#YEARS of work and experience and craft honing and nobody gives a fuck they just see a person they dont have to pay anymore

[ducktollers]

who up feeling their spirit get crushed into dust by this ai shit 😂😂😂

[nuttyrabbit]

Giovanni Conti Bio

“Nutty, are you only going to show up to post about Archie Sonic and your OCs?” Yes, yes I am

Anyways, I decided to throw together a quick bio for Gambit’s dad because hey I figured his stuff out and I’m doing shit with him now.

Shoutouts to @pidgeonspen​ for doing his design for me.

Anyways, as always, everything’s under the readmore

Name: Giovanni Conti (Real name Brando Romilla)

Age: Approximately 50 years old

Height: 3'4"

Occupation: Auto mechanic/Conman

Location: Unknown, last confirmed sighting in Westopolis. Originally born in Lugaio, Spagonia.

Sexuality: Bisexual, though greatly prefers women to the point of denying any male attraction

Personality: Giovanni's personality is what one would expect from a seasoned conman: charismatic, self-serving, and conniving, the weasel finds success in his trade thanks to his natural talent in dealing with others. To his victims, Giovanni appears to be a charming, compassionate, smooth-talking individual who seems to go out of his way to help others in their time of need. But of course it's all a farce, a way to con unsuspecting victims out of their hard-earned cash. In reality, the man formerly known as Brando Romilla is the exact opposite. A selfish, grumpy, and temperamental weasel "behind the scenes", Giovanni finds himself unwilling to engage with the world around him outside of whatever con he's cooked up or to get out of whatever mess he's gotten himself into this time.

Giovanni's most defining personality trait however, isn't his sardonic attitude or his smoothtalking ways, but instead his paranoia.  Giovanni has spent the majority of his life on the run and it shows.  He often finds himself looking over his shoulder both figuratively and quite literally, hoping that his latest victim hasn't found out about him or that the law or the mafia or whoever he's crossed hasn't tracked him down to enact their revenge.  As such, Giovanni is extremely hesitant to give out his name unless absolutely necessary for the con, even going so far as to make up fake names in emergency situations, though the truth eventually comes out.  In addition, he trusts absolutely nobody and almost always looks for a way to backstab/escape any sort of partnership he's found himself on the receiving end of, willing or otherwise.

All of this being said, it isn't *all* bad for Giovanni personality-wise, for when the weasel finds something he actually likes, one can see a softer, more eager side of him come out. Despite his professed hatred of his previous job, Giovanni has a rather deep appreciation for the intricacies of vehicles and vehicle repairs, even going so far as to sneak into antique car shows to gawk at the new vehicles and reminisce about the "good old days" before it "got so complicated" in terms of technology. Oddly enough, he also loves vinyl.

Skills: Giovanni is of course, an incredibly skilled con-man, imploying a variety of cons and scams to trick people out of their money, ranging from simple "tourist trap" tricks such as "no change", "toll booth", and "free gift", to more complicated ones such as "flat tire" schemes and even reselling stolen/counterfeit items at a significantly marked up price.  His variety in terms of cons is helped by his ability to sell them thanks to his smooth-talking charismatic persona that he puts on during them.  As a result of his occupation he's also extremely adept at pointing out other cons/knowing when he's being duped.  Not only that, but he's even picked up some basic lockpicking/hotwiring and ID forging skills, though they aren't quite as honed as his other talents in the area.

Surprisingly enough, again despite his professed dislike of his childhood job, Giovanni is an incredibly skilled mechanic, being able to assess the issues with (mostly older) vehicles just from a few minutes of observation and testing alone and fixing it in record times. OF course he'll complain about how he's "too fuckin' old" for it, but he'll do a damn good job...and even enjoy himself somewhat.   He claims he would be unable to work on "new-fangled" vehicles such as Extreme Gear but if he were to get the chance, would find that he'd be a natural at it.

Likes: Antique vehicles, wine, the feeling when he pulls of a con, vinyl records, fresh pressed suits, rare steak, expensive cigars, older women, working on antique vehicles.

Dislikes: The law, organized crime outfits, his ex-wife, his kid, getting caught, prison, cheap beer, "new" technology, people who talk too much, his grandfather, working on vehicles (his relationship with auto repair is..complicated), staying in one place for too long.

Backstory: Brando Rombilla was born into anything but normalcy:  born to a pair of younger Spagonian lovers, the result of a tryst gone wrong, he was abandoned on the steps of his paternal grandfather, the widowed mechanic Angelo Rombilla, who would raise the weasel as his own.

Angelo was an old, stubborn, hardworking man who had spent his entire life toiling away as a mechanic, even coming to own his own shop...yet despite it all, he never quite had a lot to show for it, and Brando grew up in not quite poverty, but in...less than modest means

Despite this...unusual situation, Brando would, at least for a time, grow up as any other child would, going to school, making friends, and living as a normal Spagonian child would--at least until he hit the age of 12-13, where his father suddenly and inexplicably ground his childhood to a halt, pulling him out of school and telling him that he was going to be a "working man" from now on, that he'd have to help out at the shop and help put food at the table--and that is indeed what happened.

From then on, Brando found himself working at the modest repair shop, working the front desk, doing oil changes, and learning the ins and outs of auto repair--and he fucking hated it.

Not just because he'd been robbed of the experiences his peers were getting, but it served as a constant reminder of the (at least to him) pathetic conditions in which they lived and worked. In addition, it only served to exacerbate his sheer irritation at his father's stubbornness and near-perfectionist standards.

But over time, as he aged and saw his peers move on to bigger and better things, he realized something else: all this work, all this "good, honest, hard" work he'd been doing, that his grandfather had been doing, that he wanted him to inherit, it was getting them nowhere

The both of them spent years and years doing the same shit over and over, and they were no better off than when they'd started. They still lived like shit, ate like shit, and worked like dogs, and the idea of doing this his entire life revolted him.  Yet when he'd bring this up, he'd just get shouted down, beaten down, and told to get back to work. He loathed it all.

Then one day, around the time Giovanni hit 19--it all changed. In a moment of what his grandfather would call laziness and what Brando would later call ingenuity, he accidentally charged a customer for something they hadn't done--and with it, more money than he should've had.  It suddenly hit him, his way out, his way to actually do something about all of this. It started off slow, an overcharge here, a useless job done there, a job not done this way or that, even some front product sold off of lies.  Before Brando knew it, the shop was actually making money for once, and more than that, he was making money.  And the best part was, that for once, Angelo seemed like he didn't have a stick up his ass. He seemed...happy, over the moon really that things had begun to look up.  Things seemed to finally be getting better!

....until Angelo caught Brando in the act, after which the mother of all shouting matches ensued, of the grandson and grandfather screaming at each other about this and that, about everything--and saw Brando being thrown out of the shop, out of his grandfather's home--and out of his life

Out on his ass with only the money he'd pocketed and the clothes on his back to his name, Brando  by all rights should have been terrified about his future, livid about what had happened, but instead he found himself excited. Now that his grandpappy or his stupid shop wasn't a problem anymore, he could finally do something with himself, and he knew exactly what that'd be--putting to use the same bullshittery that'd gotten him here to begin with.

And so the young weasel found himself hopping all over Spagonia, honing his craft. Whether it be through  pinching wares from stores and selling them nearby at an outrageously hiked price,  snatching and selling bootleg items, or even using his mechanic skills to craft "wonder items" that were quite literally just old scrapyard junk,  Brando soon became quite adept at the art of the con.  However, with that adeptness came attention, and with that attention came the watchful eye of the law, which attempted to crack down on the weasel multiple times as he traveled about Spagonia.

Soon enough, his face and name were plastered on wanted signs, in local papers, and in time, he couldn't run any longer, finally being booked on fraud charges and placed in prison for ~ 3 years at the age of 22.   Upon getting out,  Brando realized that he couldn't exactly do his work here anymore, lest he get thrown back in for good.

But Soleanna wasn't exactly appealing either, especially since the SPD were notorious for cracking down on fraudsters.  He was at a loss at what to do, until he managed to catch a TV broadcast talking about Empire City and it hit him- EC would be the perfect place to disappear and get a fresh start.  It was big, it was far away, and it was full of suckers just waiting to be parted with their money Forging himself a new identity (quite literally) as "Giovanni Conti" , he smuggled himself on board a ship and soon found himself in Empire City, where he almost immediately got to work--and found the results to be not what he expected

While the toursts were complete suckers as expected, the residents were anything but, and he found himself on the run from the law once more--and in addition, the various criminal orgs that made their homes there and had no tolerance for being scammed.   Needless to say, the whole thing frustrated him, and with no other way to vent his frustrations, he turned to drinking, and with it, found himself at a small bar in downtown EC, drinking away his frustrations...and chatting up an equally frustrated, and rather attractive young woman. He didn't catch her last name, but certainly caught her first- Artemis

What should have just been a simple one night tryst suddenly got a lot more complicated once the young woman had tracked him down almost a week  later with some soul-crushing news: She was pregnant, and it was almost certainly by him.  To make matters worse, Artemis was an up and coming politician, someone in the running for the EC City Council, and she would be DAMNED if it came out that she got knocked up in a one night stand, that would ruin her career! Despite Giovanni's attempts at arguing otherwise, she also insisted on keeping the child, claiming that if word got out she got rid of it, it would ruin her career. Threatening to hand him over to authorities, she blackmailed him into sticking by her side for the following 9 months, appearing in front of the cameras as a pictureesque pair of parents-to-be, Artemis embracing the newfound attention and Giovanni absolutely loathing all the eyes on him, and not only that, but also moving in together to her (admittedly) lavish apartment.

This continued up on through the end of the pregnancy and into the birth of their son, who Artemis named "Tai", a (perhaps ironic) homage to an old Apotosian patron of Luck.  From then, things continued normally, well as least as normal as could be for the unwitting parents-to-be, up until the child was around a year old, when Artemis went on a sudden vacation.  Left alone with the child and feeling helplessly trapped, Giovanni contemplated making a break for it, perhaps faking his own death and figuring out the details later, when a hooded figure burst into the home and attempted to shoot both him and the child dead.  Through a near-miraculous stroke of luck though, the intruder's gun jammed, giving Giovanni the chance to brandish a knife and stab them in the jugular.  His heart pounding, his mind racing, Giovanni quickly put two and two together: someway, somehow, Artemis had tried to get the two of them whacked.  Quickly disposing of the body and without really thinking about it, Giovanni grabbed the child and made a break for it, bolting from the apartment and leaving Empire City under cover of darkness, trying to make sure he left no trace that he had left--or was even still alive.

Soon arriving in Westopolis, Giovanni and Tai found a small apartment to squat in for the time being. Quickly settling in, Giovanni quickly fell back into his old ways, and found the people of Westopolis far more vulnerable to his schemes than in EC. Still, the weasel wasn't happy. His "new start" that he'd hoped for had fallen apart before it'd even gotten the chance to get off the ground because of *her*, Artemis. Giovanni's frustration gnawed away at him--not helped by the tiny weasel at home, his little boy--the *mistake* that'd gotten him into this mess.   He often found himself verbally and physically taking out his frustrations on young Tai, even more so when it turned out the little brat wasn't even good enough to help him on cons.  He wished he could get rid of the little bastard once and for all, but for some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to kill him despite his best efforts.

Years went by, but nothing truly changed for the pair, until young Tai was 8 years old and Giovanni found himself on the bad end of a con gone wrong, having inadvertently found himself attempting to swindle an undercover cop.  Rushing back to the apartment he and Tai shared, he quickly grabbed whatever tools he could and attempted to disappear, leaving the young Tai behind for good.

Throwing himself out of the frying pan and into the proverbial fire, Giovanni had managed to disappear and evade the cops---and run right into one of his "victims": "Downtown" Ebony Hare--a "made man" in the Carnades, one of the major local outfits--and someone who he'd given a shoddy brake job.  Ebony recognized the weasel almost immediately and motioned to off him for messing up his car, but after Giovanni pleaded for his life, Ebony spared him-- on the condition that he work off his "debts" to him and the Carnades.

Faced with either paying his dues or paying with his life, Giovanni made the obvious choice and ended up doing quite a few small jobs for Ebony over the course of the next decade and change (approx  13 years) not only fixing his car but also fixing the other vehicles in the outfit--and giving a disgustingly large portio nof the proceeds from his other "work" directly to Ebony.  Once again, Giovanni was trapped doing the very thing he'd been stuck doing since childhood and not only that, but also indebted to a mobster who had no intention of letting him go.  He desperately tried to find a way out, but it was to no avail--until a near miraculous stroke of "luck".

The Black Arms invasion decimated a significant portion of Mobius, especially Northamer, and no place found itself worse off than Westopolis. For most living there, it seemed like the end times as  the city burned around them. But for Giovanni, it was an opportunity to finally disappear--and never come back.

The invasion soon ended, the repairs soon begun, and the Carnades began to operate once more--but Giovanni was nowhere to be found. Despite a thorough search of the city, the weasel had just...vanished, presumably killed by the aliens or escaping to parts unknown after.  

Giovanni's current location is unknown and those who know of him believe him to be dead, but there have been some apparent sightings of the aged con-man.  Some say they've seen him on the outskirts of Sand Blast City, others say they've seen him working his trade with another individual down in the Southern Baronies, and some even say that he's still in Westopolis, working his craft, and sticking close to the headquarters of the East Side Pack, a noted rival of the Carnades.

[smallcowplant]

Can we have some more big sister Sam advice?

o shoot okay

here’s some assorted stuff that I could go off about if u were my lil sibling tbh

we spend so much of our life worried about what other people might think about us/being embarrassed but like……..u only got one life. so wear that pretty dress you’re worried about ruining, use that sticker set/washi tape u bought, flaunt your interests. it’s crazy how society really tries to push the whole ‘blend into the crowd, keep your head down’ shit. don’t be ashamed of doing stuff you love. if you love folk metal and neon clothing and writing fanfiction…….that’s valid and fun. anybody who tries to smother ur creativity probably has some deep issues that have……nothing to do with u

your art is not bad. your writing is not bad. your creations are not bad. you are not trash/garbage/an awful person. this kind of bs (and ‘relatable, omg I’m so ugly, stupid, bad’ culture) is so toxic. if you look at the stuff you make and dislike aspects of it, that’s okay! it shows that you’re growing and honing your craft! nothing is perfect on the first try. NOTHING is ever perfect. ever. and even when you criticize aspects of your work/yourself, please know that first and foremost, you HAVE to be your own biggest cheerleader first. you have to believe that your art is worth making, that your stories are worth writing, that what you create is worth creating, and that your life is worth living. and you want to know why?? it’s because you exist, this sum total of coincidences and situations and dreams…..and what you do matters. because you won’t be here forever. so make it matter. to you.

invest in some good bras/underwear.

one day, if it hasn’t happened yet, someone will break your heart. this will most likely happen more than once. and it will hurt, like your heart has been pulled out of your chest and there’s ice in your blood. and you’ll cry and feel empty, and cry some more, and that emptiness will fill every part of you. it will be bad. but it will pass. it will.

stop talking shit on people!! we all love to feel like we’re cooler/more accomplished/better than other ppl but,,,,,,,living in drama and stirring the pot will really only isolate u and make you feel worse over time. (this is obviously not about calling out real issues btw, this is purely about talking shit just to talk shit/gossiping). festering in negativity and putting down people to lift yourself up never works. It just makes you look bitter and gross lol

don’t fcken trust grown ass men/women that persue you when you’re freshly an adult/”legal”. their intentions are usually fucked. a 30 something year old has nothing in common experience-wise with a 18 year old and shouldn’t be trying to mess with you. 

don’t be upset at your past self. they made you into who u are now. and that person is pretty cool.

sex is not as big of a deal as society makes it seem. really. like, sure, it can be fun? but it absolutely does not define you. when I was younger, I felt very pressured to grow up/be in a relationship/have sex, which got me into some very uncomfortable situations that really warped my view on relationship dynamics/sex in general. having sex doesn’t change you as a person—-it doesn’t make you better, or worse! it’s just sex. 

take pictures! take videos! preserve the stuff you love. memory is faulty and less tangible.

go to shit alone! concerts, movies, lunch. it’s okay to do things without an audience. don’t miss out on stuff just because you’re scared of looking dumb and alone. ppl really are very self-centered and do not notice or care tbh. no one will give u shit. (and if they do, what the hell)

nothing u see on instagram/youtube/twitter/tumblr/films/media is real life. everyone is presenting a polished version of their reality. nobody looks that good all the time, if ever. no love story is as perfect as it may appear. no life is as ideal as you think it is. comparing yourself to people on these terms is useless bc you only ever see what they choose to let you see.

oof that’s a lot sorry

[swampgallows]

i know people are criticizing the medium article but im gonna say that the weird detectable undercurrent of sexual energy throughout stebebn univernse is 90% of the reason i absolutely could not get into it. i thought i was probably being too hypervigilant or sensitive or whatever but im kind of relieved that someone else said something about it. i mean, i know i AM more sensitive to it because im so staunchly ambivalent-to-repulsed by sexual media, but part of the reason for that is also because i have been so virulently exposed to a deluge of it as a preteen/teenager and throughout my life that i am trained to see where it is slipped in. 

ive borne witness countless times to the exact methodology rule34 creators use to ride the line between fetish and fan art or to infuse sinister messages into childrens media. having been groomed as a child, i am the end product of what happens when people are allowed to unleash these experiments. i see the threads where they groupthink together how to circumvent censors while also, for lack of a better word, dogwhistling their exact intentions in their ‘work’. shit like “she looks 10 but she’s actually 10,000 years old!” is just the tip of the iceberg.

i dont mind cartoons or media that look into exploring difficult or mature themes, especially if they revolve around consent or awkwardness with the subject or ‘not being ready’ or anything like that, and it’s okay (and imperative in fact) that kids be aware of that but 1. the emphasis on the inevitability and pleasure of ‘going through with it’ is terrifying and 2. why do they have to literally be prepubescent and 3. if youre gonna be super mature cool progressive cartoon then be upfront about it and call it what it is, or be more direct, instead of hiding it behind these subtle-but-not allusions that altogether just become more confusing than helpful. and i know this is hard to get past the censors, but im not just referring to sex stuff

i’m not even involved in estebans universario and i still remember the fucking shitload of discourse surrounding lapis??? and jasper, and how people couldnt decide whether or not the relationship was abusive, couldnt decide whether or not the decisions made were correct, who was manipulating who, and shit like that. and to me if your fans, especially adult fans, have zero concrete takeaway from you “tackling” those subjects, then how the fuck are children supposed to interpret it in a helpful way? 

i know irl shit isnt always so cut and dry, but that’s exactly why you see ten bajillion posts on here of people setting very basic standards of things like “IF THEY HIT YOU, LEAVE.” it’s a non-negotiable parameter. as an adult things can get complicated, and relationships always are, but when you have these clearly defined red flags it’s how you avoid situations that deliberately construct themselves in a way to break down your boundaries and control you. whether through sex or emotional manipulation or other avenues of abuse, that’s why you need these messages, especially targeted to children, to be loud and CLEAR

now like i said i never finished the show, i barely got into it and i was not entertained for the near two seasons i watched so im not inviting discussion of shit i havent watched or “well actually this and that happened in the episode so--” im saying that i saw the reception of it and it was completely bonkers ass shit. the response wasnt about whether or not the discussion was appropriate for a kids show; it was that nobody had a clear perception of what the resolution was even supposed to be

i dunno man the huge fucking inundation of porn every which fucking way is a HUGE deterrent for me getting into the art or animation industry. like it has actively repelled me from making art or honing my craft or whatever the fuck because the blatant expectation for me to make porn is so suffocating. if you offer commissions and dont make nsfw and you are an adult, people look at you like you’re crazy. people tell you you’re making a mistake, that it’s a ‘bad business model’ to not accept porn commissions, and that you aren’t a REAL artist if you havent drawn some porn on the side. and i sincerely feel like that isn’t an issue in any other creative field; that youre not a REAL actor if you havent been in at least a couple of porn films; that youre not a REAL musician if you havent scored porn; that you arent a REAL sculptor if you havent made at least one dildo, or some shit like that. i understand that illustration is the most expedited delivery of porn, but i dont want to be part of a community where everybody is glib about paying their bills with porn of kids cartoons and are okay with it and then go on to CREATE kids cartoons where they can give wink wink nudge nudges to their fellow porn artists.

i think this is the exact same fucking thing as ‘fandom’ having issues with ‘purity culture’; that they dont realize (or dont want to admit) that theyre bedfellows with “real” pedophiles and are providing them the shelter and the fuel they need to operate. sure a storyboard artist making some nsfw ‘on the side’ isn’t the same as chris savino or john lasseter or john k’s real tangible sexual misconduct, but it does provide the basis by which everybody who has been wink-wink nudge-nudging enforces the dissolution of boundaries and escalates these people to the top. if you form a coalition of people who all make childrens cartoons while winking (actually we are masturbating to this), you will attract the people who are winking (actually i am doing this). 

having been abused for years by people cut from this cloth im sensitive to this obviously and my thoughts are scattered but ultimately like i dont really think it’s a non-progressive thing to shame people for making porn of kids cartoons. the internet is no longer a secret clubhouse where the hustler mags are hidden in one of the loose bricks. it’s extremely fucking public and i feel like the LEAST these people can do is have a separate alias for this bullshit and to draw distinct lines in the sand for the kind of talent they hire. the problem is, too, that a lot of artists make their living by doing porn or are just drawn toward porn in general. but essentially the clincher is like... sure, go ahead and draw porn but... child porn? a dude makes porn of your teenage cartoon characters and you hire him????

“What kind of culture should industry figures encourage around the kids’ cartoons they work on? And where is the line drawn when artists with backgrounds like ZONE’s — an animator who has worked on Jones-Quartey’s own series — cross over into mainstream children’s entertainment? 

[...]

The public flirtation of children’s media with artists like these doesn’t just risk exposing kids to porn — it normalizes the entire idea of hypersexuality being present in children’s spaces, often in its most extreme forms. [...] It’s a systemic problem that will only grow if it’s left unaddressed.“

it’s a corporate level, systemic problem. i hate the culture and the community that’s allowing this to happen, and i hate that there are slowly becoming fewer and fewer bastions of endearing, safe, quality environments for children to thrive and develop without a thousand subliminal tendrils permeating cute characters and fun stories

[littleladysongbird]

A Note to All College Freshmen

*Specifically American College/University, though the following can be applied to a number of situations*

Hello there lovelies! Congrats on going to College! Just a year ago, I was in your shoes, relentlessly driving from Walmart to Home Goods, hoping my roommate would like me and worrying about whether or not I was making the right choices at the right time. And so, a year older and a bit wiser, I thought I would write down ten things I wish I had known or, in some instances, really listened to as a college freshmen. 

10. People actually do want to be your friend. 

If your high school experience was anything like mine, you may have often felt alone, left out, and generally unaccepted or unwanted, even when you did have a community of friends you ran around with. In college, almost everyone is in the exact same boat, and they want friends as much as you do. It really is true that you make some of your best friends the first day there; I met my best friend because the only open chair in our orientation group circle was next to her. Also, the upperclassmen are usually a lot nicer than you think, so don’t be afraid to make friends with them either.

9.  Just like in high school; get involved and try new things.

I made so many friends and learned so many things just because one of my friends dragged me along to so many different activity meetings during my first week at school. Even if you’re not completely convinced you want to try something, go to the meeting anyways. Make new friends. Try something new. If your school offers a later rush period for Greek Life, participate, even if you’re unsure about joining a sorority or fraternity. If you really want to make the most of your experience, get out of your comfort zone a little bit. 

8. Write your shit out. 

The most useful tip I can give in regards to organization. If you don’t keep a journal, planner, calendar, whiteboard, or anything of that sort, you will fall behind and be much more stressed out than if you just wing it. Trust me on this. 

7. Workshops, Teachers, and Writing Centers are there for a reason. 

Stop being afraid of talking to your teachers and getting help on assignments. You’re in college to learn, not to excel. Now, more than ever, it’s good to make mistakes and ask for help. Your professors are really amazing people and want you to be the best student you can be, so take advantage of office hours. I know in high school your teachers make professors these intimidating beings who expect perfection. As a college student, I can admit that I have gone to my professor and, in one fifteen-minute sitting, both asked for books to write my research paper on and advice in mastering a dialect for a show I was performing in. They teach because they want to share their interests and theories with us, and that’s not an opportunity you get often enough in your life. 

6. Drinking in college is not always as crazy and insane as everybody makes it out to be. 

Now; drinking and drug use in college CAN depend on where you go to school and what groups you are involved in. I am speaking from the perspective of a female who goes to a smaller school where people know each other a lot better. That being said, while you should always be careful if you decide to drink and go out to party in college, it’s not necessarily as crazy as you might think. More often than not, you’re surrounded by good friends who are always looking out for you. People always offer to drive others home or walk with them so they’re not alone in the dark. There can be people with bad intentions, but usually, everybody at a party wants to have a good time, and wants to make sure everybody else is having a good time. And just because somebody’s throwing a party, it doesn’t mean that everything is going to be crazy. 

5. Be yourself, and be kind. 

I cannot stress this enough: nobody fucking cares about you liking a certain thing or being a certain kind of person. It’s the age-old rule: treat people how you would like them to treat you. If you’re religious and another person is not, or is of a different faith, don’t feel like that means you have to change yourself. Instead, be open and find the similarities within your differences. Also, don’t underestimate people’s ability to be kind. I know not everybody in the world is kind and accepting, but so many people are. One of the members of my sorority pledge class is gender neutral and goes by they/them pronouns, and was afraid of pledging because they didn’t think a sorority would accept them as gender neutral. But not only were they selected to join, there was absolutely no discussion about whether or not it would be appropriate for them to join. No matter your gender, your sexuality, your culture, your religious affiliation; you are always allowed to be yourself, and people WILL love you for who you are!

And if you find one prick who doesn’t, fuck them. 

4. It’s not going to be perfect. 

As much as I love college, it’s not always perfect. Everybody gets wrapped up in some sort of drama. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody misses opportunities or goes through heartbreak or, in some awful, horrible cases, suffers a traumatic experience. It’s okay if your friends aren’t your friends anymore, and it’s okay if you find yourself frustrated or stressed or even sick. College is like preparing for life, and life isn’t perfect. But there are always people both from home and on campus that you can turn to, even when you feel like there’s nobody there. Fucking up is a part of college, and it’s a part of life. It’s going to be okay. 

3. Your school does not define who you are and where you go in life. 

This is more of a statement to those of you who have a passion for an artistic field and believe you need to go to a special school if you have any shot of being “successful” in the industry. As an artist, I can tell you that anyone who says you have to get a BFA or a specialized degree to do what you want in your life is a fucking liar. Now, if you are entering into a BFA program, that’s amazing! I am so proud of you for following your heart and choosing to really hone your craft! However, for those of you who, like me, are hoping to receive a bachelors degree in an artistic field, don’t feel as though you are any less worthy than those who get a BFA. Every professor has something to teach you, and every school can help you reach your full potential. Now, obviously, if your school has a really crappy program for a specific field that interests you (and by “crappy”, I mean that there’s really no emphasis from the school on supporting individuals in that field), you should probably take it off your list. However, you don’t need to go to Harvard to be a good lawyer; you don’t need to go to CCT to be a good musical performer. You just need to find the right school for YOU as an individual. If you do that, and you find the right community of people to support you, you can do anything. 

2. It’s okay to be uncertain about what you want to do and whether or not you’ve found the right fit for you. 

I cannot stress this enough: you will figure out life as it goes along. It’s unpredictable and things can change. Don’t be afraid of change, and don’t be afraid if you realize something different about what you want your future to be like. There are so many kids who go to a school and discover that it’s not a right fit for them. There are also so many kids who change their majors super late into their college careers. There are some kids who drop out of a university and attend community college. It’s okay to be lost; just know that you will find your path again.

1. College is only worth what YOU put into it. 

Going back to point number three, the most important lesson you will learn in college is that the experience is what you make of it. College is expensive, and you’ve only got a short amount of time to experience it. The worst kind of college student is a lazy college student, because if you’re not doing anything in college, then you’re wasting your time at college. A degree is nothing but a piece of paper that you receive for passing your classes. To get a job, to be “successful”, to live the kind of life you want, it takes your ambition, your time, and as much effort as you can muster. The best way to get the best out of your college experience is to study what YOU love. Don’t waste your time on subjects and items that you don’t care about or are only studying because you think it will make you “successful”. To be “successful”, you first have to be a successful person, and you can only be a successful person if you are true to yourself. If you’re like me and are getting a liberal arts education, tailor your required subjects so that they expand upon the areas you are interested in. Take an accounting class instead of pre-calc. Take geology or astronomy if you don’t care much for chemistry. You have been given four years to become the person you want to be. Don’t waste that time or opportunity. Work hard; have fun; and make the most out of every second you have on campus. 

And I know all of this is kind of heavy, but honestly, what seems like fun to you is actually a lot of hard work building connections and discovering what you love and who you are. And if you don’t figure it out by the end of college, don’t panic. Most people change careers at least once in their lifetime. So never close yourself off to a new opportunity if you can. 

Have fun, be smart, and welcome to the life of a college student. 

-XOXO Diana