Skiing. Spotify. Calculus. Carhartt hat. Trap beats. Leaky water bottle. Improv. Lost cell phone. Catching up with the boys. Sending it. On a steep Rail. Absolutely eating dirt. Sixty bucks. Late-night rides back from Wilmot. Shooting hoops on a cold winter evening. Cruising around the lake on a cold winter evening. Exploring the new neighborhood park. Finally reading that dusty book on the bookshelf. Being inspired. Being excited for college. Trying to get a grasp on life. Trying to understand what life is.

Seriously, how do we even make sense of this absurd experience called life? Is this all some simulation? And what if it's all an elaborate dream?

Almost stepping on a snake. Getting the crap scared out of me. Soaking up the cold, barren winter sun. Learning. Writing. Reading. Listening. Coding. Investigating. Trying to get my mind around how the heck artificial intelligence works. I mean computers can talk to us and recognize our faces for crying out loud.

Must be witchcraft. No? No. It's a crazy world we live in.

Indian rice. Avocados. Ritz Crackers. Hand sanitizer. Pizza! One cheesy beef sandwich and a Chicago deep-dish, please.

One day, I'll look back on this and wonder what the heck I was thinking when I wrote this. That'll be all of us someday. It's funny how life changes. It's kind of sad, but not like the depressing sort of sad. It's bittersweet. Change is a good thing. Without change, we wouldn't be able to be a better version of ourselves. And that's the plan, right?

Right.

I start college in less than a month. I wonder how it's going to go. Probably in some wildly unexpected way. I find that whenever I anticipate how some future event is going to play out, it never happens the way I envision it in my head. Life is funny like that.

I'm trying my hardest to think of some clever way to end this piece. Maybe I should end with something profound? Perhaps I should leave the reader an open question. I mean, I could just do the classic "The End." It really took me a second to think of the perfect ending, but finally, I thought of it. Maybe I could just end by being honest, by being myself. That way it's easier for me. Plus, the reader would appreciate the honesty. Yeah, I think that's what I'll do.