News from AJET: April 2015

[Inhale.] As we get older, our bodies change. There’s hair where it never was before. Members of the opposite sex no longer seem icky. Broccoli is suddenly not the worst thing ever. We acknowledge that we only said we were a Phoebe to be different and there’s nothing wrong with being a Rachel. Sometimes we borrow the neighbor lady’s dress from the drying rack outside to see if we really do have “dem dress hips,” like we tend to claim. These are just normal parts of growing and developing that everyone goes through.

As spring and summer are rapidly closing in like drunks at a bar with an inebriated sense of what personal space looks like, it’s time for many of us to start to panic ourselves into debilitating stress piles as we prepare to move onto the next stage of our lifespans. Many people will be leaving this island and heading back to the lands of our spawning. Some will be hopping to other parts of the island to do that grass is greener thing. Some will stay where they are and become newly-crowned senpais. Most of us will question why so many people have started wearing crowns that, by all accounts, are pretty expensive as well as tacky. However, fear not the new. New is good. New is fresh, so it should be embraced with open arms, which are then closed to make closed arms in the form of a hug. Hug the future, people. Hug it and get ready!

Okay. We’re accepting this inevitable future. Now, let’s focus back to the now. Never forget that time is a confounding concept that no one really understands and nothing is real. Now, existentially crisis for a bit. Are you back? Okay, deal with the now, now. Take the next several months to write a bucket list. You only have so much time. What concerts do you need to see? What sights do you still need to see? Who do you still need to proclaim your love to and then never speak to again out of embarrassment? Get these things done, because it’s all about to change, folks! Attend some events. Meet with the people around you. Check in with the people around you and form that support group you need.  I would certainly recommend adding the Awaji camping trip (May 23; details on the Hyogo AJET Facebook page) to your bucket list, as it will be a cure (placebo) for much of the scariness I’ve described above. [Exhale.]

Watch out for the badness, people,

Ryan Hertel.