My word doc yesterday was emptier than my bank account after a Thursday night downtown.

For a solid four hours I just stared at it. What a crazy feeling. I’m writing to say goodbye to a school that over the past two years I’ve grown to love. I didn’t know how to put that in words.

So I sat back and threw on my theme song: “Good Life” by Kanye West and T-Pain. (This should be one of the songs played at my funeral someday.)

Then I thought to myself … my time at UCSB has definitely been a “good life.” I can’t believe how much fun I’ve had and how much I’ve been able to accomplish over the past two years. And then the words just started flowing out.

The thing is, I was listening to the song on repeat, so everything I was thinking came out in line with the music.

So I wrote the following two verses to the instrumental of “Good Life.” There’s some things I may have missed, but hopefully some of the lyrics will hit a chord with you too.

And no, becoming a rapper is not the career I’ll be pursuing as a grad.

Say goodbye to the good life / Where I.V. let us live free / How do you complain when all the streets you walk are lined with palm trees? / Yeah the good life / It was a hell of a ride / I was sitting on the sky living ocean-side / The good life / It feel like late nights / It feel like sunshine / It feel like life’s prime / Feel like a million bucks — no need for a lifeline / Ayyyye / (And chant Ole! into the niiighht)

So we bled blue and gold / Might party kind of hard but only ‘cus we’re getting old / No Durant around, but we brought Thunder to the ‘Dome / Saw the Juice get poured up / Now OJ’s off to the show / Transferred here as a Slug / Santa Cruz to SB and I gave it all of my love / Two years … Ripped off? It’s not how I feel if I should / Or at least I would if I didn’t think that I gave it all that I could

And I might have skipped class, maybe once or twice / And I know all about those DP nights / I know the beachside days / I know tortilla rain / I know the morning haze / And the Gauchoball game / The Pasado Palace / Halloween madness / How were we all okay with pitching in on the plastic?? / Yeah — we popped bottles on Bill’s Bus / Then downed Freebirds by the pound / Like there’s no thing as too much

UCSB / You couldn’t beg for better / Division-I sports / With Division-I weather / The Gauchos, my number-one team for life / No place harder than Harder … Ask Cal Poly’s sideline / And the Nexus … will be to me like my ex is / Always got a place in my heart, wouldn’t be who I am without it / Shout out to KCSB, and floor two — SSMS / And the gorgeous girls I fall in love with on all the bike paths …

Whether you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, you are the heart and soul of UCSB. So it’s up to you to keep it pumping the way it has for me the past two years. This community is so unique — so full of opportunity and possibilities — and you really won’t get another time in your life to take advantage of everything that you have at your disposal right now.

I’ve loved my time as sports editor; and I hope I excercised my position well enough to positively impact the student body and athletics community of UCSB as best I could. But how will you use your position as a member of the UCSB family to affect those around you and improve on your potential? Better yet, on your life right now?

So I offer you this challenge:

What will you do today that you’ve never done before in your entire life? How about tomorrow? This weekend?

Think about it … Now go do it. Get after it. There’s really no reason not to, especially while living in paradise. If you’re a senior, then I hope these next two and a half weeks are the best two and a half weeks of your life. If you’re an underclassman, then you should come back in the fall with a whole new kind of energy. Know that your time is running out. Don’t panic about it, but make every day count.

You have the rest of your life after college to stress and “choose a career path.” But right now — this time — college is the time to be free. Don’t blow off school by any means, but make sure you do what makes you happy. Have fun without worrying what other people might think of you; self-doubt is the foundation of failure. Create yourself now, and you can only get better.

Now that’s a Good Life.