. . . Those Were the Best Days of My Life
Hello. I'm back. I know that I've been a bit lax recently in posting. If you consider a three-month drought to be lax. Please accept my humbles apologies. In return, I will offer you constant articles throughout the summer to entertain you in your daily lives. Promise. Now that we've got that out of the way, a recap of the past three months:
I applied to grad. schools.
I was accepted to some grad. schools.
I visited said grad. schools.
I decided to go to MIT because I liked Boston.
They also let me do whatever research I wanted.
They're also the best aerospace engineering grad. school in the country.
I was project co-manager for my senior design project.
I was in charge of 35 other people.
This was hard.
I pulled my first all-nighter, and still missed the deadline.
I got an internship in Los Angeles working for NASA.
This is also pretty cool.
I graduated from college.
This is also pretty cool.
So yeah, nothing big really. All of above experiences were fun (mostly), and I could probably write lots of articles about them all. However, I don't have that much time right now (I need to pack / find a place to live in LA), so I'd like to write about one thing in particular:
I miss college.
I also miss high school.
As I was finishing up at Michigan, I was suddenly hit with a huge wave of nostalgia. I was walking to the library to study for my final final, when I thought, "This is the last time I'll ever go to the library as a student." And that made me sad. Then I thought, "Tomorrow will be the last time I ever go into the FXB CAEN lab as a student." And that made me really sad. You see, I am a dork, and miss things like libraries and computer labs. But then, I started thinking about all the fun times I had had the past four years. There were some good times there. Most fall into the vein of "Man, remember the time when we . . . . Yeah, that was awesome." Too many memories to describe here. But graduation was hitting me hard. Up until now, I couldn't wait to be done. And once I got my wish, I wasn't ready. Leaving Ann Arbor the Sunday after graduation was hard. Really hard. Those were the best years of my life. I know that's something that old people say all the time, but it's one of those things that is true (unlike how they ate leather and rope during the Great Depression and slept with eight kids in one bed). College was awesome, and I hadn't really realized it until now.
After leaving Ann Arbor, Gretchen came back to Pittsburgh with me. I took her around and showed her the places that were memorable from high school. And then, I got all nostalgic for high school! So then I'm longing for the past eight years of my life, all at the same time. (Thankfully, I don't miss middle school, as it was weird and awkward. Elementary school - eh, I'm over that.) I was especially reminiscant of the summer after senior year. I think I've mentioned it before, but that was pretty much the greatest summer ever. No responsibilities, jobs that didn't require math, and everyone was around. I took Gretchen to the field where we used to play Frisbee, and we started tossing the disk around. And then, I had a thought that almost made me cry:
Gretchen and I are tossing the disk around on the field, when a car pulls up and one of my high school friends gets out, all dressed in Frisbee clothes. I'm like, "What's up?" and toss him the disk. Magically, Gretchen and I are dressed in Frisbee clothes as well. The three of us start throwing it around, and then more friends show up, all ready for a game. And everyone from that summer shows up. None of those younger kids who are better than us. Just my friends, who really aren't that great at Frisbee. And we get like 15 people together, and we play Frisbee for a good hour or so. And then we take a break, and try to continue playing, but everyone's tired and it's getting to that stage of twilight where you're depth perception isn't terribly great and you're in danger of getting whacked in the head with the disk. So we all quit and go sit in the parking lot of Giant Eagle, eating ice cream from a common bucket with plastic spoons from the deli. As everyone departs, sort-of fading into the darkness, Gretchen and I are left as "Summer of '69" is quitely playing from the heavens. We're suddenly 22 again, and have normal clothes on. I look at her, smile, grab her by the hand and head home.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Why isn't life like the movies? I mean, we'd have to fight aliens and robots and stuff, but at least we'd have magical moments like that (in addition to crazy hijinks and grand musical numbers). But I digress. The point is, that in the past week, I've relived the past five years of my life in reverse order, and found that I miss it very much. I know that the future's got a lot to hold, and there was a lot of stuff in those five years that wasn't fun (working at Arby's, freshman year roommate, school), but you forget all that, you know? Is anyone else going through these thoughts and feelings? Maybe I'm the only one. That's why no one came to play Frisbee with me.
On a less sappy note, come Sunday I am heading West with Rob on a road trip of epic proportions. Something like this:
Sunday: Pittsburgh to Ann Arbor (Not terribly epic, unless I am magically transported to the past to relive the fun moments of my collegate career.)
Monday: Ann Arbor to Nebraska (It gets more epic, I promise.)
Tuesday: Nebraska to Western Colorado through Denver (Fairly epic.)
Wednesday: Western Colorado to Arches National Park, Utah (Epic.)
Thursday: Arches National Park to Zion National Park, Utah through Monument Valley:
(EPIC.)
Friday: Zion National Park to Las Vegas (Normally UBER EPIC, but it's Rob and myself, so it's just Epic.)
Saturday: Las Vegas to Pasadena, CA (Fairly epic.)
I promise to blog about the trip, during or after. And it won't be all, "Awww, I miss high school and have unrealistic Hollywood-like visions of playing with my friends." Promise.
See you again soon.
I applied to grad. schools.
I was accepted to some grad. schools.
I visited said grad. schools.
I decided to go to MIT because I liked Boston.
They also let me do whatever research I wanted.
They're also the best aerospace engineering grad. school in the country.
I was project co-manager for my senior design project.
I was in charge of 35 other people.
This was hard.
I pulled my first all-nighter, and still missed the deadline.
I got an internship in Los Angeles working for NASA.
This is also pretty cool.
I graduated from college.
This is also pretty cool.
So yeah, nothing big really. All of above experiences were fun (mostly), and I could probably write lots of articles about them all. However, I don't have that much time right now (I need to pack / find a place to live in LA), so I'd like to write about one thing in particular:
I miss college.
I also miss high school.
As I was finishing up at Michigan, I was suddenly hit with a huge wave of nostalgia. I was walking to the library to study for my final final, when I thought, "This is the last time I'll ever go to the library as a student." And that made me sad. Then I thought, "Tomorrow will be the last time I ever go into the FXB CAEN lab as a student." And that made me really sad. You see, I am a dork, and miss things like libraries and computer labs. But then, I started thinking about all the fun times I had had the past four years. There were some good times there. Most fall into the vein of "Man, remember the time when we . . . . Yeah, that was awesome." Too many memories to describe here. But graduation was hitting me hard. Up until now, I couldn't wait to be done. And once I got my wish, I wasn't ready. Leaving Ann Arbor the Sunday after graduation was hard. Really hard. Those were the best years of my life. I know that's something that old people say all the time, but it's one of those things that is true (unlike how they ate leather and rope during the Great Depression and slept with eight kids in one bed). College was awesome, and I hadn't really realized it until now.
After leaving Ann Arbor, Gretchen came back to Pittsburgh with me. I took her around and showed her the places that were memorable from high school. And then, I got all nostalgic for high school! So then I'm longing for the past eight years of my life, all at the same time. (Thankfully, I don't miss middle school, as it was weird and awkward. Elementary school - eh, I'm over that.) I was especially reminiscant of the summer after senior year. I think I've mentioned it before, but that was pretty much the greatest summer ever. No responsibilities, jobs that didn't require math, and everyone was around. I took Gretchen to the field where we used to play Frisbee, and we started tossing the disk around. And then, I had a thought that almost made me cry:
Gretchen and I are tossing the disk around on the field, when a car pulls up and one of my high school friends gets out, all dressed in Frisbee clothes. I'm like, "What's up?" and toss him the disk. Magically, Gretchen and I are dressed in Frisbee clothes as well. The three of us start throwing it around, and then more friends show up, all ready for a game. And everyone from that summer shows up. None of those younger kids who are better than us. Just my friends, who really aren't that great at Frisbee. And we get like 15 people together, and we play Frisbee for a good hour or so. And then we take a break, and try to continue playing, but everyone's tired and it's getting to that stage of twilight where you're depth perception isn't terribly great and you're in danger of getting whacked in the head with the disk. So we all quit and go sit in the parking lot of Giant Eagle, eating ice cream from a common bucket with plastic spoons from the deli. As everyone departs, sort-of fading into the darkness, Gretchen and I are left as "Summer of '69" is quitely playing from the heavens. We're suddenly 22 again, and have normal clothes on. I look at her, smile, grab her by the hand and head home.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Why isn't life like the movies? I mean, we'd have to fight aliens and robots and stuff, but at least we'd have magical moments like that (in addition to crazy hijinks and grand musical numbers). But I digress. The point is, that in the past week, I've relived the past five years of my life in reverse order, and found that I miss it very much. I know that the future's got a lot to hold, and there was a lot of stuff in those five years that wasn't fun (working at Arby's, freshman year roommate, school), but you forget all that, you know? Is anyone else going through these thoughts and feelings? Maybe I'm the only one. That's why no one came to play Frisbee with me.
On a less sappy note, come Sunday I am heading West with Rob on a road trip of epic proportions. Something like this:
Sunday: Pittsburgh to Ann Arbor (Not terribly epic, unless I am magically transported to the past to relive the fun moments of my collegate career.)
Monday: Ann Arbor to Nebraska (It gets more epic, I promise.)
Tuesday: Nebraska to Western Colorado through Denver (Fairly epic.)
Wednesday: Western Colorado to Arches National Park, Utah (Epic.)
Thursday: Arches National Park to Zion National Park, Utah through Monument Valley:
(EPIC.)
Friday: Zion National Park to Las Vegas (Normally UBER EPIC, but it's Rob and myself, so it's just Epic.)
Saturday: Las Vegas to Pasadena, CA (Fairly epic.)
I promise to blog about the trip, during or after. And it won't be all, "Awww, I miss high school and have unrealistic Hollywood-like visions of playing with my friends." Promise.
See you again soon.