by "G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
Published 06/23/2017 at 00:33
by "G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
Published 06/23/2017 at 00:33
No Tags
STARS: 2
Only tomorrow morning’s exam, and then I’m finished high school. But for some reason, I don’t feel much of anything.
I never really loved the school I went to, but it was the best option at the time. Add “clique-y” to the list of reasons I’m not a huge fan of this town. I made some friends in acting class, but that’s about it. I came a nobody and left more or less a ghost, almost exactly what I initially intended.
For now I’ve got work to distract me from some stuff I should be focused more on, and college is happening in the fall so everything is more or less falling into place. Still, I feel somewhat taxed by this place. I’ve been trying so hard to not hate this town, but I’m not sure I can do it anymore. It’s just so incredibly boring for an unathletic, more or less straight edge loser like me, and this is the biggest town for hours around.
I guess I should be happy and/or sad, but I’m not. I’m just bored and frustrated and waiting for life to move faster. Maybe I need to reschedule leaving so I can do so before I lose my mind.
"Chuckles" (chucklesw37)
06/23/2017 at 00:45, STARS: 10
I understand your boredom and frustration, and I’ve been there. But as a 31 year old who’s been working full time since a few months after college graduation, I can’t tell you how I’d kill to have a summer off. Once your life starts moving faster, it never really slows down. At this point in my life, if I ever managed to have a few months off I’d be overwhelmed with guilt and the nagging feeling that I needed to find a job ASAP.
I realize that this probably just comes off as the ramblings of an old man, but enjoy your summer before college starts. I’m not going to say something clichéd like “this is the best time of your life” but I will say that it’s a time that has no parallel once you’re in the working world. So plan a trip to see a distant friend or visit a new city, dust off that copy of Your Favorite Weapon that’s been on the shelf, and hit the open road.
Oh, and congrats on making it through high school.
"Noah - Now with more boost." (antriebverliebt)
06/23/2017 at 00:46, STARS: 1
Sometimes big moments like HS graduation take a while to sink in. It’s hard to know exactly how you feel about momentous events like that until you have a little distance from them.
"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01)
06/23/2017 at 00:56, STARS: 3
Let’s just say I’ve missed a few HS reunions divisible by 10, so I have some experience in this area. Enjoy every minute, even when you think you’re bored. Don’t rush - soon you’ll be a guy in his mid-50s wondering how it all went so fast. Believe me.
"DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-)
06/23/2017 at 00:57, STARS: 3
Yeah my take on it, congrats on graduating HS btw , are that the people who talk about how awesome HS was are somewhat of a vocal minority. Things just get so much better after HS, because for the most part your around more like minded people.
Kind of like I was mentioning in my rant the other day. In HS everyone’s legally obligated to attend. But if you go to college, get a job, or join the military, all those people made a choice to be there. So I guess you could say there’s a more common motivation for y’all being there.
"RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire" (ricerocketeer2)
06/23/2017 at 01:14, STARS: 3
Congrats on getting through HS.
Life is way too short to dwell on things that make you unhappy. That’s probably the one thing I’d tell myself 10 years ago.
I guess I’m just jealous of your being bored ... I haven’t had real downtime since 2004 and probably won’t until I retire or die.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 01:37, STARS: 1
Thanks. I actually had Your Favorite Weapon on in the car today. I’d love it if I could have this summer off, but the job.i have right now is pretty great. I’ll try to make the most of August, though.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 01:43, STARS: 0
Thanks. I guess the hard part for me is that high school has been one of the more interesting things I’ve done in this town, and even it wasn’t that great.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 01:46, STARS: 1
Thanks. I guess there’s a difference between downtime and boredom. Drinking sweet tea in a Muskoka chair by the pond in the evening is downtime, but wondering what the hell you can actually do to even fill time is boredom, and while I love downtime I have little time of day for boredom.
"promoted by the color red" (whenindoubtflatout)
06/23/2017 at 02:43, STARS: 2
Congrats!
The others have already covered what being an adult is like pretty well, so I won’t go there.
Keep in touch with the friends you have now. Even though it’s been a number of years since I graduated, I’m still close with a number of people back then.
"jimz" (jimz)
06/23/2017 at 04:47, STARS: 3
Every day I get a bit further away from high school is a day I’m a tiny bit happier. I wish I could go back in time and give everyone who told me that high school would be the “best time of my life” a savage kick in the balls.
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
06/23/2017 at 05:31, STARS: 2
High School was never my time....I had the same good friends from Jr. High and continue to do so to this day. I very much enjoyed university, and miss it though, even though most of my university friends have moved far away and we’ve all drifted apart.
Wouldn’t trade that experience for the world. Look forward to what’s coming friend :)
"Arrivederci" (arrividerci)
06/23/2017 at 07:48, STARS: 1
Amazing words of advice - I’d love to go back to a time without bills and responsibilities. I didn’t believe my dad when he told me, because I was so focused on looking ahead, being older, etc.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
06/23/2017 at 07:55, STARS: 0
Congrats on making it through HS, I hope you can find some fulfillment this summer. As others have said, at no time in your life will you be as unincumbered by responsibility and have the availability of free time as you have this summer. The trade off is that you likely have little funds to really enjoy the time, but try to make the most of it. I was trying to think back to my post HS graduation time and what memorable things I did, and I don’t have much, but I do remember it being good times. There was a lot of camping that summer, working too, but plenty of downtime. I was always involved with friends from school or from church that I’d run with. That summer marked the last time I’d see many of them in any real meaningful way. College and life get going and then I lost contact with most of the friends I had that were just through HS, the ones that were church friends too I kept in contact with a little longer, but most of them have gone by the wayside as well. No regrets other than not travlling more during that summer and the following ones, as now with full time employment and a family of 5, the priorities have shifted. But if I had the chance to do it again, I wouldn’t want to, but of course there are little things I’d do differently, but all in all, things work out.
I do remember a couple of trips I took during that time, one was a missions trip through my childhood church down to Mexico to build homes for impoverished folks. We would call it a shed, but these people had so little that the shed we built filled a great need they had and gave them a place to live. I remember my eyes being opened to what it really meant to be needy. We take for granted so much and it gave me perspective on my life.
The other was a trip to Jacksonville to build homes through habitat for humanity. This one was during one of my last spring breaks in college. It was an awesome trip all around. By this time I had been framing houses for a few years on and off during school breaks and had some expertise to lend while on the trip. It was a shoestring budget where our group stayed in one of the other habitat houses for the week while we worked on other ones. We’d put in a full days work and then sightsee in the evening and we had a day towards the end to go to st. Augustine to do touristy stuff. One of the other local volunteers had a huge beach house that we all went to for a party for the volunteers, it was the best spring break ever.
If I can be so bold as to recommend you try something similar this summer, maybe you can gain some perspective and some friendships. Going life alone is no fun, of at least not as much fun as going it with others. And this is from one of the most non-social folks you’ll meet. Maybe try to hook up with a habitat group local to you, or some other organization that is doing charity work around you. You don’t have to make it a church group, but the volunteer groups that I’m affiliated with are typically religious based some way, but the service to others is the key. Right now you have time on your hands (relative to what you’ll have in the near future) so give of your time to others to help, because soon you won’t have time, that’s where I am now, so I give money, but it’s not as fulfilling to me as doing the work.
I hope you find fulfillment and I hope I didn’t come off as preachy, just thought I’d share my personal experiences with you. Good luck.
"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
06/23/2017 at 08:12, STARS: 1
High school don’t mean shit my man.
Be the you that you want to be in this life.
"Chuckles" (chucklesw37)
06/23/2017 at 08:29, STARS: 0
The grass is always greener etc.
I spent 2015-2016 in a job where I was working 12 hours a day (without OT pay) and working weekends for free. If I wasn’t working, I was recovering from work and generally being a couch potato. I was making enough money to get by, but I wasn’t really saving enough to make it worthwhile.
I found myself saying “hey, this is it. If you don’t enjoy your day to day life, why are you working here?” You shouldn’t live your life waiting for some future time to be happy. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get to retire in another 34 years, but that’s still longer than my entire life up to this point. I needed to find a way to enjoy my life right now. So I found a better job that cane with a raise and a strict limit of 40 hours a week. Instead of just watching TV all weekend, I try to get out and do something enjoyable.
The point is, find a way to enjoy whatever part of life you’re stuck in right now, instead of focusing on some hypothetically better future.
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
06/23/2017 at 08:59, STARS: 0
I graduated in 1984 and came away from HS with just one person I called a friend, and we parted ways some 15 years ago. In school, I never hung out with the in-crowd (I couldn’t stand them). On graduation night, there was some massive keg party somewhere and I was sitting at Shoney’s eating hot fudge cake with my parents. I felt a certain satisfaction when there was a tremendous thunderstorm that night. I have never had any urge to go to a HS reunion, and I never will. I was a solid B-C student, smoked a ridiculous amount of dope, had a couple of people I hung out with, but I never saw HS as the great moment of my life as others saw it. It was a phase, a step. Part of the process of getting where I am now, and nothing to dwell on. Congratulations on finishing. Time to move on to the next step, whatever that is.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 10:09, STARS: 1
Thanks. Keeping in touch is one of the big reasons I’m moving back east. All my crazy awesome friends from elementary and middle school are back there.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 10:10, STARS: 1
Truth.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 10:11, STARS: 0
Steel-toed all the way.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 10:13, STARS: 1
I guess it’s because I was homeschooled from grade 9 until this semester, but the crazy awesome people I met in elementary and what I guess would normally be middle school back in Ontario are still the best friends.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 10:20, STARS: 1
Thanks, man. I have a bit of a plan for fulfillment, I just need to wait a bit. I’ll be working all July, but I’m planning on taking off for Ontario in early August so the guys and I can get together, record a 5 song concept EP and then turn that concept EP into a short film by making a music video for every song. Interestingly enough, I have a plan for next summer to avoid having a real job but still being able to afford stuff, I just need to look into a few things before I set it in motion.
"merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc" (merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc)
06/23/2017 at 10:53, STARS: 0
That’s awesome! Enjoy the time. Whereabouts in Ontario? I’m in Detroit metro area and have had to travel to Toronto a bit for work. Cool city. Then there is Niagara Falls as well, one of my Wife and my favorite spots to visit. Sounds like a great time.
"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
06/23/2017 at 14:43, STARS: 1
I’m moving to be 20 minutes from the falls, but my real HQ will be Cambridge-ish.