Hoops of life

 from "Old Collection"

Cut-out from MSU campus newspaper State News from 1993:

Shooting in the hoops of life from In My Opinion by Glenn McDonald

So I'm at the park the other day, shooting baskets and thinking. At the same time no less.

Shooting baskets is great for thinking. There's something about the rhythmic nature of sinking free throws that lets your mind wander. Plus the basketball provides an instant litmus paper for your thoughts.

"OK, if I sink this shot, it means I'll have no trouble finding a job after school." CLUNK.

"OK, if I sink this shot, then I'll have no trouble finding..."

I was feeling particularly reflective this day. I was thinking back on my four years at MSU -- how things have changed, how they've stayed the same. How much money I owe.

SWISH! Yep, no escaping that one.

I guess the end of the school year tends to promote these feelings. I've been in this student cycle now for 16 years. Academic years make more sense to me than calendar years. Ask me about 1988, and I'll have no clue. Ask me about my junior year in high school, though, and I'll have lots of stories.

Spring always brings pretty much the same sensation for the student. A sickening sensation of dread and inescapable doom.

Ha ha! Just kidding, although there is a little of that. Actually, spring means change. People graduate on you and leave. You have to clean out your apartment.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm getting sick of school. Before now, I've always been a staunch advocate of the student lifestyle. I like the classes, I like the people, I like the college-town atmosphere. It's real life with a net. Reality-Lite.

But these days, everything seems so much more serious. It's not like freshman year, when graduation ranked right up there with retirement funds on my list of Things To Think About. Nowadays, my future is just standing there on the horizon, grinning. "I hope you had fun in school, young man, because you're in a world of s--- now.:

I'm sick of preparing for my life. That's one of the irritating things about college. There's this pervasive feeling that everything is just preliminary.

OK, I said to myself, if I make this shot, then I'll just settle down to a nice carefree pace and let the future work itself out. Swish.

OK, if I make this shot, then I resolve once and for all to stop with the worrying. Plus, it'll mean that I'll have a pretty good life even if I don't meticulously plan every aspect of it, and that I'll grow into a nice, well-adjusted person.

Uh-oh.

Airball.