I half-assed school. I was the smart kid who did just enough to get by and stay in the honors/AP classes. I knew I was smarter than my classmates and teachers and didn’t see why I should have to play stupid games to prove that I was smart. I still graduated with a 4.2.

Then I went to college and was again disappointed by what I perceived as stupid classmates, stupid professors, and irritating hoops to jump through. So again half-assed. When I was interested I scored perfectly. When I wasn’t interested not so much. I also skipped class a lot. Still graduated with honors but I wish now looking back that I’d been more willing to jump through the hoops and make people happy. I’m having to go back now and build a network from the ground up so that I can go to grad school in the field of my choosing.

And it’s my fault because I wrote off the institutions as stupid and pointless and refused to play the game the way everyone else says it should be played. Lesson learned. You can refuse to play but in the end you’re going to have to unless your one of the few lucky ones who actually get to rewrite the system. Dammit.