AN: Hey guys, the only note I have is that I would really appreciate
reviews on this one. I'm thinking of submitting it to my college newspaper,
and it's due on the 19th. Thought I'd put it into FF.net first to see how
it would go over. Thanks (
Beating the 9-5
I only talk to my dad about once a week. More than that is not really necessary, because the message is always the same: "Work hare for the next four years, and then the rest of your life will be a party."
I can understand why he wants me to do so well in college, because he never went himself. My mom did, and she now has her own 9-5 job. Well, really it's more like 7-6, sometimes 7-8. She wakes up at 5:30 a.m., and is out the door with her coffee in hand by 6. Sometimes she'll get home as late as 9 o'clock at night. Exhausted, she'll heat up the dinner we ate hours ago, and fall asleep during the 10 o'clock news.
Truthfully, that's what worries me about college. I'm preparing myself for a 9-5 job, or worse, no job at all. I've seen my mom's cubicle at Mellon Financial Corporation. Its graphite grey, and the only color is the pictures my sisters and I made when we were five, and the occasional orange push-pin holding up a post-it note. No offense to my mother, but I don't want that.
That's why I'm concerned with beating the mundane ness of the 9-5 life. I'll have fun at college, that's obvious, but the thought that the fun will abruptly end after graduation frightens me. Like running out of ice cream in the cafeteria, I don't want it to happen. We all see the people who are victims of the 9-5. My neighbor comes to mind, who after I see get home from work, cuts the grass, then disappears into his house until morning. What I want is a way to make my job just apart of my life, not my whole life. I don't want punching the clock to suck all the life out of me.
Naturally, I think of ways to combat this drab routine life of getting up, going to work, coming home, and being too tired to even stay up. The first of ways is to keep your friends, of course. I figure they'll be the ones I'll invite over for margarita nights and go to football games with. Friends are perhaps one of the most important things we will take from college, besides our education. Hopefully if you're stuck in a rut, they'll be the ones to let you know it, and take you out to make you feel better. They'll be the people that you look forward to seeing after leaving your cubicle, and maybe they'll be the ones to help you redecorate it too.
Also, as weird as this may sound, keep your family too. Personally, my three sisters also double as friends. The best part is if I fight with these friends, there's no worry about them not talking to me ever again. One of them will need money sooner or later. My mom and dad also look forward to the family gatherings that my grandparents will throw. It seems to them that getting back with their brothers and sisters help them relax, and even laugh about the things they did when they were little. Hopefully the career you choose will not take you too far away from your family.
The third idea I have for making your life after work interesting is to have some sort of hobby, as corny as that sounds. I like to do art, and hopefully painting after I get home from work will help me separate my work from my personal life. I know some people will probably join some health club or yoga class to work off the fifteen pounds we gained while watching too much TV. I hope everyone will find something to do after work that will give them something to look forward to after they go home. Besides having a job that you know you will love, this is the next best thing.
That's all the ideas I have for now, and I hope everyone will have something to do to break out of the routine of life. Pursuing a dream perhaps, one that college didn't prepare us for. It's just too sad to think that our lives will be mapped out for us, hour by hour, from when we wake, to when we're allowed to go home at the end of the day.
Beating the 9-5
I only talk to my dad about once a week. More than that is not really necessary, because the message is always the same: "Work hare for the next four years, and then the rest of your life will be a party."
I can understand why he wants me to do so well in college, because he never went himself. My mom did, and she now has her own 9-5 job. Well, really it's more like 7-6, sometimes 7-8. She wakes up at 5:30 a.m., and is out the door with her coffee in hand by 6. Sometimes she'll get home as late as 9 o'clock at night. Exhausted, she'll heat up the dinner we ate hours ago, and fall asleep during the 10 o'clock news.
Truthfully, that's what worries me about college. I'm preparing myself for a 9-5 job, or worse, no job at all. I've seen my mom's cubicle at Mellon Financial Corporation. Its graphite grey, and the only color is the pictures my sisters and I made when we were five, and the occasional orange push-pin holding up a post-it note. No offense to my mother, but I don't want that.
That's why I'm concerned with beating the mundane ness of the 9-5 life. I'll have fun at college, that's obvious, but the thought that the fun will abruptly end after graduation frightens me. Like running out of ice cream in the cafeteria, I don't want it to happen. We all see the people who are victims of the 9-5. My neighbor comes to mind, who after I see get home from work, cuts the grass, then disappears into his house until morning. What I want is a way to make my job just apart of my life, not my whole life. I don't want punching the clock to suck all the life out of me.
Naturally, I think of ways to combat this drab routine life of getting up, going to work, coming home, and being too tired to even stay up. The first of ways is to keep your friends, of course. I figure they'll be the ones I'll invite over for margarita nights and go to football games with. Friends are perhaps one of the most important things we will take from college, besides our education. Hopefully if you're stuck in a rut, they'll be the ones to let you know it, and take you out to make you feel better. They'll be the people that you look forward to seeing after leaving your cubicle, and maybe they'll be the ones to help you redecorate it too.
Also, as weird as this may sound, keep your family too. Personally, my three sisters also double as friends. The best part is if I fight with these friends, there's no worry about them not talking to me ever again. One of them will need money sooner or later. My mom and dad also look forward to the family gatherings that my grandparents will throw. It seems to them that getting back with their brothers and sisters help them relax, and even laugh about the things they did when they were little. Hopefully the career you choose will not take you too far away from your family.
The third idea I have for making your life after work interesting is to have some sort of hobby, as corny as that sounds. I like to do art, and hopefully painting after I get home from work will help me separate my work from my personal life. I know some people will probably join some health club or yoga class to work off the fifteen pounds we gained while watching too much TV. I hope everyone will find something to do after work that will give them something to look forward to after they go home. Besides having a job that you know you will love, this is the next best thing.
That's all the ideas I have for now, and I hope everyone will have something to do to break out of the routine of life. Pursuing a dream perhaps, one that college didn't prepare us for. It's just too sad to think that our lives will be mapped out for us, hour by hour, from when we wake, to when we're allowed to go home at the end of the day.