helloo june!

June is always an interesting time for me. As a guy who's been around in davis for a few years, June is the time when I see another class graduate. Maybe it's because I've been around too long, but I've never really been a fan of graduation ceremonies. For my ceremony, the commencement speaker was a little hard to understand (it's cool, I think most people were asleep anyways - L&S is 4 hours!). Of course the student speakers weren't much better.

I wonder if the commencement speakers from our parent's generation were any more inspiring? Seriously, the speakers these days just follow a set template. As long as they hit certain key phrases, they're good: Success comes from within. Be your own person. Your generation can change the world. Show courage. You can make a difference. Never give up. With inspirational words like that, I'm amazed I could pick out today's commencement speeches out of a lineup of Miss America acceptance babblings.

In the spirit of it being June and graduations are coming up, let's see if I can drum up some real advice (none of that follow your heart and the world will be yours crap):

Did you enjoy college? Good. Just don't stay here forever. While it's good to want to stay in school and stuff, don't. Graduate and get out of college. It's cool if you want to take the leisurely five or six years to graduate (or in the case of one ex-housemate, 9+...he spent so much time at UCD and junior college that he has brought new meaning to the term JC Crusader), but don't stay in college more than you need to. 

Move somewhere new. Do it now, don't wait. I know it's hard to leave the place you went to school for four (or five or six) years, but it's easier to move now than when you've stuck around for another four+ years. Believe me... I ought to know... 

You will make mistakes, that's a fact of life. Learn from them, and for goodness sakes don't let them impact me in any way.

Don't move back in with your folks. I know...rent's killer in big cities and you're tired of sleeping on a mattress in the corner of an empty room, but seriously, it's just weird. Once you move back in, you'll be itching to get out. 

Start tucking in your shirt. I know, I hate it too, but you're no longer 18. That untucked abercrombie shirt at work gives off the intern vibe. Tuck it in and your boss will give you meaningful work to do, leave it untucked and your boss will give you his coffee order. 

Pretty soon the TV shows you watch now will be showing on nick-at-nite. Prepare yourself. It's inevitable. 

Now that you've graduated, you no longer have the option to take an incomplete. Pass/Fail is still an option though.

In 15, 20, maybe 30 years, you and your classmates will be running this country. As long as you are competent, don't screw up my social security, and remember to eat your veggies, you'll be fine. Congrats on graduating.