...In which our heroine presents "Wisdom I've Learned From Summer"

Emily and I were supposed to go out last night to see our boys Josh and Isaac in Pomegrantates on Fountain Square, but ended up not. Instead, we sat in her car and talked for about an hour and a half and had a talk that's got me thinking about a lot of things.

Things are changing at a break-neck speed for my friends and I. Actions have been committed that I never thought would come to pass--some have made me regain faith in those I had completely lost it from, others have made me doubt the very character of people I supposedly trusted.

A few weeks ago, Paul and I had a conversation that was months in the making. It was a talk like the one we used to have. At one point, he asked rhetorically: "Why are we doing this? It must be because high school's over and everything's ending." I agree wholeheartedly. People are doing the things they've wanted to do for a long time but never had the balls to, for better or worse.

I really do feel as if we're on the brink of adulthood. But on the brink, I still feel like a little kid playing "House," only instead of playing with dishes and laundry, we're playing with relationships, love, sex, parents, danger, drinking, and the bonds that've held us together for four years. I don't think this experimentation is necessarily a bad thing, but I do still feel like we're kids playing a game for grown-ups. It is weird for me to watch myself and people I've known since kindergarten tread so fast and fearlessly in to the ever-enticing realm of All Things Adult.

With that in mind, I already feel as if this summer, this petri dish of the real world and the future, has taught me a lot of things. Of course they aren't all good things, but as Aeschylus said, "Wisdom is won through suffering." Indeed.

Things I've Learned:

• Morning shifts and the ladies who work them at Bob Evans aren't all that bad.
• A Clockwork Orange is an outstanding film.
• Listening to "Daft Punk: ALIVE" and MIA's "Paper Planes" with Nate is guaranteed to put me in a better mood, no matter how shitty my day has been.
• Columbia is the largest film school in the world. And I got the top and only scholarship for incoming film majors...no pressure.
• Lou Mitchell's makes a damn fine cup of coffee.
• I'm pretty good at Super Smash Brothers. Seriously, I pwn.
• If you start drinking White Russians and Liquid Cocaines at 6:15, it will be a long, interesting night.
• That long, interesting night will swear you off drinking for the rest of the summer.
• If he's a UC English major with a Superman belt buckle, stay away.
• Having your best friend date someone who along with all his friends knows your dad is trouble. Especially when his best friend has a Superman belt buckle.
• Even film majors have bad movie taste; I Am Legend, Deja Vu, and Live Free or Die Hard were all named as favorite films at Columbia.
• I don't know enough of Modest Mouse's back catalogue.

Things I've Realized:

• Financial responsibility sucks.
• Saving for college sucks.
• I'm going to be $100,000 in debt when I graduate college.
• Cassie really is the best friend I could ask for. Who else would fawn over The Adventures of Pete and Pete on DVD, go see Wanted with you to share her mutual girl crush on Angelina Jolie at midnight, go to Wal-Mart at 3 AM for emergency chocolate and Ben & Jerry's and then happen to find the Special Edition of Pretty in Pink, talk til 5 AM and eat ALL the junk that was just bought. This all occured in one night, mind you.
• I really am going to miss her.
• Paul and I are in a better spot then we have ever been. My feelings from junior year (feverent girlhood infatuation) and senior year (pure anger and resentment) have morphed into a general understanding that makes me feel good about college. We are back to being great friends, which makes me glad considering we stopped talking for six months. He told me a lot of things that I had been waiting to hear and I understand his general attitude a lot better now. He's stopped being a dick to me and I'm actually not pissed at the prospect of going to college with him anymore.
• No matter how much you trust someone, emotion often wins over morality.
• Everyone can become a hypocrite when the tables are turned on them.
• People put the satisfaction of a moment over the damning reprocussions of the act.
• Some people have no shame at all.
• Even if you trust some of your friends totally, a single mistake can change all of that.
• I will be glad to get rid of some people.
• I will not be glad to get rid of others: