One thing I rarely lacked in college was confidence. My best friend was an odd kind and I spent a lot of time with him. One of his more frequent obsessions was talking about how young some people were when they achieved a big thing: a common example being

Bret Easton Ellis

publishing their debut novel as an undergrad. But Joel, my best friend, never brought such examples up in a distancing manner. As in usually when someone brings up such a fact I noticed the subject being painted a hero unachievable to someone like us at

MSU

.

When Joel brought these examples up I always felt closer to them. The way he spoke of their accomplishments and their age and life cicumstances made them less hero and more humans; somebody we would run into at

Espresso Royale

. Often Joel would say things others would find ridiculous like, "I bet

Kanye

would like us." without a trace of sarcasm.

This is one thing, out of many, I love still to this day and will to my death of my relationship with

Joel Peven

. Nothing ever felt out of reach for being too big or grand. And although this is a very, very stupid mindset to have for an entire life, it's one that I think one must have if they are to say that they actually lived a life.