It has been almost a year since the original “Being a Senior” post went up on this blog, and over the course of that year, a number of realizations have been made about what it’s like to be a senior. Clearly, this is due to the fact that speculating about what it’s like to be a senior, and actually being one, are two different things. With graduation mere months away, I’ve come to a few conclusions about what being a senior is really all about.

1. Senioritis does exist. Since I first heard of this “illness,” I never bought it for a second. To me, it was just an excuse for upperclassmen to use when they began to not care about school. To my dismay, I have reason to believe I may have contracted this “disease” myself this last marking period. Once you get to a certain point in your high school career, you begin to count the days until you are freed from public education. For some, that’s the first day of freshman year, but for me, mid-year marked the point where I took the time to start the countdown until graduation.

2. The “real world” is just like high school, but with bigger consequences. Sadly enough, the world of grown-ups shares so much parallelism with high school that it’s scary. There will still be the same types of people once high school is in the past, but they’ll now be bosses or colleagues. There’s no escaping the hierearchy of high school.

3. Very few high school friendships will last past graduation. Like when someone writes in a yearbook that they, “can’t wait to hang out in the summer” and never do, it’s common practice to imagine life outside of high school with best friends in tow, but in all actuality, that’s highly unlikely. Friends go to different schools, groups split up, and at the 20 year reunion everyone will reminisce about the old times and how much “things have changed.”

With these realizations, high school has taken on a whole new look to me. Events that happen are no longer the end of the world, just part of the bigger picture.

There have always been those classic excuses as to why someone opts out of dressing up and standing around in the gym for three hours. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard talk of “Anti-Sadies” parties or impromptu trips to see the grandparents. I decided to come up with a quick list of reasons why people don’t go to Sadies.

1. Legit trip out of town: This does actually happen, but the timing of it can sometimes seem a little too convenient. At times this can be out of your control – or just a really good excuse.
2. No date: Sadies has always had a lower number of guys than Homecoming because most guys apparently believe they cannot attend Sadies if they don’t have a date. Also, no girl or guy wants to go in a group filled with couples, so they decide to just not go at all instead of having to be the lonely duckling.
3. Too expensive: When everything’s all said and done, dances add up to quite a bit. Even for the conscious person, there is usually a $100 minimum for a dance. Not everyone has that kind of money to spend on dresses/suits, flowers, hair, dinner, etc.
4. Legit dislike of dances: There are some people that rather poke their eyes out with a sharp stick than suffer through a school dance. However, many use this excuse when, in fact, their particular reason is more likely to be number two or three – just to avoid the conversations that follow. By saying they just don’t like dances, they can easily brush off the “Why not?” with a “Because I don’t.”
5. Lack of dancing skills: Few enjoy self-inflicted public humiliation, especially when dancing is involved. Those who accept that their dance moves match those of Carlton Banks from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” understand. Rather than spending money to make a complete fool of yourself, those who honestly believe their “move” is “the sprinkler” best save that cash and stay home.   

There’s always a surplus of excuses to refrain from participating in the whole “school dance scene,” but it all boils down to whether or not you want to miss out on this particular high school experience.

I was the first to scoff at the idea of hall passes in our school-provided planners, but I’ll admit that the eco-conscious person inside of me is applauding the idea of saving trees on all those pink hall passes. Although the planners themselves use a lot of valuable trees to be made, they have multiple uses that cut back on our paper consumption.

As a school where day in and day out copious amounts of paper are being consumed, eliminating those little pink slips almost entirely seems like a pretty good idea to reduce our “carbon footprint.” Now that we’re a green school thanks to Club Green, we should strive to keep our green ways. The planners are helping in that aspect.

Another positive aspect to the new planners are tiny pink scraps being absent from the hallways. Most passes are used once and thrown away, or in most cases, on the ground. The planners help keep the school at least a little bit cleaner.

Initially I was skeptical when I was handed this red and black planner. When informed that I would also have to take this planner into the bathroom when I asked to go, I became even more put off. Over time though, my initial response has been muted.

We’re addicted. As a society, we cannot get enough of status updating, link sharing, and note writing. Hours are spent eyes glued to the news feed in curiosity to see what new post will pop up next. I, myself, fall to the intense allure of the many activities Facebook holds. The ugly truth of it all though, all our attention that we devote to Facebook is not being spent doing something more productive.

Of course, focusing time on the essay that would much rather be left unwritten doesn’t sound remotely as much fun as finding out with ethnicity you should actually be, but that’s not the point. Facebook is a brilliant means to communicate with friends, but it should not become the dominating part of a person’s life.

So continue to browse another Facebook friend’s prom photos, but keep an eye on the time. If you have not lived life outside of Facebook, then what will you have to talk about when you’re actually on Facebook? There are only so many top five lists you can create until you actually need to experience things for yourself.

Hundreds of thousands of people cannot resist the Siren allure of Starbucks. With their absurdly long drink names and addictive aroma being constantly pumped into the building as well as its surrounding area by the gallons, who wouldn’t want to blow hard earned dough on a silly beverage? Starbucks sucks you in with their fancy foreign names and delightful smells. Take a second before you pull open that door and are hit with a wave of distinguishable scents. In this economy, is it better to spend $5 on a Vanilla Latté or on the gas to go anywhere?

Coffee is good, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a point when it’s just not worth it. Starbuck’s prices have crossed the line, yet people still seem to buy. It goes to show that society’s priorities are not in order when buying a Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino is a must-do for the day.

Daily trips to Starbucks can really add up. Just one trip to Starbucks can break bank. Let’s just think before spending a perfectly good chunk of change on an Iced Caffe Mocha.

Ignorant ideas of good times and fun, sun-filled days rarely apply to the actual happenings of summer. Youthful ideas of summers spent frolicking through sprinklers are replaced against our will with ugly truths of boredom and brain-cell killing entertainment. Sporadic days of somewhat significance are encased in weeks of plundering and naught. Plans with friends scrawled upon the pages of a yearbook now misplaced never become more than just words. The rarity of these plans following through is astounding.

Hours upon pointless hours are spent watching soaps and reality television in the meager hope to find some ounce of substance in an otherwise futile existence. Even though television companies know of the bountiful supply of minds just begging for stimulation during the long summer months, no show reflects this knowledge. We as the teenage population look forward to summer, and yet when it comes, we are time and time again faced with the daunting task of not losing our minds from sheer and utter boredom.

There’s nothing glamorous about being a senior. Yeah, school’s over, but instead of everything being bright and happy, you’re now faced with the daunting task of being grown-up. No longer can you blame your mishaps on teenage rebellion or as a means of learning an important life-lesson. You have now flown the metaphorical coup, and you’re going to have to deal with life, if you like it or not. Time waits for no one, and inevitably, I, too, will be forced down the path to adulthood while I’m still grasping tight to the Easy-Bake Oven of a more care-free youth.

Being rid of school seems like a monumental event at present, but as the distance between you and these hollow halls of learning increases, you’ll find yourself regretfully returning to the memories of the time spent as an educational prisoner here. Undoubtedly, though, these feelings of nostalgia will be so insignificant to the ones of sheer celebration of freedom. You’ll miss this place, no matter how much you swear to anyone who will listen that you won’t.

The consistent racket you’re hearing, as you cruise around town in your Grand Blanc worthy automobile, is not drowning cats, but rather a pathetic excuse for music. The radio has gone from a medium of communication to nothing more than redundant racket with the same horrible song on every station in your presets.

There once was a time when the radio was the key to hearing new, creative music. But now, it’s nothing more than a means for “hit songs” to be incessantly drilled into the minds of anyone who’s within range of radio waves. Having a radio is completely pointless when it’s a constant battle to find a song that is tolerable.

It’s pathetic that the retched radio forces me to have to constantly remember to bring along a mix CD to pop in the player when inevitably that same stupid song comes on for the hundredth time that day