I feel old.
I was visiting my alma-mater yesterday. (Saying that makes me feel old.) The new freshmen were coming in, their last day with their parents, their first day as free adults. I was there to get free food, a noble endeavor, of course. All the new students are young, naive, unscarred by the rigors of college and the real world. I thought back to when I was a freshman. I thought about how it was five years ago. I remember how big the school felt. I felt the anxiety of being in a new place surrounded by new people in the same boat I was. Five years. That’s longer than I’d been in one place/school in my life. It was a long time ago. I’m a different person now. Then I realized, these kids, they were in 8th grade when I started college. They were born in 1990. Jesus Christ. I felt like I needed a walking stick.
So much can change in five years. So much I could have done but didn’t. So much I did do that I wish I didn’t. It’s weird. I kinda envy these kids. But at the same time, I don’t really want to go back to all the petty problems, all the silly deadlines, silly naive people. I miss one thing over all, above seeing my friends all the time (I can deal with that), above being able to stay up all night and have people around doing the exact same thing, and that is the carefree life that was college life. No parents, no worries about bills/rent, no worrying about getting a job or sleeping at a reasonable hour instead of playing video games all night. If life got tough, just drop a class. No big deal. Things were so simple. That’s what I miss the most.
But at least I don’t have to worry about writing silly 10 page papers on topics I care nothing about. There’s the bright side.