Yea, it gets better. Soon you can buy your own beer! Or at least you won't have to try to sneek back into your parent's house after the party.
When you go to college, make sure you GO AWAY to college. You'll regret it if you don't. Make it happen somehow even if you can't afford it right away. Just get out of your hometown for at least a few years.
If you aren't planning on going to college, change your plans because it's not too late. College is 4 years of pain followed by a lifetime of somewhere around 30% higher average salary. Plus people with college degrees tend to get a chance to tell other people what to do, rather than always being bossed around for your whole career. That's a definate bonus even better than the higher salary.
You don't see many millionaires without college degrees. Sure, hardly ANYONE makes that kind of money whether they have a college education or not, but why give up before you even start? If you get a degree, at least you have a chance at the big time. If you don't, your only chance is to be not only a genius, but a lucky genius.
And if you've ever wanted a porsche, corvette, private aircraft, or anything else that's beyond what everyone else does, don't enlist in the military unless you are going to just stay in 4 years then get out to go to college or something. Enlisted pay rarely does more than just cover the bills, trust me. There are some enlisted career fields with big bonuses, but even then a good non-military career can make that entire bonus every couple of months over a longer period of time.
If you really want to do something that you can only do in the military, then by all means go for it. There are some kickass good jobs in the military, both on the officer and enlisted side of the house. But nobody should EVER enlist just for the paycheck. It's not that kind of job and the pay pretty much sucks when you consider what you have to do to get it.
Whoops, my old-fart school rant crept out. Sorry
