Congrats

In high school, I was in some math classes with students a few grades ahead of me. I particularly remember geometry with juniors, part of the popular pretty-people crowd was in my class. Mondays, I remember, were fun to listen to their pre-class conversations about the weekend. Who partied where, who drank the most, who got most "rowdy" (is that phrase still big today?), etc. Funny thing is, in my observations, the most popular ones -- the ones some of the lessers in the pecker order were always trying to impress with their stories -- never bragged or had to talk about what they did. They did it to do it. I liked that, as it was always my impression that if you're doing something just to brag about it later, you may be missing out on the essence of the experience. That said, if you like to drink, drink already. If you like to smoke, smoke yourself silly. If you like other activities, go for it. Knowing and respecting your limits helps, of course, and everyone's limits are different. Not sure how I generally come across here, but I would consider myself libertarian labelwise -- to a point of not interferring with others -- and some days, I'm very glad I have no children to discipline or set safely on life's journey. Apparently it's not good these days to allow kids too much freedom to choose their own paths and trust life's consequences to teach properly.

That said, stories like these make me think back to those older high schoolers bragging about how much they drank before they puked or passed out. Still, congrats to those UW Madison students, if this makes you feel proud. Personally, I'd be more impressed if we were the number one school for functioning alcoholics who quietly drink for what they get from it, not from binge-ing and telling stories. That school is no doubt out there, just doesn't get an award recognizing it. I suspect the more outspoken types, who have to tell you everything they've done and how frigging great it was, may just be leading more adventureless lives, so this fills the need at the moment.