Warning: this is a rant. draws no major conclusions (or conclusions of any kind) and serves no other purpose than for me to get stuff that is rattling around inside my head, out, into the world so it can infect someone else.
You have been warned.
I've been a college graduate for... well actually I haven't technically graduated yet. My online class is finished though, and I escaped the last three credits of my college career with 419 points out of a possible 450. I didn't even take the final exam. Thus, even if I don't have my degrees in my grubby little hands, I feel justified in calling myself a college graduate.
As my friends and I are coming to realize, the "real world" isn't all it's cracked up to be. Full time jobs and full time unemployment abound. The networking started in earnest during the last two weeks of classes as people finally figured out "oh shit, I don't have a job!"
For some people, this was a rude awakening. For others, it's more of the same. Either way, it's definitely interesting.
Another thing "they" don't tell you about getting out of school - you instantly lose a very important benefit that comes from being stuck with a zillion other people in your age group: access to the opposite sex.
Don't get me wrong - you can still hit up your favorite bars and all that jazz, but now it's different, somehow.
In classes, your peers are sober*, awake*, and (sometimes) intellectually engaged in something at least slightly resembling a common topic. This forces you to find common ground, gives you something to talk about. It also gives you a common enemy. The default conversation-starter is all about how much of an asshole* the instructor is. How you got screwed out of a grade. How that person is evil and clearly hates all the students who aren't willing to put out to bump up their grade.
To be fair, this particular conversation starter rarely works with people who are doing well in the class.
Whatever. Now, you lose access to that kind of commonality. Especially if the entire staff of your new full time job is 8 people.
This rant is rapidly losing any kind of coherent thought process. I'm not sure it had one to begin with. Sometimes you just gotta write and get crap out of your head. And, what with this being my blog, I suppose I can write whatever it is I please!
One thing is for sure - I'm only just touching the surface of what it is like to live in the real world. All you old people, feel free to scoff at my naivete. But don't forget what it felt like when you were in my position and it was all new and crazy to you, too.
* (hopefully)
