Who's an adult?

[Ashes]

No more college games with boyfriends/girlfriends and playing some video game. No offense, but that's not life.

Who actually has to rely upon themselves to survive? and how do you do it?

[anti_shrub]

1. Seems like you're trying to pick a fight or something

With the "boo on the meat eaters" thread and now this one...

[Ashes]

2. that's your impression - very wrong.

I asked a simple question. If you consider yourself an adult, how do you make it in this world. Not a complicated or aggressive question. Very simple.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[anti_shrub]

8. Wow

Never before have I seen so much condescending attitude stuffed into a mere few sentences.

Well played.

[Wonk]

3. Click this link for a rough idea of the demographic distribution of DUers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=16470&mesg_id=16470

[Ashes]

4. Thanks - that surprised me

.edit:
I still don't know how people that consider themselves adults support themselves.

[Maple]

6. Had you thought

of a job?

[Ashes]

7. jobs happen t o 15 year olds

they are not adults.

[Maple]

9. Jobs don't 'happen' at all

You have to look for one.

Most adults have one...that's how you support yourself.

[Ashes]

11. That's funny, but you miss the point and try to twist it

I don't give a shit how many 15 year olds have jobs to support their 10th grade girlfriends movie habit. I don't think it's funny to divert - of course most adults have jobs - even though 2.7 million of them have been lost in the past 2.5 years. that wasn't the question. Nice try at a diversion - the neocons would be proud of you.

Who is adult enough to survive without the assistance of your parents, or overreliance on credit cards?

Who is an adult?

[Maple]

13. Actually it's not neo-con at all

It's called survival.

And if you want an age it's 21.

If you want a philosophy, you should have said so.

Personally I think you're bored, and are just arsing around.

So I won't bother answering any of your other posts.

Some of us are busy.

[Ashes]

14. again, you miss the point

nothing personal. Simple question. Don't answer if you don't want.

[Wonk]

15. This is pretty funny

coming from someone with a smiling broccoli avatar ;-)

Are YOU an adult?

[Ashes]

16. too bad you also missed the point

does anyone here have an education and a thought in their brain that doesn't make them run with the herd?

[Wonk]

19. Maybe so.... maybe not....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=81676&mesg_id=81676

[prolesunited]

22. That would be my guess too

I think I should probably bookmark that thread for easy reference. ;-)

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. Run with the herd

is a phrase often used by the herd...

[ForrestGump]

25. Yes, many of us, I'd say

Me included. Not that education necessarily has much to do with either thought or free will, although it often gets in the way of both.

Who wants to be an adult, anyway? There's even a crime named after it - adultery. How sucky is that?

I'm planning to go straight from prolonged adolescence to curmudgeon - it'll be great.



There's something oh-so familiar about this broccolihead.

[proud patriot]

10. My husband supports me

He owns his own business in PDR (Paintless Dent Removal)
I'm a homemaker/mom and I work very hard at ensuring I'm aware
of the world around me so I can work towards a better world for my
son .

There do I get a prize :D

[Ashes]

12. That is excellent

I hope you do get recognition.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

17. I'm an adult

and I support myself by protecting the rights of laborers. In my free time I am an entertainer. I support myself by making sure I spend as much time by the ocean as I can clearing my head out to face another day, and then I go to bed, get up and do it all over again. In between, I support myself by reading threads on DU that fawn over me to the chagrin of others :D

I assume you weren't basing your question strictly on financial support. That would be too one-dimensional for a such a ripe question . People pay their bills all the time but aren't supporting themselves.

[Journeyman]

18. I have my own business. . .

and employ between 9 and 11 people, depending on the workload and the particular demands of the projects. Do I rely on myself to survive? To some measure, though like all people, my life is a symbiotic relationship with those around me. Do I survive without my parents? Yes, though the sorrow of my Mother's loss still holds my heart eighteen years since her parting. Do I have an over-reliance on credit cards? No. I use credit cards only as a convenience and never carry over a balance. There's more to credit than cards, though, and I can't imagine making do without it. There's the mortgage on my home and the lines of credit extended to me by vendors. . . many months, the latter is almost as great as the former and I've only a few months to repay it. There's an exercise for your mind and fortitude: Owe a slew of money, enough to generate ulcers spontaneously, and cautiously search the mail each day. . . add into the mix the need to feed and clothe your family, then stir in responsibility for the professional needs of a well-paid staff. . . well, you should get the gist of the strong survival instinct needed just to get up each morning. The effort is eased by our clientele, who generally provide positive services to the community and give me substantial leeway in the organization of my services.

But your questions, the responses elicited so far, and your attitude towards your own topic, leads me to seriously wonder about your motives. I haven't a clue what you're seeking in this thread, or what you intend to do with the answers. I hope you gain whatever it is you're after, for you seem to earnestly want something, even though your approach is seemingly disjointed and somewhat confrontational.

[rogerashton]

21. I'm 60 going on 17 --

a tenured full professor (It's not polite to ask, full of what?) at a major east coast university (it says right here in my contract that I have to describe it as major). I'm not sure you would describe a tenure line as self-reliance, nor do I care a helluva lot. My mortgage is paid off and the credit card will be at the end of the month -- and I just put a few more bills in my mutual funds. Good point about credit cards, in a way. A 79-year-old retired person I know went bankrupt last year and lost her house due to pre-approved credit cards -- damn Advanta!

But I'm probably not a very good model for most folks for several reasons. First, I really love the ivory tower life. Most would find it dull 95% of the time and terrifying to the point of nausea about 5%. Second, I am more averse to financial risk, and less averse to ego risk, than most people. Thus, while I am fascinated by the idea of running a business, as another poster here does, I would freeze up with my own money on the line. I'm just not capable of focusing on practicalities with the persistence that would require. On the other hand, I can shrug off a refusal by a book publisher (or a dressing-down by the provost) in a couple of hours and get back to work. After all, I know I'm the best, so why should I care what they think?

I think the negative responses to your post reflect an implication we find in it -- whether you meant it or not -- that lefties must be irresponsible young people. I think careful inquiry would lead you to the opposite conclusion. The lefties I know are all ages, including some downright scarily impressive folks over 80, while the parent-supported young folks I meet in my line of work are probably more predominantly conservative than not. Plenty of them are chickenhawks! Here, again, though, there are all kinds, and some are dynamic, creative, brilliant and grand; and even some of those are conservative in some sense. I have a conservative protoge whom I will probably have to vote against if I stay in Pennsylvania! It aint age, young feller, it's temperament and individuality. As an old whippersnapper who is about fed up with young geezers, I'm not particularly impressed by either generation.

[trof]

23. Kinda

Not sure what you're looking for.
62 chronologically.
When I started hanging out here a little over a year ago, I was about 12 in my head. Now I think I'm up to maybe 14 1/2.
I've done the whole breadwinner (sometimes co-breadwinner), family man, husband-father, college tuition, wedding bells (and bills) thing.
And now I have a grandson.
I worry about what kind of world my daughter and her family will live in. I do what I can to make it livable, but right now feel frustrated and powerless about what they are inheriting. They say the pendulum swings, so possibly this, too, shall pass.

I'm trying (marginally successfully, so far) to survive in retirement by investing conservatively and still generating enough cash to live off of. It ain't easy.

So...am I an adult? Some would argue not quite yet, and I'd be OK with that assessment.
;-)

[LWolf]

24. Me.

I've been relying on myself to survive since I was 17, financially, and since I was 10 or so for things like feeding myself, laundry, learning, getting myself where I wanted to go, etc.

[IDUDOYOU]

26. First off, lose the stalk of broccoli

Might have seemed cool in college, not cool as an adult.
First rule as an adult.
Get rid of any symbols adults would find stupid.
Like broccoli stalks.
How about your state, something to do with your job/education/family/Democratic party?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

27. Who's an instigator?

[thermodynamic]

28. What's worth surviving for?

Bush is nuking our economical system by doing things that make no sense; and things that have been done before - but didn't work then so why aren't people realizing it now?!

And Bush is determined to get N Korea or somebody else with a grain of sense to pre-emptively attack the world's latest aggressor, "the Un-united States of Duhbya*".

I don't think we'll be around by 2005. So, fuck it, I'm going to live life now. It's also time for me to change my personal ads as well, no more looking for Mr. Right nonsense...