I'm a jaded twentysomething avoiding doing a paper - ask me anything.

[StellaBlue]

[RetroLounge]

1. What has made you Jaded?

RL

[StellaBlue]

2. Just feeling like my life is over at 27.

And has been since I was about 22.

Crippling student debt coupled with the inability to get a job paying more than $12 an hour.

Being broken up with by my English partner of four years AFTER I came home for a visit, thereby forcing me to lose my UK residency status, job, house, car, pets, etc.

The impossibility of buying a house.

The unaffordability of healthcare, even though I am only 27, a nonsmoker, and have no prior health issues.

The impossibility of ever having the money/partner to have children.

Seeing people I went to high school with who got married right out of school now owning their own homes, nice cars, and having several kids, while I can't afford any of that.

Not being able to sleep at night because of the creditc card debt I've amassed since I was forcibly repatriated, not to mention the looming student debt.

The shitty, shitty job market.

All the RWers in Amerikkka who are wilfully ignorant.

The frustration of being told my whole life that if I went to college I would do better than my parents, only to find that is not the case at all.

Feeling like I will never "catch up".

Seeing people who are less talented, less dedicated, and less intelligent than me walk into good jobs and prospects for life while, no matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to get a break (people like GWB).

Oh, and the crippling student debt. That always starts and ends my day, so let's start and end the post with it, too.

[RetroLounge]

3. Ah...

That'll do it.

:hug:

RL

[StellaBlue]

4. Thanks

I am actually really happy except for the not being able to sleep because of the debt, and the ensuing rage. hahahahaha

But, really, I am a happy person. Just jaded by life. Like most.

Damn, it's time to watch It's a Wonderful Life again, isn't it?

[RetroLounge]

5. My Favorite Movie, IAWL...

I found myself worth more dead than alive...Just like George Bailey.

School debt, grad school debt, credit debt, mortgage, 2nd mortgage, car payments, child care, etc. Got behind in everything.

Then last year my wife had a lesbian affair, we were forced to put the house up for sale, then we separated, and my stellar credit rating is now in the toilet due to her theraputic spending issues. I was forced to sell both my 1958 Oldsmobiles, 3/4 of our 1950's collections, and had a huge garage sale for the rest of the junk we decided to sell. Now I live in an apartment I am paying rent for, plus paying her rent, plus the house hasn't sold, so my debt per month went UP due to rent so that my mortgage is now double...

So Jaded? Sure, somewhat.

But I found a way to turn the darkness into a creative outlet and my writing has improved in leaps and bounds.

So, there's that.

RL

[StellaBlue]

11. That sounds familiar.

And reminds me of how I will probably never be able to force myself to get married. It's just not worth it. Unless I meet someone like Jimmy Stewart... pitter patter, pitter patter. haha

I want to write, too. I am working on a Southern Gothic novel. In fact, I was thinking, if I don't qualify for any FAFSA loans because I applied too late, I will use the extra semester to seriously write my book and wait tables a lot to save up some $$$$

Thanks!!! :hi:

[jobycom]

8. Yeah, I felt like that at 27, too.

And at 32. And at 38. Finally realized at 41 my life wasn't over back then, but it is now. Probably at 46 I'll look back at 41 and wonder why I thought my life was over then!

You and me are the same broke in the same town! I can tell you from experience, there ain't no better town to be dead broke in, though!

[GOPisEvil]

9. Yeah, those are common feelings, aren't they?

All in all, I alternate from being thrilled with what I have to being disappointed I haven't done more with my life.

:sigh:

[jobycom]

13. LOL. Yeah, my exact mood swing, too.

I think that if more people understood that they would feel that way at EVERY stage of their life, they'd do a little more living and a lot less worrying. But I know it, and I STILL do it, so I guess it wouldn't help.

[GOPisEvil]

16. You know, I'm trying to be more in the moment with an eye on the future.

But, when you live alone and are introspective by nature, well, that plan isn't always successful. ;)

[jobycom]

21. You and me both on that introspective thing

Funny part was for me, living alone was a big step up to living in the moment.

[StellaBlue]

17. Yes, again, you speak the truth.

It's sort of like my thighs. I can bemoan them, or think, well, screw it, I'm gonna flaunt the things in this bikini, cause it ain't gonna get any BETTER than this, that's for sure. Not from 27. No, sir.

[jobycom]

23. I was in the best shape of my life, by a long shot

at 39. If I could get back to that shape--complete vegan, no sugar, running four miles a night--I'd... well, i'd be in better shape! :rofl:

[GOPisEvil]

25. I'm in the best shape of my life in my mid-late 30s as well.

If I didn't have the tendency to just pig out every few days, I'd look better too. If I wasn't 75lbs heavier than I am now for YEARS, I'd probably look a tad better as well. :P

[StellaBlue]

14. That's the damn truth!

:toast:

[jobycom]

15. To being a slacker in Austin!

:toast: (David, feel free to lift a pint, too!)

[GOPisEvil]

20. I can drink to slackeration!

:toast:

[GOPisEvil]

6. What's your paper about?

:hi:

[StellaBlue]

19. I'm not even sure yet

My professor is foreign and his intentions do not always come across so clearly in his instructions.

I think it's going to be about databases and information retrieval (yaaaaawn).

[GOPisEvil]

22. sdfdfggfg

Oh sorry, head hit the keyboard. Sounds :boring: exciting...

[jobycom]

7. What's your favorite cheap student meal in Austin?

And what art history did you major in? (Noticed in another thread, since my grad work was in history.)

[StellaBlue]

24. Probably Kim Phung on Burnet/183

I like the Fried Tofu Noodle Bowl with hot sauce

OR perhaps

the kosher breakfast brunch at the fabulous new Hillel house on 22nd/San Antonio

(both around $5-6, although the Chronicle runs buy-1-get-1-free coupons to the latter, so, see you there!!!)



and



My BA is in Nineteenth and pre-Modern Twentieth Century English Literature (minor history)

My MA is in "The Culture of Modernsim", an interdisciplinary program studying the art, literature, politics, and architecture of Europe, 1890-1940. But I wrote my dissertation on "Women Working on the Fringes of the Surrealist Movement in the Interwar Years" - I don't remember the exact title. Focused on Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington, and Frida Kahlo, with plenty of feminist ire for Andre Breton. But I digress.

And I wonder why I don't have a great job. :rofl:

(FYI, I intended to teach college, but burned out on academia during my MA, plus I didn't want to go another $100,000 into debt.)

[jobycom]

27. Ah, modern history, or as we medievalists used to call it

journalism! :rofl:

I wanted to be an academic, too, but with kids and debt at 32 I just couldn't do it anymore. And I was surprised, too, that my experience in lecturing on Christian-Islamic relations in Andulusian Spain and Christian Europe didn't translate into a six figure income somewhere! *NOT*! I knew it was all or nothing in my field.

Still, one of these days I'll finish my novel and start my writing career, then my degree will come in handy.... You're making me feel real guilty about posting here. I should be writing or running!

My favorite cheap meals were the 99 cent menus at the Student Union Wendys, then the Mr. Gattis and Taco Cabana across MLK. Until I had a kid, then they were vegetarian red beans and rice, spinach, and cheap white bread with cheap margerine! Lived off that until I couldn't take being broke anymore! I had the advantage of having a working spouse, though.

[StellaBlue]

28. Oh,God

I live like two blocks from said Taco Cabana. It calls...

[dolo amber]

10. *doing a paper* used to mean something wholly different

:D

[Maestro]

12. You ever considered teaching art

in the public schools? If you received an Art degree you probably could be alternatively certified to teach art in the public schools. I'm in education and I am very glad I chose this career even with its frustrations.

And I second the question, what is the paper about?

[StellaBlue]

26. 1 - I wish

I would love that, but I don't think I can since a)my degree is solely in art history, and only loosely at that, and b) I would still have to get certified, which would be just as time-consuming and costly as the MLS I have already embarked on, only with the added joy of getting to work with kids at the end :sarcasm:

Seriously, I wish I had considered some form of non-higher-ed earlier.


and 2 - see above post (yaaaaawn)

[liontamer]

18. me too

when is yours due