the time of your life. right.

the year i graduated from high school, green day released a song called 'good riddance (the time of your life); it gave me my very first lesson in three of life's hard truths. first: when a clear potentially workable idea rears its ugly head, people are goingto jump on it repeatedly; second: creativity is harder to come by than you think. evidenced by the fact that people are unlikely to bother coming up with something different, an idea to succeed the one they're currently gnawing, because that would, in fact, require effort. third: stick with a class misfit for pure obscure entertainment value and the occasional foray into the world of the more esoteric.

the year i graduated from high school, i was chosen to speak at the ceremony. looking back, i realize that it was, for the most part, an honor offered to me because i was the lone person up for it who did not litter their speech with a heavy dose of lyrics from the aforementioned song. five finalists, four statements that high school is "unpredictable, but in the end is right. hope you had the time of your life, happy graduation." if only one person had opted to quote this song, it would have been fine--used in moderation, the lyrics do sort of encapsulate the melodramatic gravitas you feel upon leaving high school. but, recognizing early on in the writing process the insidious nature of this song and its inevitable abuse, i opted instead to reference ferris bueller and the beatles (thus beginning my amazing love for meta-references). i suspect that the judges were so relieved to hear something different that they didn't particularly care that the rest of my speech was largely nonsensical.

the year i graduated from high school, i attended two other graduations. all speeches referenced that damn song.

the year after i graduated from high school, i went back to bear witness to the ascension of several of my friends from our alma mater. three speeches. two further references to the cantata of infinite triteness.

the moral of the story? the more things change, the more things stay the same. and that clearly, green day, is the voice of our generation.

totally.