Post-college life seems geared toward isolation

[invidia]

People often tell others to "get a life". What they meant is college life.


Everything else sucks and its the life no one wants.

 

[Saint Nick]

Well then maybe I should go back and get another degree. I'm only 22 afterall

 

[importdistributors]

Originally posted by: clamum

Originally posted by: importdistributors

Originally posted by: spidey07
<blockquote>quote:
Originally posted by: Alphathree33
I do have hobbies -- as I said, dancing, skating, swimming. And I do meet people that way.

And I spend my weekends with my girlfriend.

But even adding those together, something still feels "missing" compared to the old college days</blockquote>

Feel that weight bearing down on you? Do you feel it? Crushing you like a grape?

It's called responsibility and earning a decent living.

As an adult you have responsibilities and things have to be scheduled/planned in advance. You can't just expect to call somebody and say "hey, let's goof off!"

I couldn't disagree more. I goof off all the time and I've been in the corporate world for a few years now. I just do random stuff that people wouldnt expect in a corporate world. Ex. On our conference calls i make random farting noises. Then I play a game where I try not to laugh. Later on, I talk to my friends (same ones from high school and college) and tell them what happened, where they just encourage me to do more.

I am mature for the most part, but I will not let little stupid things that don't really hurt anyone go. This is what keeps me linked to my youth. If anyone tells me to act my age they can go shove it.

Other tips:
-Go to Walmart, it is more fun than 6flags. Just grab a football and launch it across the store as far as you can, see what happens. Go to the auto aisle, and just start dumping motor oil everywhere. and keep listening to the speakers as they say clean up in isle "what ever one you were in". Yell out "PENIS" randomly in public places.

There is so much you can do. When you do something that is unexpected, you will be a social magnet. Random people will walk up to you and either say you are so Cool. Although I had girls come up to me and talk to me in a slow voice b/c they thought I was Mentally challenged.

LOL. You sound like a junior high or high school kid man. :laugh:

PENIS!

Remember the Penis game! where one person would say penis, and the next would say it louder until the teacher yelled at someone and the person she yelled at is the loser.

 

[Alphathree33]

As the OP of this extremely old thread, I think everyone deserves an update on what I did to "solve" the problems.

- I got a job at a start-up company back in my university home town and moved back there
- I (incidentally) got a new girlfriend
- I got re-involved with on-campus stuff after work in all the usual places where I used to meet people

Life's a lot better these days. I feel much less caged in and I'm on familiar ground here. I guess the big city just wasn't for me. It felt so foreign.

My big goal these days is striking it rich so I can travel the world for a decade or two.

 

[Alphathree33]

P.S. I read all the replies and I have to say, I still do miss college a little bit. Maybe I'll go back one day. There's really nothing else quite like it.

I think owning your own business could be just as challenging though, so I've been debating ideas in that area as well.

Certainly, simply working for someone else for the rest of your life is not the way to go. It's fine for a while though.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Saga
Welcome to adult life.

It sucks.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Originally posted by: her209
Post-grad school life is liberating. No more homework, term papers, studying for mid-terms. Wooo hooo!

fixed and F yeah it is. I can actually do something on a weeknight if I want to

 

[Zugzwang152]

wow i had to take a double-take when i saw my 2-year old post.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Zaitsev

Originally posted by: her209
Post-grad school life is liberating. No more homework, term papers, studying for mid-terms. Wooo hooo!

fixed and F yeah it is. I can actually do something on a weeknight if I want to

precisely what i'm looking forward to.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
P.S. I read all the replies and I have to say, I still do miss college a little bit. Maybe I'll go back one day. There's really nothing else quite like it.

I think owning your own business could be just as challenging though, so I've been debating ideas in that area as well.

Certainly, simply working for someone else for the rest of your life is not the way to go. It's fine for a while though.

It depends how much of your identity is attached to your job. Also not everyone is cut out to run a business. The fact that most eventually fail is a testament to that.

 

[TallBill]

Ok, I'm going to re-iterate what I posted before. When I was married I was kind of ok with not being socially active and not having many friends. Since then I've really had a great time just going out doing stuff almost nightly. For me, I met a lot of people through sports, but there are at least 3-4 other activities/clubs that I could join where I'd be bound to meet people.

 

[thepd7]

FYI, living with people fixes a ton of this, I love having a roommate and there is always someone to hang with.

 

[rh71]

Nothing beats the fun factor of college life and having people your age around all the time everywhere, but the next big thing is doing your own family things - people's priorities actually do change over time. As long as you get out one or two times a week and do hobby stuff with others, it's good enough for most "adults".

I agree with the above who said no more college papers / studying / exams - plenty motivation to get out of there.

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: fire400
nearly two years later...

And now, two months... Good thread.

 

[ja1484]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
I don't know...I hope its not true since i am about to graduate. I don't plan to have a corporate job and I tend to make friends easily so I don't see this being a problem. I also plan to move to a complete new location and I am quite excited about it.

I know people love college, but I am quite sick of it. I am not a huge partier, I hate doing homework, I like getting paid....

Yeah, we all felt the same way at the end of school.

Lemme break it down for you like this:

You'll still have plenty of interests, and you'll have a helluva lot more money than you ever had as a student. What you won't have is fucking time to do the things you used to.

In school, I had a lot of time and very little money. This meant I was willing to trade some time/labor to do something myself that would save me a few bucks...i.e. wash/detail my own car.

Now, I have much more money and much less time. These days, I hire a guy to wash/detail the car every few weeks while I run errands on a Saturday.

It's not that you'll be isolated, it's that you'll be busy.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Alphathree33
I have a girlfriend but I only see her on weekends.

Weekdays, I do the usual "go to work 9 to 5-ish" thing, and I do enjoy my job... but it's hardly a replacement for a social life.

In college I met like 10 new people every day. Now I hardly meet one new person a week, if that.

I've always been a social dancer (met my girlfriend that way), so I still take dance lessons twice a week. And yes, I do meet a few people. And yes, I will probably build some new friendships out of that.

I'm also taking skating lessons and I have a swim coach. And yes, I do meet people this way too.

But it's just not the same. I can't imagine asking someone to just come hang out at my place and play some video games, or whatever.

It's like all post-college social contact is:
1) family
2) girlfriend
3) "formal" get-together that you plan weeks in advance i.e. having dinner at so-and-so's place, getting drinks with what's-his-name, and so on

But there doesn't seem to be a way to rebuild that easy, flowing social circle that there was in college. People are so... distracted. With what, I'm not sure exactly...

Something just isn't right about this whole setup. It's like you either get married and live with your significant other, or you spend most of your time alone or at work, and that's it.

Don't sweat it. Seriously...10 years from now you'll be reminiscing about how great it was when you had all that free time.

 

[Lean L]

I wonder if it's the oppsite for girls. They suddenly have a billion guys competing for them... hmm..

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: ja1484

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
I don't know...I hope its not true since i am about to graduate. I don't plan to have a corporate job and I tend to make friends easily so I don't see this being a problem. I also plan to move to a complete new location and I am quite excited about it.

I know people love college, but I am quite sick of it. I am not a huge partier, I hate doing homework, I like getting paid....

Yeah, we all felt the same way at the end of school.

Lemme break it down for you like this:

You'll still have plenty of interests, and you'll have a helluva lot more money than you ever had as a student. What you won't have is fucking time to do the things you used to.

In school, I had a lot of time and very little money. This meant I was willing to trade some time/labor to do something myself that would save me a few bucks...i.e. wash/detail my own car.

Now, I have much more money and much less time. These days, I hire a guy to wash/detail the car every few weeks while I run errands on a Saturday.

It's not that you'll be isolated, it's that you'll be busy.

9.5 hour workdays kill my weekdays. by the time i get home and eat, i have maybe 3-4 hours before i need to go to bed.

 

[JohnCU]

i'm post college and isolated.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Post college FTW. It's fun seeing money coming in instead of coming out, with lower stress levels and less work hours. If you count homework, studying etc, college is like 70+ hours a week.

The only thing I do miss about college and even high school is hanging out with friends. Happens less nowdays. I only keep in touch with like one college friend and that's because he's a dev/r&d person on my game server and we've played the game a lot in the past during college days.

 

[yhelothar]

I've met a few people on meetup.com
We have the friggen internet now, connecting with people has never been easier, and that's the understatement of the year too.

 

[shadow9d9]

Originally posted by: spidey07
<blockquote>quote:
Originally posted by: Alphathree33
I do have hobbies -- as I said, dancing, skating, swimming. And I do meet people that way.

And I spend my weekends with my girlfriend.

But even adding those together, something still feels "missing" compared to the old college days</blockquote>

Feel that weight bearing down on you? Do you feel it? Crushing you like a grape?

It's called responsibility and earning a decent living.

As an adult you have responsibilities and things have to be scheduled/planned in advance. You can't just expect to call somebody and say "hey, let's goof off!"

Get a life. Oh wait, 40k posts on a messageboard? AHAHAHA.

 

[imported_Imp]

I'm the opposite. I actually get along with co-workers better than classmates. At the place I'm at now, I spend at least an hour just talking about random shit with 4 people around my age. By having so little time outside work, you start appreciating every little activity more, and the weekend has a whole new meaning.