Well, I never thought I'd find myself in this position.

Here I am with the attention of thousands of my peers, and for once, there's no witty quip coming, no sarcastic comment and no off the cuff expression to describe the way I'm feeling right now.

Pardon me, as (like usual) I wing it and stumble my way through what so many of my friends and colleagues have managed to say so eloquently.

The only way I can describe the way I feel right now is to say that it's that feeling you get deep down before you go and do something crazy. Not crazy in the sense that you're going to regret it afterward, but crazy in the sense that only in your wildest dreams can you actually predict how things are going to turn out.

At this very moment, I don't know where I'm going to wind up in 10 years. Hell, I don't know where I'm going to be five minutes from now.

But what I do know is that the idea of not knowing suits me just fine.

I've never been good at "planning" things. I'm more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of guy, and so far, the mentality has served me well.

I guess I find something appealing in the unknown. The chance that anything could happen makes rolling out of bed each day worthwhile.

There really isn't anything better than making a life-altering decision on a whim in the morning.

It could either pay dividends and send you careening down a path to a healthy and happy life, or it could leave you broken and battered. But either way, you're going to learn something.

I can thank (read: blame) my friends for all of the crazy things that have ever happened to me.

I'll admit I have some scars from being strapped into a red wagon being pulled down a hill by a bicycle, or being shot at by a slingshot, but I would never change a thing. And for all the times spent just sitting around a campfire sharing stories, I would never give back one moment that I have spent among friends.

I count myself among the lucky ones to say that not a single one of them is normal -- including myself. Each one of them brings out the best in me, and I can only hope that I do the same for them.

I know my spontaneity may not always sit well with my family, but I want them to know that whatever happens -- wherever I wind up -- I'll be all right. My parents raised me with a good head on my shoulders (albeit a little bruised from the coffee table). But for that, I will never be able to thank them enough. And although I don't say it enough, and she may not realize it, my sister means more to me than she knows.

For every achievement in my life, I could turn around and see them standing right there behind me. And every time I fell, I knew they would be there to help me back up.

So if you want to know why I'm so comfortable with stepping off into the unknown, all you have to do is look to either side of me, and there you'll see my friends and family.

The unknown isn't a place where I'm afraid to wander because, to me, it's just another place to make memories.

So as I leave Penn State in a few weeks, what used to be a campus full of unknown places to explore is now another home filled with friends and memories.

And while I'm hesitant to leave this place, I know that there are still other places out there that I want to see. And the prospect of the unknown is just too strong to keep me in one place any longer.

Now that the planned chapters of my life have been written, it's time to turn to those empty pages and start documenting the unknown. Who knows, maybe I'll see you there.