obs, jobs, jobs, jobs … jobs I do adore.
Hmmm. Yeah, that definitely sounds better when Jay-Z does it.
Anywho, I’m actually excited about the possibility of having a steady job right after graduation. Although I will graduate in May 2006, I still think about what I will to do for a career.
I’ve only had two jobs in my life: Skechers shoe store and a newspaper internship.
After I graduated high school, I worked at Skechers for the summer.
Possibly the worst place to work – screaming kids, eagerly rude parents trying to buy screaming kids shoes, having your boss tell you how you should be less apathetic even though it’s not a job you plan on working for full time, yadda yadda yadda.
But I got over it, because I knew I didn’t want to work in retail as a career.
When I worked for The Tennessean last summer, it was great. Get up, get out and do something. That’s all I did, and it was great.
I was lucky enough to get paid for my passion of writing. I knew it was my calling.
No worries about working and staying up late to study for a meaningless test.
Yes, it was quite stressful at times working at a professional paper, but at least it was all I had to worry about.
Once I came home after work, I either hung out with friends or chillaxed.
I didn’t feel bad for staying out until 3 a.m., having a funky good time, because even though it was on a work night, it wasn’t enough to inhibit me from doing what I wanted to do.
Then fall semester came. Bye-bye, happy job-times making good money. Back to collegiate life, YET again. Please spare me.
It’s kind of sad, actually. The first three semesters of college, I was all about it. I had motivation to work hard, study and all that good stuff.
Then it went downhill after that. I lost the drive to be academic. OK, I get it: go to class, jot down everything your professor says, write papers or take tests.
I’ve done this for the past 15 years, babycakes. It’s time to go. Time to move on. Deuces!
Here’s a typical conversation dealing with school:
“Hey, Amb, have you typed your paper yet?”
“Nope.”
“But doesn’t your class start in 15 minutes?”
“Yep.”
Yikes. I know, very horrible of me. I’m still making pretty good grades because in the end I realize, hey man, I’m on scholarship. So that’s the only motivation I have.
It’s just that I’m not “applying” myself. And it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s just that I don’t care. Yep, that’s right. I’m Ron Livingston’s character from “Office Space.”
Except, I actually enjoyed working, but am in the doldrums as far as school goes. During my first three semesters, I didn’t really have a social life because I wanted to be a straight-A student and such.
Then I realized, hey – shouldn’t I live my life like it’s golden?
So my solution was to implement a social life and still somewhat care about homework. Yeah, I’ll probably get more B’s than I’ve ever had, but so what? As a dear friend said once, “I’m just trying to live.”
Exactly.
I won’t lie, there have been a few classes that I’ve taken that I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from, but then there’s too many classes I hated that overshadowed my fun learning experience. For me, all that came from meeting different people from different backgrounds.
That’s what it’s really about. Learning from people, not just books.
In short, I’m just ready to work. I know, it won’t be as fun as having parents pay for things or won’t have to worry about finding a place to live because you’ll crash at your parents’ house once summer hits. Then there’s the constant fear of messing up and getting fired. Not to mention the fact that I’ll miss the friends I made in college. That’s no cupcake glory.
But that’s part of life, and you can’t be pampered forever. Time to pack it up and start making that money, baby.
Enjoy yousrelf.
You will amount to nothing if you drink away your college years or make poor grades. Unless you plan on being president.
Amber North is the Herald features editor and humor columnist. She can be reached at features@wkuherald.com.
.