School is over.

I’ve been having a problem recently: I’ve out grown my music collection. It’s just not hard enough anymore. Just not enough screaming, thrashing, and noise. All the post-hardcore is too friendly. Even most Glassjaw isn’t loud enough anymore. (Their amps probably only go up to 10). I’ve turned to numetal for solace, back to where my penchant for loudness started, but it just feels a little silly. The people on DC just aren’t cool enough to have better music. I have resorted to begging some trusted authoritative music sources for input.

My sleep schedule has been inverted because of a few too many last calls since the end of finals. I decided to watch Grey’s Anatomy this morning around 5:20am. I had breakfast at 3pm today. It’s a good thing my family is coming so I can expect a return to normalcy.

I’m excited to be living alone for a while. Aspects of it are going to be unbearable (like having your main foosball competition live just a few feet away or people with whom to play Uno). But I’m excited for waking up in the morning and knowing that the (non-existent) mess in my apartment is mine and I don’t have to clean up after others. I’m excited for people not stealing my food and not hearing the constant roar of motorcycle videos or the piercing sounds of bad whistling.

I’m not excited to stop being a student, though. There are so many opportunities given to undergraduates, between the free admission deals, the academic competition and research opportunities, and the proximity of people in the same age group coupled with the proximity of some of the great minds of teaching and research… it’s sad that I only realized this recently (which will be a future topic here). As much as I tried not to, I spent much of college just getting by, my head just above the water, when there were so many great challenges presented to me or available to me. It’s an exciting time to be an undergrad, even more so if that undergrad knows how to take advice.

I had a great time during my tenure at Columbia. Even though I missed out on a lot, the opportunities that I did take I capitalized on. That’s probably a large part of the reason why I’m going to work doing exactly what I want to be doing right now. Columbia was good to me. I’d definitely do it again, but I’d definitely do it much differently.

I realized last night that these encounters with my friends may be the last time I’ll ever see them. It’s both sad and sobering, given that it’s the end, but also that all good things end. I don’t think I had the same feeling at the end of high school, and I can’t figure out why. As Somudro remarked last night, it’s not the people you know best that you become sad about, but it’s the people you wanted to know best that creates that sinking feeling.

Anyway, I should do laundry so that I have socks to wear during the last real night of being a college student.