The Senior Life

It's sad to say, but there are few real benefits to being a senior. We were told we should look forward to it but I don't think it's much different than any other year.

Save one difference.

The excuse of being a senior is apparently a valid one. The world accepts "it's my senior year" as a legitimate excuse. It entitles you to a place at the front of the line and a few extra days off and a main lot parking permit for no reason at all except "but it's your senior year".

And I hear kids around me buying into that logic. People worry about getting their yearbook and going to the all-night party because they CAN'T miss things like that, it's their senior yeeeeear. Or he deserves that solo because it's his senior yeeear.

I haven't tested its limitations yet, but I think the excuse can be used to pardon a wide variety of reckless behaviors.

I don't think it will get you out of getting a minor, but things like racing grocery carts down the street or flying to California with your friends become quite acceptable or even normal if it's your senior year.

Aw I remember being a senior in high school. Huh good days..... Okay you kids do whatever you want.
-Old people

Zeros: A World Application

"When people whine about having to do more work than someone else, I'm like...really? You aspire to be the least contributing in the group?" -Statistics teacher

We in America live in a world of Zeros. We live in a society that continues to support and encourage non-contributor, non-driven, simply...LAME people: Zeros.

The United States is designed to give every man an equal opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But somewhere in the centuries, happiness came to be synonymous with convenience. The American Dream today is to cheat natural selection: to do nothing and survive anyway.

It's frustrating to fight a Zero's logic. It's stifling to try to reason a Zero into caring and it's exhausting to try to force a Zero to care. They don't want to actually do the physics problem set and they don't want to pay the parking permit fee and they don't want to wait in line, they just want to watch The Bachelor and receive the success they're entitled to.

And sadly, they are allowed this behavior because of people like me who care more about the job being done than we care about who does the job.


But this is only the conspicuous Zero.

The worse kind of Zero is the more common one: the theoretical Zero. These Zeros try to remove manifest Zeros but use the same lazy mindset. The theoretical Zero has these socialist ideas that say everyone should put in the same amount of effort for the world to be fair.

That's a load of bull, theoretical Zeros.

The way natural selection works, the least hard-working individuals can't sustain themselves and they either change their behavior or die. Not "the lazier people learn to work harder and everyone is equal and happy".

If someone's working less than you are, consider yourself on the right path to success. Don't get on a soapbox about inequality.

And if you can no longer find someone working less than you, you are the bottom of the group. You are the Zero. You need to step it up.

Or you could join the Zeros. You'll have plenty of company.

Making My Life Count

“Make Your Life Count.”
The shirt I received from Gustavus Adolphus has only this mantra in gold letters and a G with the crowns of Sweden.

I may not be going to Gustavus. That doesn't matter.
I have always strove to live by this same principle: making my life count.

I instinctively push myself to do more, go farther, and follow through in everything I do, including academics.  I am not satisfied until I know that I’ve done everything I can do, been all I can be, and learned all I can learn.

With these high expectations, I quickly found that regular curriculum and tolerably motivated students could not be enough.  I’m not a 4.0 student and I don't pretend to know everything, but I’m driven not by a desire for perfection and success; rather, I am fueled by the tangible hunger for greater understanding.

Wherever I end up, I hope to find an atmosphere of young adults who aren’t driven by GPAs.  I hope not to hear the question “How many points will this be worth?” and I hope to never see the student next to me taking a Snap Chat of their shoe during class. I wanna punch 'em.

I expect to find a community of committed, intellectual beings that don’t obsess about grades and NHS hours but respect the privilege of education and wish to better their own understanding of the world around them.

I’d like to meet normal people who simply recognize their designed cognitive potential, fearfully and wonderfully made as they are, and know they have a long way to go.
And I hope to join them as I dedicate all of me to becoming the most contributing, understanding community member I can be.

I WILL be doing this. No matter where I go and no matter what I do.


I just hope I can find a place where it doesn't make me feel so lonely.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Why are we so bad at accepting thank yous?



It happens to me all the time. I’m like
“Oh hey, that was a caring, selfless small thing you just did for me… Thank you.” 
“Meh. Yuh.”

Don’t assume my sample is limited to just teenagers, because it is NOT just teenagers. It’s basically everyone.

“Hey, that’s where my pencil went, thanks for finding it,”
“Right."

I was under the impression that common courtesy required a few simple response formulas:
Statement                                                 Response
Hello.                                                   Hi.
How are you?                                  I’m doing well, how are you?
[introduced to someone]           Nice to meet you./ Charmed.
Can I take your coat?                 Certainly. Be careful, it’s real mink fur.
Goodbye.                                         Goodbye.
Would you like…?                         Yes, please./ No, thank you.
May you…?                                     Yes, certainly./ No, absolutely not.
Thank you.                                     You’re welcome.

Are mothers and teachers no longer educating people of this last common response?
Is "you're welcome" dead?

Thank you.
You’re welcome.

It’s not a huge deal. I’m just wondering, why are we so bad at that? Is it Minnesota nice? Is it like an attempt at humility? If that's true, I think it misses the mark.

I’m like, Hey, I noticed you did me a favor that in some small way improved my life, I will take the time to express my gratitude for your altruistic sacrifice of time and energy.

Responses such as “don’t mention it” and “no problem” are usually also accepted as responses, besides “you’re welcome”. Even a "nah it's chill dawg" I will grant.

“Yup” is not a legitimate response. I do not accept.

Take the time to recognize my display of gratitude with more than an obligatory grunt PLEASE.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

If I had my way, we would never leave. / If I had my way, you and I'd be all we'd ever need. / If I had my way, this town would stay my home. / Of all of the things I've been given, my way is the one thing I won't.

Tomorrow I will miss today.
If only I had my way.

They all tell you you never know what you got until it's gone. They never specify what you should do if you realize what you have while you still have it.



I have more than everything I've ever wanted. I'm at the threshold of independence but just before the cliff of self-responsibility. I'm about to graduate high school.

I look around at the faces in my high school, kids I see every single day, kids I laugh with and struggle through physics with and chant C-R-I-M-S-O-N with and drive with and study econ with and sing WEEE AAARE YOOOOUNG with and eat bad school hamburgers with...and I know it can't last.

I know I can't stay young forever.

I know I won't always be able to eat a whole bag of Doritos and never exercise without any consequences. My legs won't always work so flawlessly and my arms won't always be able to lift so tirelessly. I won't have this voice forever. I won't have this 20/20 vision forever and I know from my dad that I won't have such exemplary taste buds forever.

If I consider the facts, biologically I am at the peak of my career. And while I marvel at that and abuse it as much as possible (yeah I turn the speakers up louder and yeah I lift that heavy bag using my back)...it freaks the crap out of me.

If this is as good as things get...that's wonderful. This is a wonderful life.

But if this is as good as things gets...that's awful.

That means I can only go down from here. That means I will only go down from here. The idea frightens me.

"We were still so cool / Our bodies smooth and young / Dreams of getting older / Were never supposed to come." (Emery)

So love every second of it. Cherish it, just like the old bearded guy on the bench advises. Just like your parents say. Just like your bus driver says. Just like every adult that ever talks to a teenager about the teenage years says.



Enjoy it while it lasts.


I enjoy it. I appreciate it.
I'm scared to find out what happens when it stops lasting.


If you look around and realize what you have BEFORE it's gone...

Then what?

A letter, from me.

I guess I always knew that the end was close at hand
But I need to remember this can't actually be the end
See, it's rough, cuz you really were always there, by choice or by chance
I guess I began waiting, expecting your saving hand
The realization just came lately how similar we've become
My limitation to imitation is responsible for us
Cuz no one knows me as well as you know
I'm not scared to lose a brother, I'm scared to lose a hero

I just called to say,
I can't deal well with this change
I've got quite the shoes to fill.

I just called to tell you,
Things won't be the same without you
I don't miss you yet but I know I will.

We've shared bedrooms, I guess we've shared laundry baskets
We've seen victories and we've carried each others' disappointments
You taught me the kind of man I'd like to see in me
You taught me of the perfect world in which I believe
The way I walk, talk, sing, smile, man that was YOU
You taught me to find humility like I saw you do
You taught the way I dress, the way I see the world
I don't like to admit it, but you and I, we've grown old

You taught me to love, respect, and accept
I am slowly building me, but with you, I am my best
You helped me find a living that's honest and true
Bro, everything I am I took straight from the book of you



I love you brother. I always have, I always will.
I love the faith you planted in me that's ever-growing still
I love the example you gave, the rescuing wisdom you tossed to me
Cuz it was you who noticed I was becoming lost at sea

You're better than me. That will always be true.
You're a bigger, stronger, smarter man and bro...I love that too. :)
I look up to you, I follow your every step
I admire your heart and the next years will be a test
Cuz who's gonna fill that giant gap in our family you're leaving?
Who will guide me? Who will give me someone to believe in?
Who will smile at the neighbors? Where's the cook? The tutor?
We never did deserve all the things that you were
But we'll live on with less of you, I know that we'll need to
I'll stand on mine own, cuz you can't always guide me through

You showed me to an overflowing well when I was thirsty
My prayers are with you bro, good luck at the University

I'm always with you bro, even at the university.