Life Test #1, Question #1453

Someday's I will go downtown looking for work and unpredictable things will happen. Yesterday I went to Downtown Berkeley. I was just walking and happened to cross paths with a couple Rasta's playing guitar on the sidewalk. So I just pulled out my mouth harp and went to town jamming country blues style. The tallest with his full head of dred's played a couple Bob Marley tunes for the school children who stopped to listen to us. It was great fun. Later we hopped in one of their vans to smoke a joint. I sat between them in this van crammed full of all their life possessions and we started to smoke and debate on which states where black friendly and which states took the longest after the civil rights movement to incorporate black culture into their local communities. These traveling rasta musicians where some of the most down to earth people I'd ever met. Just kind as could be and filled with soul. The happening really made my day. Of course if they knew I was writing this they would probably think I was square haha and we can't have that. Those folks really thought I was just a traveler like them without a home to go back to. Which when I really think about it makes me feel a bit deceitful and spoiled, even fortunate. Lately I haven't really been able to figure out which class of society I am supposed to fit into. I know it's something I am not supposed to think about and that doing what I feel will land me in one of 3 classes. I'm not supposed to make a decision it's just supposed to happen? I know it's ridiculous and I can make the decision. It's deciding what I want to do with my life, and it's killing me. Oh, and yes it's all very coming of age and all that wonderful American t.v. sitcom bull shit. I have a hard time dealing with the fact that there is nothing to stop me from picking up my motorcycle and just flying across America and Mexico at 90mph. Playing music on street corners for enough money to buy dinner, another couple gallons of gasoline, and whatever drugs and booze you can find. Where does that road end? Do you get bored after a year and just want to settle down and become a lawyer? Or do you find the meaning of life and build yourself a home somewhere on the beaches of Mexico then spend the rest of your day's building your boat and riding around on your motorcycle with 16 year old Mexican girls. I guess it all turns out how you make it turn out no matter which direction you choose. Perhaps I should pose the question as a matter of multiple choice.

Life Test #1

Question #1453
What are you going to do with your life?

A. Goto college, join society, find job that pays $50K, have kids.
B. Sky rocket across America on a motorcycle, never settle down, move to the beaches of Mexico, build a house, find 16 year old Mexican girl to marry, have lots of kids....like 20.
C. Goto college, start your own business, don't join society, make a million, have kids.

Oh no one is knocking the question, it's a perfectly good question. What I don't understand are the answers. Are there more answers? Perhaps one that I have missed?

	try: (5.00 / 1) (#1)
	by nathan on Fri Jan 11th, 2002 at 02:55:10 AM PST

	d) not relying on what you do for a living to give you an identity? Good luck getting a job; it can be rough. Nathan -- Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

	Second this (5.00 / 1) (#4)
	by hauntedattics on Sun Jan 13th, 2002 at 04:15:57 PM PST

	Nathan is right (as usual) - your job doesn't define who you are. I'm assuming this is your first job out of college, yes? My advice: stop worrying that that job will be momentous and define you forever. It won't. My first job out of college has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm doing right now, ten years on, and more than likely my job ten years from now will bear little resemblance to what I'm doing now. My most important job in life will be as a mother, should God bless me with that duty at some point during my life. So get out there and do something. Except drugs. Employers and high-quality women tend to frown on potheads. And forget about that Mexico pipe-dream - it reads better than it lives. Good luck.

	Thanks (none / 0) (#5)
	by astrix on Mon Jan 14th, 2002 at 02:07:44 AM PST

	=] "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" --Thomas Jefferson

	Oh, for the love of fuck. (5.00 / 1) (#2)
	by Anonymous Reader on Fri Jan 11th, 2002 at 04:12:18 AM PST

	Why, why, why do people assume that just because the adequacy has a "diary" function, it is OK to post the sort of self-centered, inane, attention-starved rambling that might be found on just about any other site on the inter-wordly web-net? An adequacy diary, if not up to the standard of Pepys, ought to at least contain something that the world at large might be interested in reading. So, in the depths of the dot-com crash, you decided to move away from Mommy and Daddy and into one of the most expensive cities in the civilised world, whose job market is taking the brunt of the nascent US recession. And now you're fussing and wringing your hands over some perceived social injustice that you've stumbled across in your search for a job that you apparently don't really need, presumably because Mom and Dad are paying the rent? And all of this without the slightest notion of appropriate paragraph breaks. If there's anything I've learned from all this, it's that you smoke too much fucking weed. Sober up, kid. you've got a nasty decision ahead of you, and you'd better be in full possession of whatever feeble wit you possess when you make it. Here are your choices: Either you break the ubilical, swallow your pride, get a job washing dishes, learn to deal with the cabrones in the dishroom, and work your way up and out from there, if you can, or you embrace your upper-middle-class existence, ask your parents for help finding a job, learn the arts of nepotism, backstabbing, and office politics, and work your way up from there, if you can. The motorcycle fantasy? That's merely an entry to the dishwashing path. The fantasy of the Mexican home on the beach? At best, an endpoint of the family route. If you'd come across as even slightly less of a spoiled, self-absorbed pot-head in this diary-entry, I'd feel sorry for you. But I don't.

	Re: (none / 0) (#3)
	by tkatchev on Fri Jan 11th, 2002 at 07:04:50 AM PST

	Education is key. Without a proper education, the best you'll ever get is a menial job. P.S. "Education" does not mean "knowing how to do stuff". A monkey knows how to "do stuff". Education is about going one more step further and learning how to apply your skills. -- Peace and much love...

	Two pennys. (none / 0) (#6)
	by noah Oneye on Mon Jan 14th, 2002 at 06:09:29 AM PST

	Here's the answer I'm currently using: I live in Taiwan working a little under 20 hours a week teaching English. Some friends and I just launched a magazine and I recently put together a band after playing solo in bars over here for the past coupla years. I've got a 20 year old Taiwanese girlfriend (I'm 25) and a nice two bedroom apartment, with one room set up as a little recording studio. My point? Get the hell out of dodge, my friend. Unless you wanna be a simpering cog in some corporation, leave America. If you have a BA or BS in anything, you can teach in nearly any country in the world, and make a good living. This means you can either save a lot of money or do what I do - save a little money and have tons of free time. Enjoy. noah Oneye "...and in your free time you can make me sandwiches..."

	Advice (5.00 / 1) (#7)
	by Right Hand Man on Mon Jan 14th, 2002 at 07:26:09 AM PST

	I don't normally offer advice to whiners like yourself but yesterday's sermon was about helping others who are falling into the hands of Satan, so I'm in a helpful mood. By no means does this constitute any sort of friendship between you and I, nor does it mean I feel responsible in any way for your current situation, as I know how your type likes to blame 'society in general' for their problems, meaning the successful people who actually have a home in which to live. Problem #1: I moved out of my parents house in Chicago and moved to San Francisco Why not just dig your way down to hell and live there instead? Most likely because digging would be too much work for you. Anywhere west of Colorado is going to be a den of leftists, with no jobs, high taxes, a weak economy, and overrun with slackers who just want government handouts. Come back east as soon as possible. Problem #2: living in a 12 month lease apartment Did you know when you moved in that apartments come with no ground to call your own? They are just structures that provide shelter, no land comes with them. Without land you can't have a garden. You can't hunt. You can't really do any of the activities that give a person a solid base upon which they can build a life. You really need an acre or two where you can at least plant a garden, maybe kill a squirrel or two. Problem #3: I was just walking and happened to cross paths with a couple Rasta's playing guitar on the sidewalk I hope you were well armed but wih California's backward carry laws, I am guessing you weren't. Most people sitting on the street playing guitar are pickpocket thieves. Problem #4: Later we hopped in one of their vans to smoke a joint. Lay off the dope. God helps those who help themselves, and He isn't going to waste any effort on a doped up loser who can't think straight. Problem #5: which states took the longest after the civil rights movement to incorporate black culture into their local communities. You and your dopehead buddies have obviously been infected by too much leftist thinking. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting back east as quickly as possible. Here you are trying to figure out which states took the longest to incorporate black culture into their communities, instead of trying to figure out why the blacks in those states took so long to do it themselves. Stop relying on the state to do everything for you! You'll end up in line down at the soup kitchen before you know it. Self reliance and hard work is what is going to get you out of the hole you've dug, not government handouts, you ignorant wretched sloth! Problem #6: Just kind as could be and filled with soul And their pockets were filled with dope. Get away from these people ASAP. Problem #7: Which when I really think about it makes me feel a bit deceitful and spoiled, even fortunate. Yet more leftist poison. You aren't 'fortunate' just because your parents worked hard and gave you a decent life. You should reward them by stopping the whining and doing some good, honest work. Don't allow yourself to be dragged down into some rassafarian squalor, thats just what those people want. Problem #8: Lately I haven't really been able to figure out which class of society I am supposed to fit into Dammit, you aren't supposed to just fit into any class of society. You work your way into one. Your parents obviously didn't work you hard enough when you were a child. Did they make you hoe out the field rows? DId you have to split firewood in the dead of winter? I would bet not. If you had you'd realize that people make their own way, they don't just get everything handed to them, or taken away, by forces beyond their control. Problem #9: Where does that road end? In the scorching embrace of the devil. Problem #10: Nowhere in your entire story do I find even one single mention of the two things that will get you wherever you are going to go in life: Back breaking hard work God Unless you get yourself back into your right mind and stop hanging out with steet corner musicians you are doomed to turn into a drifter. Despised by decent people, hated by the police, a disappointment to your parents, enemy of a polite society, with seriel killers and child molestors as your fellow miscreants. Get up off your ass and go find a job, any job, that will help you learn the basic skills you need to make a contribution to society. Once that is completed, find a good church to attend regularly. Even if you don't earn a pile of money, at least you'll be a decent human being and can serve the Lord. ------------------------- "Keep your bible open and your powder dry."

	amazing (none / 0) (#8)
	by nathan on Mon Jan 14th, 2002 at 07:38:05 AM PST

	This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Nathan -- Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

	Jaw to the floor (none / 0) (#9)
	by astrix on Tue Jan 15th, 2002 at 07:45:03 PM PST

	That was beautiful, thank you kind sir. Small update (if anyone cares) I did find a job @ H&R Block. Fortunately they don't make you cook hamburgers there. Everyone had great advice. Cheers! "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" --Thomas Jefferson

	Congratulations (none / 0) (#10)
	by hauntedattics on Wed Jan 16th, 2002 at 11:34:41 AM PST

	Hope it works out well for you. Keep us posted.