Monday, December 3, 2018

Picking a Tree and Teen Angst

On Sunday morning we took a nice drive north to Kinsey Farm to pick out a Christmas Tree followed by a hike at Sawnee Mountain

Derek and Madison met us at the tree farm and we also ran into our former next door neighbors, the Hornung's, who moved out when Derek was just a year old. We had fun catching up and meeting their new grandson. The boys said experiences like that where grown ups talk about them "growing up or changing so much" makes them uncomfortable and they're not sure how to respond. 


Adam drove, which means listening to "his" music

Like all of us, Adam's trying to figure things out. Like most teens on the verge of adulthood, he's disappointed to find there are no easy answers despite so many others having passed this way before. We had some nice discussions on the drive and the hike about teen angsty things. He played one of his favorite songs about someone not finding any answers in conventional society or in the drop out culture, their disdain for people offering simple minded questions and conventional advice (only offer when solicited), and the realization that people ultimately have to figure it out for themselves.   

He's introspective with more than a grain of cynicism. He's interested in non mainstream, critically acclaimed things, especially music and film these days. He picks movies for us to watch with him. The other night he shared one of his favorites, Mr Nobody, with us. He spends a lot of time in his bed consuming online content and analysis. He talks about the pervasive vaping "Supreme" wearing teen culture, his own appreciation for the philosopher Diogenes, and his dislike of SJW politics. He still plays video games some and is currently into the dystopian Darwin Project. He laments the difficulty in finding like minded people his age in real life.  




Meeting up with Derek and Madison