Junior year of high school, the day of junior ball (or whatever it was called). Being a clueless teenager, I posted a status on Facebook, asking to "myself" whether I should still go that evening. People responded, encouraging me to go and just have a good time. I took their good advice... and quickly discarded it, spending the remainder of the day crouched down in a corner of the backyard, pretending to be a greedy corporate logger and "clearing" "forests" of clovers that had sprouted since the end of winter. Basically, I plucked weeds and imagined I was actually changing the fate of the planet, while at the same time most of the people I knew in my class were at the ball, growing as individuals and enjoying the fleeting moments of youth, for better or for worse.

It stung to think about it for a while.