Truly a bittersweet moment

Congrats! It's scary, but this is when you finally have the freedom to live your unique life. Stay in touch with your close friends, everyone else will fade away. And remember, wear sunscreen.

When I graduated, I had no clue what I was going to do with my life. Still don't. It's been 15 years.

I'm not sure how I feel.

"Here we stand, on the precipice of the unknown. As we all prepare to cross the Rubicon from school responsibilities to taxes and jobs, one thing holds true. We must be the best. Thousands of ancestors put us here to make the world better for the next generation, every time. And while some may have forgotten that, it comes down to each of us to take the wheel at some point and make the same hard decisions, even when they dress up as different problems. For this next graduating class, make the most. Shape it to be the Better Place you want to see.

now go make money!!!!!!!!!

We called it senioritis. That sudden change of excitement to dread as seniors realize they are going to be separated from the peer group they’re mostly been with for years at their local school and now have to go out and make something of themselves on a new, unfamiliar environment.

Yeah my last day was beautiful for about 4 hours. Then i had to start working.

You can always take more courses

Worst part is is still dream about it. Hate it so much. When will this ghost leave!?

School might be over, but your education never stops.

When I graduated highschool, we didn't have the resources we have today. You can freely learn a language anytime you want. Find out interesting maths they didn't teach you in school, details about the world you live in you might not know (architecture, history, of just why things are one way in one nation vs another).

There are so many fantastic YouTube channels. Here's a list of channel I've subscribed to that I think are with it. There a few programming ones in there too. And this doesn't even cover the channels that showed me how to repair my AC unit, or how to repair my washing machine.

If this lost is to long, than 3 channels I recommend highest is Tom Scott, SmarterEveryDay, and Steve Mould.

https://youtube.com/@computerphile?si=N4wqFbRRJH79m9Uw

https://youtube.com/@numberphile?si=KLV2sEsb_oXT3vHA

https://youtube.com/@becausescience?si=3UKGGQO3Ivnk7FHr

https://youtube.com/@captaindisillusion?si=MYqmVyin_iQqXwyi

https://youtube.com/@cgpgrey?si=y84jiNN4-zbL9hbT

https://youtube.com/@dadhowdoi?si=gLNC6Yk_2RzyJmFj

https://youtube.com/@eevblog?si=Ej5QDeqxh3np_dEV

https://youtube.com/@electroboom?si=30NjdydKFdKVTog2

https://youtube.com/@engineerguyvideo?si=czyQNDIvcTKzybJt

https://youtube.com/@freecodecamp?si=Sdhi-DpO6dzbDCo4

https://youtube.com/@gaminghistorian?si=LA3yRw4d9z8pY-qi

https://youtube.com/@kylehill?si=QH1hSpxfXwuJfO5i

https://youtube.com/@toddmcleod-learn-to-code?si=AeXB5aXAC1YaXpaG

https://youtube.com/@lostinthepond?si=0vGE1Wzaiygm8H4t

https://youtube.com/@markrober?si=_hY4UZqBCJBRxPSH

https://youtube.com/@powerm1985?si=leB3iPwMGNE9_ClH

https://youtube.com/@periodicvideos?si=7oJLqK0cG2fs-A95

https://youtube.com/@professorleonard?si=YeUom4rZIKJTuCBW

https://youtube.com/@smartereveryday?si=F2cNiCjHxgUpL8ze

https://youtube.com/@stevemould?si=_TKVE-hf9__3wh5W

https://youtube.com/@technologyconnections?si=WOpCUlgRf1Ep9deI

https://youtube.com/@tomscottgo?si=FIjBNTQ5G5fIxi-m

https://youtube.com/@veritasium?si=wxh8n0_VvMZIpIl8

https://youtube.com/@vsauce?si=bHdyoWw7_HaI5Cce

welcome to the rest of your life. Find something you're good at (liking what you're doing is optional) and figure out how to get paid while doing it.

Enjoy freedom! Keep in touch with your friends, if you had any/liked them.

One of my favourite part of trades apprenticeships is going back to school every now and then

Obligatory: https://youtu.be/CXFsWAkLoXQ

I was soooo happy to finish with high school. Maybe it's because I knew that I was about to leave home and become independent, but I hated the grind of high school. Going to school everyday for 8 hours then having homework seems unhelpful and even counterintuitive.

The military was worse in regards to the amount of work and grind, but I learned lots of valuable skills and actually made practical contributions rather than what I saw was busy work with no real product. It also made me value proper education since I saw the benefits of being able to contribute to a team using my capacities and training.

Once I got to college, I was able to focus on the subjects that I naturally enjoyed. The class schedule in college was also less consuming and I had some control over it since I was able to select which classes to register for.

There were some things I did miss from high school. One, we were all innocent and had few legitimate concerns when it came to surviving. I didn't have to worry about getting fired or paying rent. My concerns were adolescent social issues mostly. Two, all my peers were from the same area and we grew up there, so we understood each other in a way that I never found elsewhere. Three, we were all put together, so it was like a community where you were forced to interact with all sorts of capacities but were treated as equals. This also happened in the military, but after that, my social opportunities were limited to my exposure to others based on my career and income. There has been much less diversity and more inequality based on power and financial situations.

Congrats. :)