During my freshman year in high school, my parents were not able to drive me to school anymore. Although my school was less than two miles away from my house, both of my parents had to take my younger siblings first, leaving their least favorite child to walk to high school. While the first two weeks of walking weren’t physically terrible, I soon joined the basketball team, and had to walk home afterwards. By then, it would be too dark and scary, so I decided to buy a bike for myself. The reason why I wanted to buy it was partly because it symbolized my independence, both as a ‘traveler’ and as a ‘consumer’, and buying a bike would be the first ‘big decision’ I would make. I ended up finding a bike from Craigslist without telling my parents, met up with the stranger, and paid him $100 from my own pocket. Although I thought that was the economically responsible thing to do at the time, my plans quickly backfired as I grew out of the bike within months. Nevertheless, I still ride the bike, partly out of guilt of spending $100, and it became my source of, “independence.”