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Things I Don't Want
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Things I Don’t Want...
Age 16
• Driving permit: first step to freedom
Age 17
• State ID to watch 300 and Superbad at the box office
Age 18
• Birthday, midnight. First lottery scratcher from 7-Eleven
• A summer job at In-n-Out Burger or Cold Stone Creamery
• California driver’s license with an embarrassing head shot
• Second-hand car that costs more to maintain than buy
Age 19
• Pell grants, Cal grants, and Federal grants on my financial aid award letter
• Ability to accept UC Regents scholarship for exceptional high school academics
• Work-study job at Moffitt or Doe: getting paid to arrange books
Age 20
• Part-time internship at Bayside Medical Group
Age 22
• Federal Stafford loans to pay for medical school
Every Year
• A day without fear, a life without bars, visibility, status, legality, papers, my own nine-digit