This blog post about feeling awkward in adolescence brought back the sights and smells of the school cafeteria. Yuck. STINKY.

Like Shadowhelm, I felt a bit awkward in school and in the lunchroom I sat by the bookworm girl who had eczema. And I was a bookworm, too. We were friends because we both avoided conversation by reading books. The strongest memory I have of junior high was one day when I sat down in my 7th grade English class and the guy sitting next to me started laughing at me for being a bookworm. "Bookie" became my nickname because he wouldn't shut up about it.

At my 10th year high school reunion I was looking forward to talking to that turd to see what path he had taken in his early adulthood, but he did not show up. Also, a Google search of his name turned up nothing. And people my age usually leave at least a small trail of themselves on the internet, since we are a wired generation. Therefore, we can logically conclude that the loser ended up in jail, and is still rotting there today.

In the land of nouveau riche, adolescents tend to value the wrong things, like appearances and how much money their parents 'appear' to have. For some of them, that's all they had, and their high school years were the prime moments of their lives. And some of those people became stuck forever in the Land of False Values.

At my tenth year reunion I felt good about the last ten years of my life and how much I had grown and bloomed. But I was a bit afraid that my twenties were the peak decade; that after thirty, life would become a series of piling on the burdening responsibilities and putting an end to all things that are fun.

In about a week I will be 32; marking a 20% completion of my thirties. I am glad I have another 80% left because DAMN, THIS DECADE IS GOOD. As I get older, my hope and anticipation of the future grows day by day. I make better decisions based on the wisdom I have gained from past experiences. I know more about what I want than I ever have before. The main developmental area for me in my thirties is to get a better picture of my long-term career plan. Maybe once I am happy with it, I will stop answering the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" with "Retired".