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[AugustWest]

Holy SHIT! When did I turn into my father???

[miles]

Yes, apparently the board has two Daddies.

[jough]

I bow to August's daddy-ness.

However, I'm going to say to call bullshit on sjlimmer's:

there's no guarantee that doing what you enjoy will actually result in any sort of success

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "success."  I spend most of my time writing and publishing web sites, and I enjoy it (although it can be a lot of work and a grind at time) and sometimes I get to work with other people and companies who want to figure out a way to make technology be useful for their needs rather than just having technology because all companies have certain types of technology.  

If you don't do something you enjoy you will never be happy.  This is a "duh" statement but it's amazing how people ignore this when dispensing career advice.  

Having said that, I'm doing what I love - and poverty followed.  I'm >thisclose< to declaring bankruptcy and I don't have a lot of money which currently is causing me stress, but things are starting to look up and I don't really regret not having high-paying work over the past two years since if I worked for someone else I would have had nothing to show for it now (other than making my masters wealthier) whereas now what I've spent blood and sweat building (I got to spare myself the tears) will come through for me, and from now on the harder I work the more money I will make.  This will not happen if you work for someone else.

I'm not saying that all jobs are for suckers - I would not have been able to pursue my own business had a) the job market not sucked, and b) I had a family who required more financial stability.

Since the job market still sucks and you do not have familial obligations you may as well just fuck*ng TRY to do something that is personally worthwhile, and not something that makes you take weeping breaks in the  ladies' room every 20 minutes (and I'm sure some people here can relate to this).

You now the old adage: do what you love.  Poverty will follow.

But you'll be happier doing it.

The trick of course is to know what you love.  I don't know how old of a girl you are, but you just may not have done enough things yet to really know what it is that you love.  I'm just starting to figure this out myself at my ripe old age.

[AlohaDawg]

SJLimmer and Jough, play nice.

Aug and Me are looking at similar situations - and he's just a little older than I am, although his kids are ahead of mine.

The point is, few people are driving the gravy train with biscuit wheels and most of those that do built the train themselves (or their parents did). My friend Chris and I spoke at length about how, as Federal guys, we were never going to get rich. We're pretty much destined for a middle class life and an OK retirement, which is pretty much what you get 90% of the time you work for someone else.

So get knowledge, skills and abilities and then go out there with a vision for what you want to do. And do it, as fearlessly and as well as you can. I'm actually ready to take a big pay cut and a big job change, because I have faith in my resume and my knowledge, skills and abilities - we'll be OK, I am sure. And so will you as long as you manage your resources and your options well, regardless of what you do with  your undergrad time.

[Bozack]

The point is, few people are driving the gravy train with biscuit wheels...

MY GOD. The gravy train with biscuit wheels. IT DOES EXIST.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that this conversation is really good, and it's really helped me out as well in figuring out what I want to do.

[jough]

And Bozacky has reached a four digit post count.

His mom must be proud.

[CortJstr]

Actually I don't know if Penn State Alum are obnoxious, but the TAM grads are the worst.  They actually believe theirs is an elite school.  I'm like yeah right, they are soo discriminating.  I mean If you're not in the top 20,000 that apply, you'll never get in there. /sarcasm

Several of my family members went to Penn State. I think on the whole their grads realize that any school with 40,000 undergrads can't be all that discriminating.

[Beatrice]

OH AMAZING!

Thank you thank you for being so eager to talk it out.  I'm off to class right now but when I get back I will respond more specifically. (i.e.  where can I go to school to learn to be funny and then have my dream job: online cartoonist?)

Achewood Forum 4 lyfe!

[sjlimmer]

SJLimmer and Jough, play nice.

I was just playing a little Devil's Advocate, for the most part.  But I still think there's more to being happy than having the "right" job.  I hate to use anecdotal evidence (damn my relentless logic), but I know several people who don't particularly like what they do (things like retail management-not exactly most peoples dream job), but who lead happy lives.  And that’s because they have good friends, or happy families, or interesting hobbies or whatever.

If you want to be funny, be funny.  If you want to write, or draw, or sing or whatever...do it, and best of luck to you.  But be prepared to find a way to pay the bills, just in case.

[Nabubrush]

sjlimmer, I was going to try to find that thread because I knew we had covered it before, but I didn't get around to it. So, do what you love, if you can, but be honest with yourself and realize that not all the people who hand you Whoppers through those little windows love their jobs, and if all the people who didn't love that quit, you'd have to drive a lot farther for a Whopper. Myself, I'm incredibly lucky because I only work six months a year, and I take every other two weeks off. I don't particularly love my job, but it isn't so bad. I love my time off. Plus I make stupid bank, yo.

[wombat]

(i.e.  where can I go to school to learn to be funny and then have my dream job: online cartoonist?)

There's a cartooning major at Savannah College of Art and Design.  I don't know if they actually teach you to be funny, though.

http://www.scad.edu/academic/majors/seqa/index.html

I have no idea why I know this, by the way.

[CortJstr]

There's a cartooning major at Savannah College of Art and Design.  I don't know if they actually teach you to be funny, though.

http://www.scad.edu/academic/majors/seqa/index.html

I have no idea why I know this, by the way.

If you even whipser the words "drama" or "art" while in high school these people will not leave you the fuck alone. I got like two packages a month from them my whole senior year.

[AlohaDawg]

So I guess my question to you is along the lines of 'what do you want to learn?'. 'Cause there isn't an end to this life process thing, it's an open end contract with an option. I severely doubt that whatever you settle on now is going to be your result in a decade. That's usually reserved for those types who know what they want to do early on and keep it in mind as a focused goal. Should you keep schooling as part of this? Yeah, but maybe not all in one shot if the right thing pops up, but do finish 'cause it opens up additional possibilities in the future.

OK, that's it for me.

Have fun.

OK, so this post is what I WISHED I would have said in my other post...that and the thing about the Whoppers which is so perfect.

[Nabubrush]

Thank you. I always wanted to play in the NFL, but I'm 5' 8 1/2". The likelihood is slim. I may, indeed, be too late.

[jough]

See, that's just where I differ with sjlimmer - why should you be prepared to do something you don't love doing?

Anyway, you're still in school, which gives you CARTE BLANCHE to start any new hobbies while you're being cared for and have lots of free time (and trust me, college is when you will have the most free time of your LIFE so enjoy it, but try not to squander it).

If you want to be an online cartoonist, there's really no barrier to enter that world.  You just have to draw cartoons and post them on the internet, the latter being the easy part.

Now, if you don't know  how to draw, or suck at it, then you should take some art classes to see if you even really enjoy it.  

And don't worry about being funny at first.  You won't be, and your early comics will suck.   Remember Onstad's Ranier Beer comic?  Awful.  But you have to trudge through the yuck to get the yucks later.  Practise, practise, practise.

But if after five years even the people who love you and your choch tell you that you suck - you may want to at least consider their admonishments.

But for now, while you're in your 20s, go fuck*ng wild.