As I sit here snacking on some good old fashioned instant oatmeal, I can't help but do what I do: contemplate over the recent events of life and try to make sense of the mess of it all. Not unlike traditional schooling and, well, in the spirit of final exam season, maybe it is time for an evaluation of post-grad life. How are we doing?
Unlike traditional schooling, I think it's time to throw out the As, Bs, Ds, and Fs. It seems like what a fair amount of twenty-somethings want (and some have attained) are "C"s. Big, fat, red "C"s written on the exam paper of life using the permanent marker of success so the whole world can see.
Come with me, let's sail the seven "C"s! (har har)
1. C for COLLEGE: College (or education in the way that best applies to your life) is like the freebie of the bunch. It's like the GO--> square on the Monopoly board. You've worked hard in school for 2 decades. You've paid your dues in pencil lead and all nighters. Hopefully, you got something in return. Despite the possible brain cell decline from excessive alcohol consumption in recent years, you know you're smart and you've made it to a level where you can contribute meaningfully back to the world. Good job. Go you!
2. C for CAR: Pragmatically speaking, as a working "adult" (because we totally are), it just makes sense to have our own vehicles; especially in our area since freeways basically strangle us from head to toe. Un-pragmatically speaking, do you honestly want your hot date to sit on top of a seat stain caused by you puking as a child on the way back from apple-picking? Or worse, fear that when he/she opens the car door, the handle will fly off? Then again, that's probably just my car.
3. C for CASH: It is inevitable that a twenty-something living in a metropolitan area is going to be introduced to some pretty cool young "adult" (again, the quotations) things to do. You're going to want to take your new, sexy car out to some places besides your office. Weekend trips to Vegas or San Francisco; clubbing in LA or SD; baseball, basketball, hockey games; wine tasting in Napa; a vast sea of untasted restaurants; concerts; traveling during vacation time; music and film festivals; the list can go on. But, what CANNOT go on, unfortunately, is one's attendance to such festivities if one does not have the cash.
4. C for CAREER: Okay, money and fun isn't everything. Hopefully, you would have built your work around a passion, a dream/ambition/cause you can devote your life working to achieve. It would be nice if the cash flow came from you doing what you actually loved; adding value to society, reshaping the landscape of your chosen industry, leaving the world a little better than how it was previously.
5. C for CONDO: Do I really need to touch on this one? Who WOULDN'T want to live in a place where IKEA threw up in a way that was conducive to your liking, martini glasses lined the windowsill, and 10 types of cereal sat on top the fridge? More important than aesthetics and autonomy over cereal control, having your own place (be it a condo, house, houseboat, shack, whatever) is often seen as a symbolic marker of true independence. You've officially moved out of the nest and are "on your own." Not in a college kid "I'm on my own but I have meal points and I still go home to do laundry" sort of way, but legit on your own.
6. C for CREW: Even if you have the hookups to the best hot spots in town, the sexiest bachelor(ette) pad ever, and an equally sexy car, it would be no fun if you didn't have some people to share it all with. As with pretty much everything on here, the definition of what constitutes as one's "crew" is subjective to the individual. For me, I think a good crew would be similar to the layers of the Earth: a small but awesome inner core core, a larger outer core of people to feel comfortable around at social gatherings, the quasi new people/friends of friends which make up the mantle, and the occasional contact with the crust: strangers, random cool people. Like a crust, they can flake all they want, but it doesn't really matter because they really aren't that important.
7. C for CUPCAKE: ... or Cutiepie, whatever you call your significant other. Twenty somethings can get by, and actually go a long way with just their crew. However, while friends are fun and all, it's unlikely you'll get your friends to hold your hand during a scary movie, take a bubble bath with you, or make you a candlelit dinner (you must be some amazing friend if you contest). But for the masses, I think that those activities are reserved for you and your Cupcake: your boyfriend, girlfriend, special friend with possible benefits, wife, husband, life partner, whatever.
So here are the 7 "C"s. It's eval time. Make like Monopoly and GO!!! How are we twenty somethings doing? Wait a second. Even after listing it down, it still isn't clear on HOW a proper evaluation should take place. Should grading be curved and just relative to how our peers are doing? Or should we take the aggregate score? Should the rigor of grading be directly proportional to the age of the twenty something? Can, and should we control bias?
So many questions, it is admittedly overwhelming. I think I'll have a cupcake.
