pure, unadulterated mediocrity

"And when I reflected back on our post-prom trip to the Jersey Shore four years earlier, it occurred to me that some of the people who were still with us had since then gone to jail; some had sold and used drugs; most had drifted into lives of pure, unadulterated mediocrity; a few had babies they weren't prepared to raise; at least one had died. Charles and I were the only alumni from the group with our futures still intact, and that kind of bond doesn't easily unglue."

~~ from Losing My Cool by Thomas Chatterton Williams