things i miss and don’t miss by Chris S. '11

In 1984, a book lots of people have read, the people in control made some words easier, because it stops people from making big thoughts to kick out the people in control. Are we buying into this?

I am a very old person here. In fact, I am 35 years old, almost two times the age when I went to this Well Known School of Three Letters. That’s like another life since I left! I miss this place a lot though. I used to write here, but the last time was 7.5 years (!) ago.

Because Old People only like to talk about the past, I want to tell you what I miss and don’t miss about each part of my life since I left this school. Too bad for you if you are young and don’t care. The person in control here said I could.

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Well Known School of Three Letters 🎓
What I miss
Do you know what I really miss? I miss being able to eat a Huge Wrap from this eating place at school that is known for them (however, I was at school 2 months ago and they seem to have closed?).

I no longer have the stomach for it. Well, I can still eat it, but I will fall asleep very quickly. That is not very good for getting things done and this makes me sound like a Very Old Person. I used to eat one of these Huge Wraps on my way back to the living place. One hour after I get there, when I sit down to work on some Problem Sets, I feel empty again and must eat more. Oh! The stomach of young people!

me eating, 17 years ago

I miss having clear end points in which to get things done. I would finish my classes, and then it is a time to rest or do fun things. When you become an Old Person and leave school, you seem to always be working. You are never done. You rest sometimes. Things get worse when you have children. I understand now what The Little Important Person means when he talks about Old People. That they no longer have time to listen and understand the little things. All they want is to get on and through with it.

What I don’t miss
I don’t miss answering questions that are much too hard. I got very good schooling out of this school, and I am very pleased with it. It made me and still makes me think well. However, it is a little funny (and maybe a little sad) that I still get repeat bad dreams from this Well Known School of Three Letters. It happens like once or two times a year. I would be sitting down in the Large Building of a Person Who Walks and I will sit down to answer questions. I turn the first piece of paper, and I have NO IDEA what I am looking at, although I have studied for a week to be able to answer the questions. I flip through the rest of the questions, and it is all the same. Then, I usually wake up. It’s a bit sad, but maybe I will carry this for life.

I also don’t miss not having money. But good news if you are not an Old Person! You probably will have money soon! Maybe a lot of money if you work with computers!

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Training to be a doctor (in the Big City) 🍎
What I miss
I miss eating in the Big City. There is so much food! My favorite are Long Foods That Come In Some Hot Water With Great Smell, first made by this place far away from here. In that place far across the big water, they make very good Long Foods. Now, the Big City is full of eating places that have Long Foods. I think Long Foods might be my favorite thing to eat (it is also the same for my children. see. many things can run in families).

life, in 3 words

I miss being able to get on the train. There are so many trains. Getting around is so easy. Now I drive all the time. You need to look at the road when you are driving, or you will hit people and get into trouble. I also can’t read stuff when I am driving, but I can do that when I am sitting on a train. Reading makes your brain better.

my wife (then just married!), going to work, 2016

i am also going to work, on the other side of the tracks #doctors

What I don’t miss
I don’t miss fighting with people for a table to eat food in eating places. There are way too many people. Life is too short to wait in lines all the time. Life is too short to deal with people who are not nice to you and push you out of the way because they need to be at places.

I don’t miss small living spaces and taking lifts. I don’t miss having money but spending all that money for a place to live. I don’t miss spending one hour to get to the Place With Sky Busses. Real talk – I’ve spent DAYS of my life sitting in trains to get to the Place With Sky Busses. The Big City has three of these places, and they are all so far from the city!

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Training to be a doctor (in the Little Town) 🚜
What I miss
I miss the quiet. When I was in the Big City, it was so loud at night. There were loud cars driving by all the time. The first week when I moved to the Little Town I was surprised at how quiet it was. I could hear every little thing outside. We go to a park at the end of the week and we have the whole place. I go running from my house and in ten minutes I am running next to animals in the field. Crazy. I don’t think I will ever live in a place like that again.

running along pretty roads, 2020

It’s weird, but I miss this time in my training to be a doctor. This is when I started training to be a doctor who deals with Bad Things that Grow in the Body. We try to take away the Bad Things by either cutting it out, burning it with Strong Power, or by using Strong Water that we put in the body. There is much we don’t know about these Bad Things. We don’t really know why some people have it, and others don’t. Very often, we find out too late and there is not much we can do. We may try our best, but our best might hurt the person more. So then we don’t do much. Other times, we can take away the Bad Thing completely. This is why I like being this kind of doctor so much. There is no one answer that fits all questions. I have to meet the person I’m helping where they are at. When I was in training, I could just learn. I didn’t need to be the Big Doctor. I could be the Small Doctor in Training and just hold the other person’s hand in the room. Sometimes that helps more than the Big Doctor’s words.

there is always hope

What I don’t miss
I don’t miss the quiet. Really, this was the biggest reason why we left the Little Town. At the end of every week we would go through the twenty things we could do with our kids. The twenty things got old pretty quickly. It was a great place for children to grow up, but it was too boring. We want to be in a bigger place.

There are times I don’t miss being the Small Doctor in Training. I like that now I can give clear answers without always checking in with someone else. I like having enough words in my brain to give the right words to the person sitting in front of me. I like now being the teacher to other Small Doctors in Training.

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Being a Big Doctor (in the Big/Little City) 🐳
So it’s been a long time since I left the Well Known School of Three Letters. Every year, I still speak with about ten students who want to come to this school. I say good for them. This is really an amazing place, and if you know enough about this place to be reading these words, you have done your work and want to be somewhere amazing (or you are already at this amazing place!). Good for you!

I like talking to students because they remind me of what it was like to have big dreams. I still try to think big, but it really does get harder with time. You have heard this a hundred times a hundred times a hundred times before, but it’s true. Now I spend a lot of time trying to not forget to pick my kids up from their school, and what to make for dinner. It’s okay, it’s just a different time in life.

running now near the water, 2024

kids

I heard this song in the car and the words hit so hard. I must really be an Old Person now, after all 😜

(one thing I found out about myself after college is that I really like “Not City” songs 😉)