tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97872188177230930.post2172309515026911943..comments2011-05-05T21:13:10.889-04:00Comments on Urban Pessimist: In pursuit of ______________Jennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09421871953712948266noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97872188177230930.post-80011609708998958842011-05-05T21:13:10.889-04:002011-05-05T21:13:10.889-04:00Howdy former neighbor - awesome blog.
Trying to r...Howdy former neighbor - awesome blog.<br /><br />Trying to relate my story:<br /><br />I went to U of T Scarborough and lived on residence for the five years as it was relatively shitty and cheap town housing they have there. U of T Scarborough is in the middle of a forest (pretty much) and it's a fifteen minute walk to the nearest bar and a half an hour walk from anywhere else. I went there for the co-op so I could understand how my education was applicable sooner rather than later (that was my thought). <br /><br />If your education was paying for somebody to tell you you're a genius, I would have to say that mine was the opposite. Weekly assignments, quizzes and unnecessarily tough grading techniques - often both process and solution need both be correct (not one or the other). My marks would sometimes be 15 to 20% but due to the bell curve I would get 60% or better. If Profs told you something wasn't on an exam that meant it was and other such psychological games. I stayed awake for days doing work, weekends were work. I even remember working all night after thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's on assignments. In the end I learned they purposely gave you more work than is humanly possible to accomplish. I guess just to see how you deal with it or because they think that's what you paid for? I learned marks can be irrelevant numbers sometimes. I learned that I wasn't as clever as some people.<br /><br />After a while I got fed up with paying for abuse having learned my lesson. I opted to leave and work and work has been like a vacation comparatively.<br /><br />For a while I worked on a farm north of Brampton delivering hay to horse farms. It paid nothing but it was such a nice job and I loved it. Then I got a job with Canadian Tire because my brother in law needed help and then got a job with Loblaws doing thinking and problem solving for them.<br /><br />I never sought advice from a career counselor because I am very shy. However I assumed that people would only pay me if I did something they didn't want to do, were too lazy to do, or couldn't do for themselves. Conversely I figured nobody would get paid for doing things they love unless they were extremely lucky or unless they liked things that others didn't want to do or couldn't do or were too lazy to do.<br /><br />I've always liked problem solving so I'm lucky I guess.<br /><br />I hope you find your niche.Fluxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06088323760193650163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97872188177230930.post-24171377720346188442011-04-03T22:27:07.447-04:002011-04-03T22:27:07.447-04:00Yeah, good post. Speaking of good posts, I keep re...Yeah, good post. Speaking of good posts, I keep reading articles (who am I kidding, you guys know I don't read - it must have been a CBC passionate eye or something) about people who blog as a job. like seriously, people are blogging and making money at it enough to support whatever lifestyle they do have. Since you are a really good writer (don't take my word for it - see above comment about my lack of reading) you could blog more often and possibly attract more followers - plug yourself shamelessly across facebook, twitter, and every other social media site, choosing a new blog title to race up the organic google search list in hopes of generating enough interest that pure volume somehow translates directly to valuation and you become rich based on an idea. Sounds ridiculous, but somehow Mark Zuckerburg is able to pay his employees and live a pretty high cost lifestyle without really generating very much "revenue" at all. And this was the case before he even let the dreaded advertisers into/onto fb. <br /><br />Like Graeme said it's all relative. I've turned 30 and just got out of debt. For the 2nd time. While my first crack at a 'career' provided me a decent disposable income and a way out of debt the first time, I was not only willing to throw it all away, but in many ways I had to, as I was not willing to accept that the path I was on was the only one I was capable of. What I thought I left all behind - a 'trade school' college education as a stepping stone to be able to contribute to really interesting and fun design work, which i thought i loved, so that it would would satisfy me sufficiently while allowing me the lifestyle i wanted - i managed to re-create the same situation in the most unlikely of places here in Whistler. I work for arguably the worst employer i've ever encountered in ResortQuest Whistler (in case anyone is doing an organic search of RQW - see above - generating traffic to this blog) and have still been willing to sacrifice on average close to 60 hours/week for basically the same salary I was able to command in architecture. The cost of living is arguably higher in Whistler but the lifestyle that I was able to create was the difference for me. for a while. I racked up another few thousand in debt, re-lived some of my partying days surrounded by young twenty-somethings, and felt kind of like a big fish in a small pond. for a while. Blessed by a wonderful financially responsible partner, I have crawled out of debt and into savings just in time to start another adventure and ultimately gain some really exciting new opportunities and life experiences.<br /><br />For me, now, I view a 'career' like a plan B. you can always go back to working for nothing for a faceless company that affords you just enough to create the lifestyle you think you are happy with, in the hopes that at some point an opportunity will come up and you will be astute enough to recognize it and you will finally be in a place where you love what you do and get paid well to do it. and even if/when that does happen, how long will it last. for a while. and then what?<br /><br />I will leave your (fondly) urban pessimistic blog with the following optimism. Luckily for all 3 of us (and our entire generation) we have sharp minds and strong hearts. We have the power, ability and desire to script our very own plan A. <br /><br />keep blogging.Madgrindzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10338084323770397564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97872188177230930.post-2679184529362755322011-04-03T02:53:32.162-04:002011-04-03T02:53:32.162-04:00Well I'm 3 years past 30 and still more than $...Well I'm 3 years past 30 and still more than $20,000 in debt, so it's all relative!<br /><br />Seriously, good post. Go back to your Chomsky and read about wage slavery. Then again, at least that involves a wage. One of the reasons I never seriously pursued internships out of school was because I couldn't survive on nothing. I don't know many who can (though these positions are obviously filled by someone). After grad school I started going after some of them more intently, but by then I was in debt so it would have been harder to take a position had one been offered, and I was also older than most other people applying (with particularly few positions available in my field), and wasn't offered any anyway.<br /><br />After that I got desperate and tried the government route until I became disillusioned with that, did the foreign teaching thing for a while and eventually ended up in a resort town as a ski bum who doesn't ski, working a $14.50 an hour at a job a high school kid could do, with 2 degrees and 7 years of school behind me, still deeply in debt. Gotta love our system eh?Graeme C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16454460815224390661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97872188177230930.post-51480106121064774082011-04-03T02:40:06.156-04:002011-04-03T02:40:06.156-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Graeme C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16454460815224390661noreply@blogger.com