Fourteen Truths We’ve Discovered in Honor of the ’14s
Even though our editors explicitly told us not to write another blog this term, we have made the decision to flat out reject their demands and give people not the blog they deserve, but the one they need right now. We also think it’s funny that our editors have literally no idea when they will receive a blog in the email from us. Despite their repeated attempts to extinguish the creative flames that burn so brightly in our young hearts, we will continue sending them blogs at all hours of the night, whenever possessed.
Thus far, Riding the Pine has been a mixture of fun and games. This week we’d like to start getting sentimental in honor of our blog’s milestone fourth entry (third under its current title) and in honor of the departure of the senior class. We view ourselves as in direct competition for page views with the ladies from “What Have We Done?” but we have to admit that their articles on senior spring have been good and ours on “sports” have been bad. Rather than admitting that the difference in quality is due to the writers, we decided to take the low road and blame the difference on our material. We haven’t learned much in our time with Riding the Pine, but we’d like to share the few truths we have discovered.
1. Contrary to popular belief, listening to "Wonderwall" by Oasis on repeat does NOT improve your ability to blog. In fact, it noticeably harms that ability. (if you notice a morose/regretful tone throughout this blog, blame the Gallagher brothers and not Hank and Fish
2. Cherish the simplicity of anonymity. Before we became the bad boys of blogging, we could walk around campus with our heads down and our earbuds in, practically invisible. Now we can’t take more than five steps without being asked to sign the forehead of a firstborn child.
3. Making predictions about things that have already happened is a good way to look smart.
4. Or to look really stupid.
5. Nothing beats genetics. You can work as hard as you want in the blogging game, but if you aren’t born with the “it” factor, you won’t have the chance to make it big.
6. Don’t say you’ll come up with “14 lessons we’ve learned” if you can only come up with about four. This is kind of a specific lesson. Refer to lessons 7, 8 and 9.
7. Blogging with a friend is fun.
8. Blogging by yourself is fun.
9. Blogging is fun.
10. Our best friends are the ones who comment on our blogs, saving us the trouble of doing it ourselves under multiple creative pseudonyms.
11. Don’t write thousand-word digressions about fictional Subway endorsements in your blogs, particularly when your editors only asked you for a 750-word sports piece.
12. Be grateful for your editors. They will save you from the embarrassment of publishing thousand-word digressions about fictional Subway endorsements.
13. Don’t listen to the haters.
14. Spend your time in ways that make you happy. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how brief a time we get to spend in Hanover together and it’s something we’ll definitely miss when we’re gone. Have fun, take time to laugh and take time to weep, even if you’re crying in a West Lebanon McDonald’s (especially if you’re crying in a West Lebanon McDonald’s).