acting your age

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with two of our sales guys about how if I got arrested for rioting, it would be totally worth it.

On a side note, I understand that rioting is both disruptive and destructive. But, I think of it as a giant pep rally, something we didn't have in high school. As a former high school cheerleader, I love school spirit and it was one of the biggest things that attracted me to Maryland. My school has cracked down on it so much that it's become almost nothing more than students running to the "downtown area" and chanting phrases like "ACC champs!", "Fuck Duke!", and "over-rated!". Yes, we stop traffic, yes, there are people who light fires, and yes, it costs the university money to staff the police officers and then clean up afterwards. But, I don't think the university is doing anything to help the situation. If there was a designated place for students to go, like frat row, we wouldn't crowd the streets, we'd celebrate together on that field. They could block off a space for fires, and that way keep everything in check. Students would still have a sense of being wild and crazy, without doing damage to the town's property.

Anyway, after I made the comment that rioting would be worth getting arrested, one of my co-workers told me that I needed to mature a little (or grow up a little? something to that effect). That's where he's wrong. I need to stay as immature, as young, as possible.

I'm nineteen. This is my summer. Most of my peers are spending their summers sleeping until 12 or at summer camps or waitressing. I go to work every day, I dress like an adult, I try to sound like an adult. There's no one here under the age of 25... Most of my friends go out partying with their co-workers; that's something I wouldn't ever thing of doing with mine. I spend my days talking about networks and tradeshows and collateral and leads and websites and analysts and partners and territories... you get the idea.

In some ways, I'm missing out on being "my age". So, if my thinking is a little immature, that's because it's supposed to be!