Ah youth, sweet youth.

With every moment that passes, the elasticity of our firm skin weakens and our compassionate stock market gains a point or two. What a pleasant exchange age gives us.

When we’re all a half-century old, liver spots and veins will start to decorate our hands but at least we’ll be more understanding and patient with others. Yikes, I don’t want to be old…just yet.

With everyone gabbing, “Good God, it’s the holidays already,” it reminds me that time does indeed go by fast regardless if we stop to stare at the clock or not.

You know how people say that life is what you make out of it, that’s not necessarily true. I constantly fret over the present and am deathly afraid of “missing out.” So instead of waiting for someone like me to come along, I create drama and flair just to add a little spice in my life and into those around me. Usually this performance is warmly received and I get glowing reviews, but it’s not enough. It doesn’t matter if you go around being cheerful and charming if everyone else around you sulks or always claim to be “just tired.”

Maybe I should just go sit in a dark corner and entertain myself.

Having fun should be fulfilling, but the type of fun I’m supposed to be having, you know being young and all, just isn’t happening. And I’m an advocate of good times, so it’s not like I haven’t tried.

But not everyone considers downing a six-pack, smoking a joint or sleeping with every Tom, Dick and Harry as a means to living it up. There are plenty of other ways to live out a small version of the mainstream idea on what college life can be like, but time’s are a ticking.

Our elders are sympathetic to young folk. They have to be. They grew up telling us that college life is where it’s at. They now feel sorry for us when we discover the truth and realized that “this is all there is and this is as good as it gets.”

It’s not that comforting when people with mileage pat young ones on the back when they grasp how the real world is.

You have to work hard to play hard and hopefully it’s worth the effort.

Young people tend to complain a lot but with good reason. We acknowledge that we have time on our side, but we know full well that the time we have now will not last long.

With that in mind, it’s not hard to see how we’d worry about making mistakes or not taking risks. Most of us are trying to prevent regrets from happening since we have more room for error. Only time will tell us though, how mistakes can build character and teach us lessons that cannot be learned anywhere else.

Ugh, I sound like some excerpt from the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Well, despite this candy-coated sociological babble, I’m right about this. The only things that young people have on their side are their firm bodies and a wide array of possibilities. And that’s about it.

Listen, my golden years will be the time when I don’t have to budget in my head if I can afford that Iced White Mocha at Java City and when I experience true intimacy. So what if I have a nice rack, a face free of wrinkles and a world of opportunities. I mean, those are great personal assets but they don’t guarantee me having the time of my life.

(Sigh) If it’s not one thing, it’s another. The side effects and benefits of the aging process are obvious.

I just hope that it won’t have to take me another 21 years to look back at this column and laugh.

Georgette Todd is a Journalism major. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or by mail c/o The State Hornet at 6000 J St, Sacramento, CA 95819.