It seems you're plainly misreading what I was saying. Not only did I not say you shouldn't go to parties, I specifically said you should go to parties, at that age. My only point was you should go there to socialize, and not for the alcohol.

And I attribute everything I have to the nights I spent not in front of the books, but in front of the crowd, dancing with a lampshade on my head.

That's fine for you, I guess. Something tells me what might have thought the other a bit "square", and hence avoided each other, in that life phase. Which is also fine.

But again, I never said you should trade parties and friend for books; only that you should definitely trade alcohol for books, by and large, during those years. And I for one am definitely very, very grateful for those nights spent in front of books, and not on someone's back porch getting wasted, when I was 14-21.

The only other point I'd like to clarify is that while I definitely do advocate becoming intimate with your local university library (and yes, spending more than the occasional Friday or Saturday night there), at one point or another -- the best time for that is probably when you're in high school, not college. During HS most parties suck anyway -- as do most of your so-called "friends" -- so you might as well be an outcast, and do something constructive with all of those precious hours (in front of a laptop, on a keyboard/drumkit -- or in the book stacks).