College is the reality to the dream you always had when you were little and your parents told you "No."

"Can I have another bowl of Ice Cream?"

"No."

"Can I stay up and watch the late show?"

"No."

"Can I run down the street in a toga with a rival fraternity's stolen iguana?"

"No. Well, okay, but put a coat on. It's chilly out."

College is when you can do all of that stuff without asking. When I was six I would lay in my bed at 8:30 p.m. (see: Communism) and think to myself, "When I get to college, I am going to stay up until 2 a.m. running around the house with scissors only stopping to eat some more ice cream and pet the iguana." Luckily, Ritalin became popular before I was actually free to do all that stuff. But the point is: college equals freedom.

It's also the best time to pull pranks. You haven't got anything else to worry about (like grades, finances, or your future) so you spend most of your college life trying to think up "cool pranks" (see: stupidity). The first really good prank I pulled happened the first week of college. Our school was near a daycare that had a swimming pool (back then a daycare could have swimming pools because there weren't as many lawyers roaming the hillsides). My friends and I had just polished off three big watermelons when I noticed about twenty small kids playing across the street in the pool. We quickly covered our bodies with watermelon seeds, ran over to the pool, and fell down screaming, "Ticks! Run for your life! Wild ticks!" We then flopped around on the ground in an acting performance worthy of an Ed Wood film.

The kids saw the ticks (see: watermelon seeds) attached to our bodies and half of them took off running and screaming. The other half froze stiff in the--now much warmer--swimming pool. This is what college is about! You are making memories.

It's also a time for Christian kids to "sow their wild oats" within reason. I was a good Christian kid but one day I noticed the name of our library. It was the Margret and Herman Brown Library. Well, in my most wild and crazy act, one night I crawled up and knocked some of the letters off the building so the following words remained: Margret and Her Brown bra

It's crazy, but harmless, stuff like this that makes college different from any other time in your life. You get to be your own self. You are forming your own personality. It's about eating what you want, sleeping when you want, and wearing what you want, within reason of course. When (see: If) you graduate you have to wear that ridiculous dress they laughingly call a "gown" and that pizza box thing on your head that resembles a hat much like I resemble a body builder (I once told a girl that I was a body builder and she said, "Yes, but you're building a geek."). It has always cracked me up that our colleges send us into the world dressed in an outfit that would be ridiculed even in San Francisco. This is one tradition I'm glad the rest of the world has not embraced or we would be left with the following comment: "Larry, we know that you are quitting your job here at Burger Rama to pursue a job at 'Greasy Chuck's--Home of the Discount Steak Sandwich.' We hope your experience here was a good one. We just ask, before you leave, if you will put on this little dress and hat. Also, we will call you periodically throughout your life to ask you to donate money back to us. Good Luck!"

College is also a place where most people build a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You are free to do what you want. No one makes you go to church. No one tells you what to read, when to pray, or who to follow. What you do is up to you. If you knew Jesus before you left, I encourage you to take Him with you. If you don't know Him that well, college is a great place to get to know Him personally.

College is what you make of it. Make good decisions, make good friends, and honor a great God. Oh yeah, and don't forget your watermelon seeds.