03-21-2025, 07:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-21-2025, 07:49 PM by jacket3ree.)
Liking the thread since it has drifted.
1. Any thread that references Sunscreen is a good thread. Kudos BC. There are many videos on Youtube that go with Baz Luhrmann's soundtrack. I probably find one every couple of months for the type of affirmation Stuart Smalley could never provide. Even though that wasn't an actual commencement address (Schmich wrote the hypothetical address she would give, in the Chicago Tribune), they should have retired commencement addresses after that.
2. Like Mick, my grandfather grew up in small town Idaho. Born 1901 and raised in Shoshone. He was in the first graduating civil engineering class in Moscow (Idaho). He and my grandmother (Gotebo, OK and educated at Columbia University where she met him while he was in New York for some reason) were tough as nails. He was building dams across the west for BuRec. All the big ones. Shasta, Coulee, Hoover. All the small ones. When the war broke out he forced himself into a construction battalion in the Navy and forced himself into the action. He was a Seabee and island hopped with the Marines as an XO telling the combat engineers what to do and out there doing it. She worked for the American Association of University Women and then went west with Andy to live in damsite camps, teach, and eventually sell real estate in Billings, MT. She found out through censored mail that he was returning from the far east. She was camped out in Idaho with my dad and figured out on her own that his ship would land within a certain window of time in either New Orleans or San Francisco. She went to San Francisco because it was closer, the weather better (certainly for camping outside for two weeks waiting for a ship that didn't have him as a passenger), and Gump's. In January 1972 in a house full of Michigan men and women, I watched her root for Stanford because of that experience and Rod Garcia was 'a little guy and I like the little guys.' She passed nearly 50 years ago but would be thrilled I work a few blocks from Gump's. She would not be thrilled that I've purchased exactly nothing there. On any list of who who you want to have dinner with, living or dead, Fay and Andy are on the list along with my late brother.
3. Yeah, reunions are interesting. I've never been to a high school reunion other than two of my wife's and those were.....a thing. She was a popular cheerleader voted "friendliest." Good lord she was popular and certainly not because she ultimately married this dufus. I found a barstool next to a classmate of hers just released from prison. My 40th is this fall in Atlanta. Class doesn't really mean anything - I'm close to certain folks across several years there and we stay in touch. I would go for the football and to pretend my liver was 40 years younger. It is wild to see someone for the first time in 30 or 40 years and think, 'holy crap, you look old' and know that they look at you and are saying the exact same in their head. I went to a funeral for someone I worked for and with for 28 years, and that happened in spades last Sunday.
For the nostalgic, enjoy courtesy of BC. But really, find the soundtrack somewhere.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99
Wear sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists
Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
Than my own meandering experience
I will dispense this advice now
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
Until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back
At photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now
How much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked
You are not as fat as you imagine
Don't worry about the future
Or worry, but know that worrying
Is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum
The real troubles in your life
Are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday
Do one thing every day that scares you
Sing
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours
Floss
Don't waste your time on jealousy
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind
The race is long and in the end, it's only with yourself
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements
Stretch
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life
The most interesting people I know
Didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't
Get plenty of calcium
Be kind to your knees
You'll miss them when they're gone
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the 'Funky Chicken'
On your 75th wedding anniversary
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much
Or berate yourself either
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can
Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own
Dance
Even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room
Read the directions even if you don't follow them
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly
Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good
Be nice to your siblings, they're your best link to your past
And the people most likely to stick with you in the future
Understand that friends come and go
But with a precious few, you should hold on
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle
For as the older you get
The more you need the people you knew when you were young
Live in New York City once but leave before it makes you hard
Live in northern California once but leave before it makes you soft
Travel
Accept certain inalienable truths
Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
Respect your elders
Don't expect anyone else to support you
Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse
But you never know when either one might run out
Don't mess too much with your hair
Or by the time you're 40 it will look 85
Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past
From the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts
And recycling it for more than it's worth
But trust me on the sunscreen
1. Any thread that references Sunscreen is a good thread. Kudos BC. There are many videos on Youtube that go with Baz Luhrmann's soundtrack. I probably find one every couple of months for the type of affirmation Stuart Smalley could never provide. Even though that wasn't an actual commencement address (Schmich wrote the hypothetical address she would give, in the Chicago Tribune), they should have retired commencement addresses after that.
2. Like Mick, my grandfather grew up in small town Idaho. Born 1901 and raised in Shoshone. He was in the first graduating civil engineering class in Moscow (Idaho). He and my grandmother (Gotebo, OK and educated at Columbia University where she met him while he was in New York for some reason) were tough as nails. He was building dams across the west for BuRec. All the big ones. Shasta, Coulee, Hoover. All the small ones. When the war broke out he forced himself into a construction battalion in the Navy and forced himself into the action. He was a Seabee and island hopped with the Marines as an XO telling the combat engineers what to do and out there doing it. She worked for the American Association of University Women and then went west with Andy to live in damsite camps, teach, and eventually sell real estate in Billings, MT. She found out through censored mail that he was returning from the far east. She was camped out in Idaho with my dad and figured out on her own that his ship would land within a certain window of time in either New Orleans or San Francisco. She went to San Francisco because it was closer, the weather better (certainly for camping outside for two weeks waiting for a ship that didn't have him as a passenger), and Gump's. In January 1972 in a house full of Michigan men and women, I watched her root for Stanford because of that experience and Rod Garcia was 'a little guy and I like the little guys.' She passed nearly 50 years ago but would be thrilled I work a few blocks from Gump's. She would not be thrilled that I've purchased exactly nothing there. On any list of who who you want to have dinner with, living or dead, Fay and Andy are on the list along with my late brother.
3. Yeah, reunions are interesting. I've never been to a high school reunion other than two of my wife's and those were.....a thing. She was a popular cheerleader voted "friendliest." Good lord she was popular and certainly not because she ultimately married this dufus. I found a barstool next to a classmate of hers just released from prison. My 40th is this fall in Atlanta. Class doesn't really mean anything - I'm close to certain folks across several years there and we stay in touch. I would go for the football and to pretend my liver was 40 years younger. It is wild to see someone for the first time in 30 or 40 years and think, 'holy crap, you look old' and know that they look at you and are saying the exact same in their head. I went to a funeral for someone I worked for and with for 28 years, and that happened in spades last Sunday.
For the nostalgic, enjoy courtesy of BC. But really, find the soundtrack somewhere.
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99
Wear sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists
Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
Than my own meandering experience
I will dispense this advice now
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
Until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back
At photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now
How much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked
You are not as fat as you imagine
Don't worry about the future
Or worry, but know that worrying
Is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum
The real troubles in your life
Are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday
Do one thing every day that scares you
Sing
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours
Floss
Don't waste your time on jealousy
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind
The race is long and in the end, it's only with yourself
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements
Stretch
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life
The most interesting people I know
Didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't
Get plenty of calcium
Be kind to your knees
You'll miss them when they're gone
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the 'Funky Chicken'
On your 75th wedding anniversary
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much
Or berate yourself either
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can
Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own
Dance
Even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room
Read the directions even if you don't follow them
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly
Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good
Be nice to your siblings, they're your best link to your past
And the people most likely to stick with you in the future
Understand that friends come and go
But with a precious few, you should hold on
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle
For as the older you get
The more you need the people you knew when you were young
Live in New York City once but leave before it makes you hard
Live in northern California once but leave before it makes you soft
Travel
Accept certain inalienable truths
Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
Respect your elders
Don't expect anyone else to support you
Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse
But you never know when either one might run out
Don't mess too much with your hair
Or by the time you're 40 it will look 85
Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past
From the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts
And recycling it for more than it's worth
But trust me on the sunscreen