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Eighteen By: Beverly on 12/10/2003; 3:50 PM At 18, you know everything. Life is so perfect, and your path is clear of burdens that may hinder your remaining teenage years. On Friday night, you're going out with Jamie, and then on Saturday night, there's Kevin's party. You've decided that this will be the place to debut your hot new threads, turn some heads, and maybe catch a few eyes. At 18, you know everything. You know how hard it is to balance school and work, and balance your money. You know how to save just enough for that party this weekend, that 'you know who' will be attending. Here's the opportunity to wear that new outfit. Dress to kill! At 18, you know everything. You know how much to save for car insurance and payments, and still have enough to buy those hot new seat covers for your ride. Now it gets tough. You have to choose between the party and the seat covers. What would you do? The fate of your entire social life hangs in the balance! If you get the seat covers, then you'll have cool seats, but no one to sit in them, because everyone you know will be at that party. But, if you go to the party, no one will want to go with you because of your lack of seat covers. Then, when everyone sees you alone, they'll all laugh at you. At 18, you know everything. You know the true value of friendship is measured upon whether your buddies buy you a keg for your 18th birthday, and if you can compare how many people you've slept with. True friends will hold your hair back as you're hugging the toilet bowl after having one beer too many. True friends will reassure you that the itching, burning sensations you've experienced in the past week are completely normal, even though it's never happened to them. At 18, you have a lot to learn.
RE: Eighteen By: Richard Davidson on 12/10/2003; 8:01 PM "Lines form on my face and hands..." -Alice Cooper -"Eighteen" That is one of my favorite songs from anybody, anywhere, because it's just plain GREAT! I was 18 once, about a million years ago, and indeed, I DID know everything! That was GREAT, too! Sadly, with each passing year, I knew less and less, until I got to the state I'm currently in, which is in the Midwest. Balancing school and work is nothing compared to balancing a big, heavy log with monkeys on it, as many who frequent this website can attest, and parties stop being fun just as soon as a person realizes what one is. (for the uninitiated, it's a bunch of people standing around abusing alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes, while some of the desperately try for random pairings that could result in random sexual pleasure.) Now that I've typed it, that last part actually sounds kind of fun, but too often you will wake up and go, "Yikes!" I won't elaborate on that. What I will do, firstly, is to send you to the record store to buy the Alice Cooper album, "Love it to Death," where there is much for you to learn. Secondly, which is not a proper word at all, I would suggest you hurry up and turn nineteen, as quickly as possible. Get right on that, because you have nowhere to go but up, numerically speaking. You can't go back to being seventeen. That is simply not done. If you could, you could just skip ahead to twenty one, and that's when a whole new set of troubles begin. My life began at thirty. I'm not kidding. So, thirdly, which is also not a proper word, I'm going to recommend you spend a whole lot of time doing the following: 1. Work. Work as many jobs as you possibly can, while you still have the energy. 2. Invest. That's right, people who are investing at the age of 18 or so have an advantage over their peers that just isn't right. You should invest in Mutual Funds, and learn to do that wisely, or smartly, if you want to get technical, and back up that investment with a lot of safe accounts, and SPREAD THEM OUT A BIT, without getting carried away by dogs. 3. DO NOT LISTEN to anyone your own age. They are all ticking time bombs, who only want to encourage your destruction, in the name of popularity. They are evil, and to be taken very seriously. 4. If your buddies buy you a keg, make them take it somewhere else. Why should YOUR house get wrecked by a bunch of oafish idiots, burning your furniture, putting your cat in the microwave, and racking up all kinds of cable pay per view bills for stuff you're going to be very embarrassed by later? 5. There IS no number 5! 6. Give yourself quality "alone" time. Listen to music. Watch movies, especially "Sling Blade, Deliverance, Schindler's List, Reservoir Dogs, Sunset Boulevard, and anything from before 1945, when the War ended, and people got on with their lives. Whatever you do, keep writing, and writing, and writing. It will make you go so insane that you will be sane. If you can figure that one out, grasshopper, you have understood the very keys of life. If not, you could always sell cars. Think about it! (if you only take ONE piece of advice from all this, make it the Alice Cooper album. That's a really good one.)
RE: Eighteen By: Beverly on 12/11/2003; 1:10 AM I assure you that this post was only made with the best sarcasm. I've never been a fan of the drinking/drug scene, and I don't intend to become a part of it as long as I have control over myself. I am 19 now, and I'm doing all I can to start my life in the right way. I wrote this essay while reflecting on fellow classmates that hadn't experienced much of life. They lived to see how plastered they could get and to see how many people they could get for "random sexual pleasure," to quote your terms. I thought that if I wrote about it, it wouldn't necessarily bring awareness, but maybe a new point of view. Perhaps a more satirical, witty point of view than simply losing your liquor in the throne room after an awesome party that you won't remember. That lifestyle never appealed to me, personally. I guess I'm "un-cool". :) I'll have to check in to that Alice Cooper album, though. :)
RE: Eighteen By: Richard Davidson on 12/11/2003; 8:27 PM Your post was poetic and lovely, and I will assure you right back that nothing went over my head. Hah! I am a very strange person, and I express myself in a very strange way. In every post I am joking, but I am serious, and it is YOUR job, to discern what is what, and believe me, you'll probably have to explain it to me once you do. DO check out Alice, though. I'm not some die-hard fan, either, but the album I mention goes in the Hall of Fame, (in my mind,) as one of the all time best. Here are some others, in no particular order, or relevance: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars -David Bowie Let it Be... Naked -NEW! From the Beatles (the album they should have released in the first place) Berlin -Lou Reed Electric Ladyland -Jimi Hendrix Let it Bleed -The Rolling Stones They Only Come Out at Night -Edgar Winter's White Trash Weasels Ripped my Flesh -The Mothers of Invention Pearl -Janis Joplin There's many more, but these are all early albums with a common thread: They are more about the ART than anything else. And that's what I love about them. I can't just turn people into Late 60's/Early 70's Art/Rock/Acid/Rock fans, but I can encourage you that there is magic to be witnessed, and such magic can transcend the druggy scene quite easily, and does. (Zappa didn't even DO drugs!) Well, I've given you some real GOLD here, so I think I'll stop. You probably can't afford to buy all these CD's, but since most of the artists are either already rich, or quite dead, feel free to check them out at the library, or search the web for downloads. Some of them may be hard to find, but they shouldn't be, if all was right in the world. Take care!
RE: Eighteen By: R.A.B. on 3/13/2004; 4:55 AM Richard I can't believe you forgot Miles Davis' Bitch's Brew. As for this peice,the last line says it all I guess.
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