With songs titles like “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” “If You Were Gay,” “The Internet is For Porn” and “It Sucks to Be Me,” the musical “Avenue Q” is sure to give some viewers a little dose of reality. “Avenue Q” will be playing at Sacramento State beginning Wednesday, April 8 through Sunday, April 19.

The lyrics of one song titled “It Sucks to Be Me” covers topics such as the idealistic aspirations we believe so strongly in as children, and then grow up realizing accomplishing those dreams takes a lot more than simply believing it will happen.

Thanks to fairytales like “Cinderella” or “Aladdin,” children around the world grow up thinking they can magically just wish upon a star and all of their dreams will come true. Halfway through the spring semester, and if they hadn’t already figured it out, most Sac State students know it takes a lot more work than making a wish in order to get a degree and a good job.

“Your parents tell you, ‘oh, you can do anything,’ but then you get older and you realize you actually have to work for it,” said Becki Lewis, a public relations student at Sac State.

Another song in “Avenue Q” titled “Purpose” is about finding purpose in life. Some people grow up knowing they want to be a doctor, teacher or a comedian. There are also people who have not found what sparks that fire in them. That’s what college is for.

Then there are the people who feel like there is a light over their head everywhere they go and the crowds part as they walk by.

These people were likely praised as children and made to feel like the most extraordinary artist, because they were able to draw a few colorful, scribbled lines on some construction paper.

Sierra Harris, senior biology major at Sac State, said one fallacy she was taught to believe when she was little was that she was special.

“I think ‘Fight Club’ put it best when it said ‘You are not a unique special snowflake,” Harris said. “You are just a lump of decaying, organic matter just like the rest of us.’”

“I Wish I Could Go Back to College” features nostalgic memories of all the awesomeness that is the security of a meal plan and the innocent naivety from the hard, real world. College is usually the first time most students are away from their parents and are able to have a true sense of independence.

Parents like their kids to grow up thinking life would suck without mom’s hugs and special dinners and dad’s advice on everything under the sun; but in reality, once 18 rolls around, all you want is no curfew and endless freedom.

“I was told I would have a terrible time not having my parents, and it would be totally hard to have to do everything for myself, but I am okay with it,” said Sac State student Sean Cardoza.

It is common to feel better about something bad that just happened when the distraction of something worse across the quad happens. The song “Schadenfreude” pokes fun at how humans tend to find joy in other’s misery because it makes them feel better about their own desolate lives.

Similarly, some parents, like those of Sac State student Sandy Chin, find it amusing to use their children’s lack of knowledge and experience against them for their own personal gain.

“I grew up telling my parents everything because they always used God against us, because they would say if we didn’t tell them then God would tell them,” Chin said. “So, I grew up being afraid of God and that‘s a misconception.”

According to the musical’s closing song “For Now,” “Everyone is a little unsatisfied. Everyone goes round a little empty inside.”

There are many misconceptions in life but it is not as simple as right and wrong, or good and evil.

There is so much pressure to graduate from college, conform and get a corporate job when you graduate because that is where the money is.

But, as “Avenue Q” advises: “Take a breathe, look around, swallow your pride…. Nothing lasts, life goes on, full of surprises. You‘ll be faced with problems of all shapes and sizes. You‘re going to have to make a few compromises for now.”