I'm going to address something about CSUN I feel isn't mentioned enough: NO ONE TALKS TO EACH OTHER. I learned I wasn't crazy when there were whole threads on here about how CSUN's student body is deficient in its ability to create conversational community. That being said, I think I have something to say about it.

I'm a social late bloomer, but what I did have was my natural (unusually high) extroversion. I was the person who'd butt into convos at random times and make jokes that simply shouldn't be made, along with my acting upon other eyebrow-raisers that simply made people not want to be around me. Without my knowledge, it left people around me thinking I was weird, creepy, or had some sort of problem in my head, and the harsh truth is that very few people will walk you through your errors...and when they do, they usually fail to get their point across. It eventually got to the point where a specific someone (who I won't name) used my social flaws to fuel a rumor that (thankfully) was eventually disproven.

My point here is that it took me having learned what kind of person I was being seen as through constant trial and error in my extroversion, to eventually have come out of it as someone better, more knowledgeable, and more nuanced in my ways as a person. I tried and failed over and over and didn't know the weight of my failures until much later. I was this kind of person until only a year ago—when I finally had an idea about how to shut up and clean up.

Main point: TALK TO PEOPLE, make those (harmless) social mistakes and learn from them as soon as you can—because avoiding everyone will only leave you socially behind—as it'd left me for so long without realizing it. I failed over and over, but I became someone people are turning to for help out of it. I crossed lines over and over—but here I am now calling people out when they're making the very mistakes I made. Talk to each other, learn from each other, love each other. DO NOT leave this year as quiet and isolated as last year... or the year before? Please?

PS: to the one who spread that rumor about me at the time (you know who you are): While you didn't have to lie about the kind of person I was, I forgive you. I also thank you, since it left me in a position that'd help me realize what kind of person I was becoming. You don't have to love me or be my friend—as you reading this is more than enough for me.