Congratulations 2006 Graduates!

[bachanon]

i was thinking about all the graduations going on this weekend and it brought to memory a piece by baz luhrman called "everybody's free (to wear sunscreen)". baz luhrman was behind moulin rouge w/nicole kidman and romeo and juliet w/dicaprio and danes. i thought the words might be relevant for any graduating HAIFers, or those of us still trying to figure out our place in the world.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you cant grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You're not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other peoples hearts, don't put up with

people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, its only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you

succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your

life, the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you wont, maybe you'll have children, maybe you wont, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. What ever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, its the greatest instrument you'll ever own. Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Lyrics from Baz Luhrmann's "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen).

Edited May 26, 2006 by bachanon

[nmainguy]

Pretty much all of the above. Just remember you are a legal adult at 21 but not neccessarily a grown-up. Strive to be a grown-up.

Don't forget to go to Paris for at least one week of your life. Take your special someone; get drunk in the beauty; gourge on the food; revel in the evenings and the life you've been given. Don't waste a minute-there's a limit.

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

Pretty much all of the above. Just remember you are a legal adult at 21 but not neccessarily a grown-up. Strive to be a grown-up.

Don't forget to go to Paris for at least one week of your life. Take your special someone; get drunk in the beauty; gourge on the food; revel in the evenings and the life you've been given. Don't waste a minute-there's a limit.

No longer a legal adult at 17 in Texas?

[bachanon]

maybe he means legal to imbibe adult beverages.

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

maybe he means legal to imbibe adult beverages.

Ah, very good. That being the case, waiting until 21 to be able to buy alcohol is INSANE. If you can serve in the armed forces of the US and die for the US as early as 18, 17 with parental consent, then you should be able to purchase alcohol at 18 :) :) :)

[editor]

Legal adult at 18. But I don't think I really was mature and in control of my life until 25ish. Maybe a little later.

My recommendation: Never get more than one credit card. You might think it will be good down the road to have a bunch, and your misinformed friends will tell you it looks good on your credit report, but they're wrong. Get one. Only one. Use it wisely.

And if you put $20 into a bank account every week starting now, you'll be able to retire before the rest of us.

[ssullivan]

Definitely agree on the debt thing. I got caught in that trap twice -- once in college, when I was the less wealthy kid from a rural small town with all the wealthy friends from big cities going to an expensive private school. Took me over two years of living at home after graduation to pay it all off. And then I went and let it happen again when times got hard after I was back out on my own in the world. At least that time it was spent more on true needs, but still. Get one card, use it very wisely, and never spend more on it in one month than you can afford to pay off in full when the statement comes the next month. Only carry a balance in a true emergency situation.

Enjoy college but also be serious about it. When it gets tough, stick with it. Don't drop out. I have too many friends who are in their late 20s and early 30s stuck in dead-end jobs and can't get out because they have incomplete degrees. It's much, much harder to go back and finish when you're working full-time and have other responsibilities. And anyone who tells you it's just a piece of paper is full of crap. Your degree is worth much more than just a piece of paper.

And finally, be patient, and stick with what you like to do and what you're good at. Don't let anyone ever push you into career choices that you have any doubts about. Go with what you love to do and what you have talent for. Give it all you've got, be patient, and understand that you may have to suffer through some years of ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese. But if you keep at it, eventually someone will notice, and you'll suddenly find yourself in a much better position. Be realistic, and realize that while some people graduate college and immediately land big jobs with great salaries, most spend the first few years of their careers barely getting by. But eventually even those who are barely making it get out of that situation and into something that can be really good.

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

Enjoy college but also be serious about it. When it gets tough, stick with it. Don't drop out. I have too many friends who are in their late 20s and early 30s stuck in dead-end jobs and can't get out because they have incomplete degrees. It's much, much harder to go back and finish when you're working full-time and have other responsibilities. And anyone who tells you it's just a piece of paper is full of crap. Your degree is worth much more than just a piece of paper.

I hope they have some substance behind that piece of paper or it will mean nothing. Study hard and retain whats learned! I have on many occasions interviewed candidates qualified on paper with degrees etc. After and hour, in a lot of those cases, it was clear these people had no idea what they were doing...meaning retention of things learned in institutes of higher learning were not there. Study, learn and retain.

[editor]

I hope they have some substance behind that piece of paper or it will mean nothing. Study hard and retain whats learned! I have on many occasions interviewed candidates qualified on paper with degrees etc. After and hour, in a lot of those cases, it was clear these people had no idea what they were doing...meaning retention of things learned in institutes of higher learning were not there. Study, learn and retain.

Very true. When I hire people I almost never look at the degrees or colleges. It's all about experience. There are people in my office with high school degrees who are outperforming those with masters from Ivy League colleges. Of course, they're all older people from a time when degrees were less important. These days I won't even give you an interview without a Bachellor's. But once you get in the door, all I care about is experience.

Interestingly, the paper you graduate with can change over the years. Colleges are more and more merging and growing and changing like businesses. The name college I graduated from ended in "State College" when I got out. Now it ends in "University." So my alma mater is more prestigous now and I didn't have to do anything. I know a woman whose degree was from an "Institute" which eventually became a "College" and now a fully-accredited "University."

[jmancuso]

i wish i was more of a "go getter" in my 20's instead of just doing nothing. no traveling, no "living" life to the fullest, pissed around in school, no ambition..

i got my act together though and finished college at 28, masters at 32 (last december)

[bachanon]

congrats on the master's degree jmancuso.

Edited May 29, 2006 by bachanon

[Trophy Property]

To those new HS graduates. Please don't hang a tassle from your rearview mirror and please refrain from urge to write stupid things on your friends car window using shoe polish. If you can control those urges you are a success in my book.

Examples:

LHS Class of 2006 - Sexy Driver - Lubbock or Bust - Honk if your Horny -