July 3, 2003

 

Pretty stoked for the fireworks tomorrow. I'm sure a bunch of friends and I will head to the local hotspot (a city park) and watch it all go down (not that exciting). Afterwards, we are going to head to Johnny's house to hang out (play videogames) for the night (parents say home by midnight). Can't wait.

 

Teenagerly,

 

Peter

 

(Flash Forward)

July 3, 2008

 

Pretty stoked for the Fourth of July tomorrow. I have no idea what my friends and I will do to pass all that free time, but that's the beauty of it, no? Since it falls on a Friday, I get a 3-day weekend - reason for celebration. We'll probably wind up finding some fireworks to shoot off, hang out, and end up occupying ourselves somehow until 4 a.m., but regardless, it'll be a fun day.

 

Collegy,

 

Peter

__

 

Aren't the subtleties of collegiate independence great? It wasn't that long ago when 4th of July celebrations were cut short by curfew and neighbor noise complaints. Now, you might have no idea how you will celebrate America's independence, but you do know you'll celebrate it independently.

 

I'd say that's pretty patriotic.

 

The recent omnipresence of good old Red, White and Blue got me to thinking... what are the best features of collegiate independence? I've got my list, but I want to hear yours, too.

 

5. No curfew. Even if your parents were like mine and didn't enforce a curfew, your friends' parents certainly did. The worst part was knowing your significant other was going to get home late. Better start thinking of ways to redeem yourself with his/her folks...

 

4. Class options. In high school, variety was great and variety was terrible. AP European History was cool but Social Problems? I can watch Oprah to learn about that. Thank you for electives.

 

3. Money. No, I don't mean an influx of it. Usually, it's the reverse effect. Nonetheless, you get to spend money on what you want, when you want it. My mom was good with fashion advice, though...

 

2. Summer vacation. Sure, most of us work 5 days a week during the summer, but with no homework to bog us down at night or over the weekend, June, July and August are glorious months. With full decision-making autonomy, road trips, here we come! (Anyone drive a Prius?)

 

1. TPing. What? You think we're that far removed from high school? You must have forgotten how fun TPing a friend's house is. Plus, now that friends are the only people who live in that house, you don't have any parents to worry about. Bet you didn't consider that, huh? I will not, however, take responsibility for your 4th of July escapades.