, I have planned to become a high school English teacher in the quickest and most effective way possible. I reenrolled at Greensboro College, the place where I obtained my Bachelor’s Degree in English and Communications in 2008, to complete my prerequisite courses before participating in the Piedmont Alternative Licensure program over the summer of 2012. The PAL program consisted of a year’s worth of studies in five intense weeks. That was my plan. However, things change in the blink of an eye.


I will remember May 2012 as one of the worst months of my life. As I started working on final preparations for my summer in the PAL Program, I received information that Financial Aid would not cover the cost of the PAL Program alone. I was $1,500 short and without a payment plan as an option. Therefore, I had to get a $1,500 loan to cover the difference left by Financial Aid. Considering my poor credit and status as an unemployed college student, banks were not jumping to offer me a loan. My father, who currently is sitting on a considerable amount in the bank, would not give me a loan until October because he did not have any faith in me becoming a high school teacher. Once again, I felt that loving support from him that has led me to vote him Father of the Year since 1983. After a lot of stress over the matter and a mild panic attack, I asked my sister for help in applying for a loan. She agreed to help me out and I will forever be grateful for her help in the matter. I seriously hope she knows just how much that meant to me. I resumed the preparations for the PAL Program after dodging that first bullet when a second bullet took me down: the repossession of my car. 


I knew we were behind on payments but not to the level that my mother finally informed me of as my sole means of transportation was towed away by a bald, muscle-bound, juicehead who could not provide a clean urine sample with a 30-day cleanse over Mother‘s Day Weekend. Once again, my father sat on his bank while his son and wife struggled to find an affordable car. With help from his sister, my aunt, we were able to find a car and make that dreaded initial down payment. By the time things started to turn in a more positive manner, I already made the decision to decline entry into the PAL Program because… frankly, I do not believe I could handle the stress of that intense program after 31 days of pure Hell.


“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” - Maria Robinson


I have hit the reset button on my life’s controller. Instead of having a teaching license by the end of 2012, I hope to have a license by the end of 2013. I could blame my father for his selfishness and lack of faith, support, and genuine concern for his family. I could blame my mother for a lack of communication over a very crucial matter. I know I could blame myself for making the wrong decisions in life that have me in this setting in the first place. However, the truth is that blaming people and dwelling on this situation will not change the situation. The only thing that will change the situation is to get up, brush off the dust, and keep moving forward.


“Get busy living or get busy dying.” - Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption)


I have made plans to take the classes I would have in the PAL Program during the fall semester and spring semester of 2013. In addition, I am going to work my ass off as a more motivated substitute teacher in Rockingham County. I am going to prove to everyone around me, and most importantly to myself, that I can teach and that I want to teach. This is my last chance to make an impact on this world and I am not going to fail. 


With these changes in my life, I have decided to make a change regarding my longtime hobby of writing The Highlight Reel. Since October 2003, I have followed a similar format with my blog: News and Notes, This Week’s Awards, a closing segment. Since the beginning, I have covered a lengthy period of time with each edition of The Highlight Reel. A week. Two weeks. A month. Each edition was loaded with tons of information and opinions over an extended period. The more I have embraced social media, the more I have gotten bored with my own hobby. I am tired of recapping events I already covered on Facebook and Twitter. In being unconventional with my blog, I also became outdated with my own opinions on my interests. Change is in the air! The Highlight Reel is about to become something different. More relevant. More interesting. More topical. More me.


My name is Aaron Goins. I thank you for reading my thoughts over the last nine years (or whenever you started reading my work). I thank you for reading my story. This change in life plans could have been the thing to bring back soul-crushing depression and possibly led me finally to give up on life for good. I could have gone to a dark place. Instead, I look at this as a new beginning. It is a new beginning on my dream, a new beginning on my hobby, and a new beginning on my life. I hope that you will come along with me for the journey. I hope that I can entertain you, inform you, provoke you, and enlighten you with this blog. More importantly, I hope I can make your proud with my life. 


Welcome to The Highlight Reel.