Last Week - Tim's car got totaled.

Welcome back to "Don't Read This."  The column where 
our hero, Tim VanDeWal, departs into a realm where no 
one should exist.  You should all thank your lucky stars 
that this column hasn't existed in like, uh, a year.  Life 
has been a hectic knot of mysteries the past few months, 
and most of which I won't even begin to go into.  However, 
I'm back in the paper again, and there will probably be a 
few disgruntled higher-ups over it.

Needless to say, I left school under bad terms.  I ran 
out of money at the end of the fall semester last year, 
and decided not to attend classes.  Now, several months 
later I find myself back on campus visiting, and realizing 
that I don't recognize anyone in campus.  I was sitting 
in the hallway in Corey with my friend, Wendy, watching 
people walk in and out of the tannery.  For the hour and 
a half I was there, only one person walked by that I could 
mildly recognize.  Must have been in one of my orientation 
groups.

Seriously, visiting campus is fun.  Same snow, same 
buildings, same big hill.  I guess they decided to replace 
the stiff plastic desk chairs with stiff wooden chairs.  
It must be kind of hard to study when the ground is 
constantly shaking.  Also, they redid the snack bar.  
When I heard about it, I thought they were going to 
remodel it or something.  Sure, different tables and 
stuff, but it's has the exact same menu.  There wasn't 
anything different except the room that I happened to 
be eating in.

And what's up with Winchell not being open so much.  
That's how I ATE while I was here.  Sure, extra bathroom 
visits immediately following, but come on.  How is a 
student supposed to eat on this campus?  The snack bar?  
Yeah, that's a really good idea.  Exactly how many chicken 
sandwiches can a person eat in a semester?  Maybe 2?

Anyway, it's nice not being in school anymore.  Let me 
tell you, that real world stuff that this college is 
supposed to be preparing you for - it's already out there.  
Think about it for a second.  What exactly are you doing 
here at college besides reading a lot and then writing it 
back down again?  Seriously, I don't understand the point.  
Does all that repetition make you learn anything in reality?

I'll tell you a little secret - I haven't used anything I 
learned in high school or college since I left here.  The 
only thing that you're here for is to get that little 
piece of paper that says that you did it.

So, I have a proposition.

Get one of your friends that is finishing up this 
semester, scan in their diploma, put your name over top 
of it, and print it out on similar paper.  That way, when 
you're writing you're 30 page papers you can see what 
you're doing it all for.  Let me know if you're still 
doing it next year.

p.s. - I'm not a Cortland Student, so you can't kick me 
out of school anymore.  Ha ha.