advice column from an ancient giant

3/30/26 [48]

yo,

i'm back! another week has passed, and it feels like a month's worth of stuff has happened already. prom's just on the horizon, prom king/queen nominations just got posted, and it's about to get real busy after we get out caps and gowns. oh, and i voted for senior superlatives. who knows, maybe i nominated you for something?

i wanted to hop on here and talk for just a little bit. think of this as the appetizer for something big, because that's what the next one is. i know that a lot of you are feeling the same things i am, and i hope that you connected to that last post i made. if you did, even a little bit, then i also hope that you're taking my advice and making the most of this last stretch of sunlight we have. i want to share one way i've gone about this: i have a checklist with a shitload of stuff i want to check off before the clock hits zero. things i've been putting off, places i want to visit, people i wanna hang with, that sorta thing. i think you should give it a shot, i'll even start you off.

eat a new dessert

catch up with an old friend

fill up your gas tank

my list is a lot longer, and of course more specific to me. that's kind of the fun of it.

one more thing before i get to the real deal here, i updated the website to fix a bug that led people to the wrong domain. it should be fixed now, and anyone with the url can get in now. more and more people are logging on, so it seems like it only happened for a few sign ons, but now there should be zero percent chance of someone trying to access this place and not being able to, which i'm glad to say.

okay, now for the big drop today. i know that a lot of you are feeling the same things as me. there's a lot up in the air right now, and it's hard to find an example or guideline to how these last few weeks are going to go down. so that's why i got a brilliant idea: just ask someone who's done it before! so that's exactly what i did. i interviewed someone from a few classes back, and i've attached it to this post. lots of cool advice for us in there.

alright, that's gonna be it this time. keep an eye on your inbox.

admin

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3/18/26 [60]

ruminations: big and little stars

above the author at the time of writing

hey,

I’m writing to you under the stars right now, I stayed up late to type this one out. It’s been a while since I’ve last talked to you. If you’re just logging in (I’ve been seeing a couple of you that have), then you should probably read the welcome post at the bottom of this page before reading this entry.

I’ve been thinking about what to write to you for a while. The truth is that there’s just a lot out there, and i want to document this moment for us as clearly as possible. At first i felt a little reluctant to take it all on, but i think that I’m ready now, especially after the break we had. I’m gonna start from the beginning, and go all the way to the end. This one’s going to be quite long, but I hope you understand that i have a lot of ground to cover. I hope you also know that I’m probably just as clueless and confused as you are. I don’t have all the answers, i just have this place to talk to you, and i think that’s special enough to mean something to someone. If this project makes that true for even one person, then it was worth it. At the very least, i know that you will all enjoy my final letter to you the day before we graduate. I’m still working on those, by the way. I already completed one. Maybe it’s yours.

For now, the clock continues to tick down. Today it reads 60 and tomorrow it will read 59. The sun is setting, and i can feel a new stretch of time starting for us. The final chapter is getting prepared for us in the stars right now. I don’t know what it’s gonna look like when it’s all said and done, but i know that i want to make the best use of these last 60 days with you. I want to go knowing that i spent them making as many memories as possible, that i gave my time here a proper sendoff.

On the day of senior sunrise, i took a picture of myself to take advantage of the golden rays of sun that made everything look golden. I really like that picture, even if i don’t think it’s a particularly good one. It’s the kind of picture you take on accident: one you might not look the best in, but reveals something true about yourself. Looking back at it now, i think it shows how i thought this last year would really change something, or perhaps reveal something for me. When the school year began, I kept waiting for it to happen, to feel like a senior or even an adult. I wondered when i would actually feel grown up, even if just a little bit. When it never happened, I wondered if i was the only one who felt that kind of way. But now i know that I’m not the only one, not at all. But it’s also important to recognize how graduation and growing up are two separate things entirely. Graduation is really just the end of something that has already been happening. It’s a clear, demarcated line. One day you’re a student, and the next you aren’t. But growing up is nothing like that at all. No one gives you a piece of paper confirming that you have “grown up”, you don’t get a license or diploma. Even when I turned eighteen, i really didn’t feel like anything had changed for me at all. Maybe it will take some time, or maybe you really don’t feel it. But I guess time will tell.

In the meantime, I’ve been talking to a lot of you to figure out how we’re all feeling about this last little stretch of time, and what comes at the end of it. I was talking to a friend a couple days ago, and they said they felt afraid about what came after graduation, that they didn’t know what was going to come next for them. That’s when I realized that it doesn’t really matter whether you’ve got your next move planned out or not, we’re really all just playing it by ear. I know some people who are going to college, some of us who are enlisting, and some who are doing neither. Some of us are going to be far away, and a lot of us will lay our heads on the same pillows that we do right now. No matter what the next step for us is, i don’t think any of us have it figured out. That’s how i feel virtually everyday. Don’t feel like you have to understand what comes next right now, even if everyone and everything wants you to choose something as soon as possible.

Beyond the fact that graduation and the end of high school are on the horizon, i think that we don’t emphasize the last semester of senior year enough. Yes, we’re really only a couple weeks away from the end, and it’s true that most of our classes and activities are winding down as we get closer to the finish line. But putting too much importance on the end limits how much you are able to enjoy the present. You have time, we all have time. It might be slipping away at an alarming rate, and there might not be a lot of it left, but there is still time. There’s room for new things to take place. Our stories here aren’t over yet, and I challenge you to make the most of it. Things you’ve put off, things you were too scared to do or say, or new things that you’ve been putting off trying or attempting? Now’s the time for that. There’s a couple things that come to mind to me, things that I pushed myself to do this semester and the last, and every single one filled me with more joy than the fear that came first. So it is worth it, to try some things that are new, no matter how small.

Honestly, in this moment, I feel infinite. Only now could this kind of possibility exist. Right before the end, where nothing really matters anymore, but also when you have the most ability to take advantage of the little bit of freedom you have during the last bit of high school. I’m excited and proud of this last little stretch we’re all experiencing together. I’m going to take it all in, maybe you could give it a try too?

On a closing note, I want to let you know that it’s going to look different for everybody. There is no right way to do senior year, there is no right way to grow up right now or to be the age that we are. I’m trying to document this big thing happening for us here, but i get that not everybody feels the same way about things. Maybe high school isn’t a big deal for you, or there’s something i forgot or looked over. All i can do is keep reaching out to people, checking in on how we’re all doing and then writing it all down for you in this newsletter. A little bit more of understanding each other and of understanding and enjoying this moment together is better than not doing this at all.

I’ll be in touch soon, I promise. Much sooner than the gap we had last time. I still have so much to say to you, this is just the beginning, really. There’s a lot of cool stuff on the way, and i can’t reveal any of it yet. I can’t express how much I want to give you a little teaser, but some things are best left as surprises, and I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean soon. In the meantime, I hope you can take some things away from this post and make the most of next few ticks of the countdown. I’ll be doing the same, and looking forward to talking to you again. See you soon.

admin

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3/6/26 [73]

print:("Hello World!");

random

hey,

thanks for logging in, this is my first letter to you. i want to explain what i'm doing with this site in this post, and what this website means to me. if you're reading this, that means you peeked in your envelope already. did you get any other letters? have you started to think about what you'll put in anyone's envelope? i sure have.

that's what this project is about, pretty much. one, giant, evolving letter to my senior class. the note you took out of your envelope was signed off as "a", but that's not my real name. it doesn't really matter who i am, actually, because i'm not writing about me for this newsletter, i'm writing about us, the class of 2026. i want to talk about the things i know are all on our minds right now. graduation. going out into the "real world". growing up stuff. basically, what it means to be a senior at this point in time, in this school. i'm thinking about these things all of the time, and i'm sure you are, too. that's why i'm writing all this down, i want to document these thoughts, and hopefully some people can get something out of relating to it.

but i also want to write to just you, which is the even special(er) part of this website, the one i think you'll be the most excited about. you've probably noticed the countdown bar at the top of this page, that's there for a reason. these letters are addressed to everyone, i don't want to leave anyone out or anything (feel free to share this site with your friends), but if you got a slip in your envelope, then i'm making something unique for you as a graduation present, and i'm giving it to you when the clock hits zero. it's going to be a going away gift, and it'll be different for everyone. i don't want to reveal too much, but i think you are gonna like it. a lot. i'm working on it right now, and i hope it brings everyone plenty of smiles as we get ready to walk the stage (and probably some tears, the happy kind). i'm so excited.

okay, that's all for now. i'll be back here soon, i wasn't kidding when i said i have too much to say. have a good break everybody!

admin