lifetothefullest | [IC Inbox]

From:

[Lance is way more curious to hear about Kyna's experiences than talk about his own, so he's entirely content to jump on the new topic.]

What do you mean?

From:

hardwearing

[ Yeah, he's. Genuinely confused right now. Explain, Kyna. ]

From:

evocation

[She shrugs a little.]

My brother was super popular. You know, straight As, total jock, nice to everyone, so no one really screwed with me, and then he graduated.

[She waves a hand dismissively.]

It wasn't like, traumatizing or anything, I just hated all my classes and most of the people sucked.

From:

lifetothefullest

That makes sense. Public, general schooling methods and systems are very... They really only work the way they're meant to for individuals with certain personality types, and that's disregarding all the social issues that also go into it.

[In other words, it's totally reasonable for Kyna to have hated it.]

From:

hardwearing

[ Guess who's still bewildered? This guy. But it is what it is. Or was, in this case. ]

'Most of the people sucked' is sort of my overall life experience....

From:

evocation

[Kyna laughs. Of course Lance has an analysis.]

What was high school like for you?

From:

lifetothefullest

[He has nothing to add if not an analysis, about the topic. It's... Well, it's not a tragedy, because he's glad he didn't go to high school, but still.

And he's also interested in the answer to Kyna's question, waiting for Washington to respond.]

From:

hardwearing

[ They're both looking at him now, and Wash shrugs. ]

I wasn't exactly winning any popularity contests back then. I mean. It's not like I am now, either, but kids can be shitty to each other.

[ And he had a bit of a reputation, but he does not want to discuss that around Lance. ]

From:

evocation

Yeah, they are.

[And now for the big question.]

What about college?

From:

lifetothefullest

[Yes, what about college? Lance is always curious about other people's experiences in school at any level, since his own are so unusual.]

From:

hardwearing

[ What, him? Sorry, Lance. Kyna knows he never went to college. ]

Oh, she was talking to you. I got drafted out of high school.

From:

evocation

Yeah, tell us about all the frat parties you went to.

From:

lifetothefullest

[Oh. Way less interesting.]

I was fourteen; the only parties I attended were ones my roommates were having or were invited to. By the time I was old enough to really get invites myself, I was in grad school.

[And grad school does not have fun parties, for the most part.]

I went to various study parties though, if you want to hear about depressing levels of nerdiness.

[Which he doesn't recommend.]

From:

hardwearing

[ Wash looks pretty skeptical, at that. Not that he's an expert, but. ]

Studying is not a party.

From:

evocation

[She bursts out laughing.]

Now you have to tell us about the study parties.

From:

lifetothefullest

[Lance rolls his eyes at both responses.]

Hey, any gathering of people that involves talking and food can count as a party. They're just... Sometimes really bad parties.

[Like funerals. Definitely bad parties.]

But study parties were exactly what they sound like; a bunch of sad college students sit in a room and study, eat pizza, and occasionally declare they're dropping out or becoming a marketing major.

From:

hardwearing

[ That's definitely not a party. Wash remains unconvinced by this definition... adding food to a gathering doesn't automatically make it a party, especially not if you specify that everyone is sad. Otherwise yeah, funerals would count, and things like AA meetings. He just shakes his head at Lance. ]

From:

evocation

God, Lance, that's the saddest thing I've ever heard.

[She's still smiling, though.]

How many years were you in college, anyway?

From:

lifetothefullest

I did say they were depressing.

[As for the question--]

About eight years. Two for my bachelor's degree, two for the master's, and then just under a combined four for the two doctorates.

From:

hardwearing

[ Seriously? ]

That seems really fast. You must've just worked nonstop.

From:

evocation

Really fast but also way too long.

From:

lifetothefullest

I was able to have a lot of classes waved for the bachelor's, and the doctorates required separate research and dissertations but could be built on the same master's, which I completed in a normal length of time. So it sounds more difficult than it was.

[Although all of that said, Washington is right; he pretty much worked nonstop, because he was very motivated to succeed. It wasn't necessarily a good thing, though.]

It's a long time to spend in college, but having not attended high school it kind of balanced out.

From:

hardwearing

Did you actually enjoy doing it, though?

From:

evocation

[That... is a good question, actually. Kyna just waits for the answer.]

From:

lifetothefullest

[Yeah, that's... A question, which Lance has to decide for several seconds how he wants to answer.]

I was not exactly that person that studies for fun, so as far as a lot of the classwork went, no. But keeping the end result and goal in mind made it worth doing, so it's not like I hated it, and the doctorates were also a lot more interesting which is why I did two of them.

[So, basically, he enjoyed research and writing papers, but coursework was a means to an end more than anything else.]