SPidge Tales

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A Day in the Life of an Unemployed Twenty-Something

Most workers dream of retirement. I can picture it now; some well compensated Wall Street broker is sitting in his office, surfing the internet, pretending to work, and dreaming of that retirement pension twenty years down the road. He daydreams of sleeping in each morning, having his cup of coffee and doing the crossword at his leasure, maybe hitting the gym, stopping at the local diner to chat with his buddies, and taking his wife on Caribbean vacations two or three times a year. They never stop to think about the downside; retirement will not happen while he is somewhat young and vibrant. It will come around age sixty, along with the creaky knees and decreased energy. And, as boring as he may imagine his job to be, it does give him something to do each day. Little does he know that retirement, sitting around the house all day, gets boring.

Unlike this Wall Street worker waiting for old age to retire, I have the pleasure, just having passed my 26th birthday, of living the retired life now. That's what I call it. I am temporarily retired, self-employed, any euphemism that comes to mind to block out the truth of my real situation. Strangely, boredom has yet to set it.

My current unemployment began right before Christmas. The hustle and bustle of the holidays saved me from thinking too much about my situation. Driving home to visit my parents, helping around the house, celebrating Christmas, and going to Vermont for my birthday and New Years, all helped me ignore my current malaise. It has now been two weeks since the New Year ended (should I say began?). Life is back to normal. The process of settling into semi-retirement has begun.

What do I do to keep myself busy? Lacking internet access at home (I stay pretty thrifty; I get the basic $9.95/month cable with about 20 channels for TV), I have spent a lot of time at the local libraries, job searching online. I have visited some local businesses and schools to submit my resume. As I've come to learn, it's a lot harder to ignore a job searcher in person than online. I have done plenty of housework. Along with the regular cleaning, vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, and laundry, I insulated the basement. This many day process allowed me to listen to two interesting books on tape; I Am Charlotte Simmons and The Red Tent. I have done a lot of regular reading, too, including Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, Garry Wills' What Jesus Meant and his What Paul Meant. I am currently reading Barack Obama's new book (if he is going to be the next President, I might as well learn about him). I'm not always Mr. Studious or Mr. Academic. For sure, I've played my fair share of video games and watched my share of TV. I completed a whole season of Madden in just the past two weeks. Each morning, I wake up with the Today Show. I feel like I am friends with Matt, Meredith, Al, and Ann. And, don't forget guest anchor Natalie Morales. She is pretty hot.

On the more impressive side, I am learning to do some real cooking. With all this extra time on my hands, I cut up tomatoes, peppers, and onions, and make my own spaghetti sauce. I am eating more fruits and vegetables, and laying off the processed foods. I have even begun writing a book. I began it this past summer, but stopped after 30 pages (single spaced), since I moved up north and had many changes in my life. I picked up writing again about two weeks ago. I have 83 pages so far. No, it is not a memoir or anything like that. It is fiction. A novel. I have no idea how to go about looking to get it published. It's just something to do for now. We'll see how it goes. But, again, this is just a summary of what's going on. What does a typical day look like for me?

I wake up around 7am each morning, and turn on the Today Show. After about 20 minutes of watching in bed, I get up, make my coffee, clean any left-over dishes, have a banana, and head down to the basement where my computer is set up. I write for about an hour. I shower, put on nice clothes, and hit the local area, resumes in head, ready to find a job. After visiting a place or two, I go to the post office to get my mail, then head to the libary to check email, internet surf, job search. I read the magazines and newspapers, maybe sign out a book or two, then, if need be, hit the grocery store. Usually I'm home by dinner time. I watch the news, cook something, have a beer or glass of wine, then do some reading. I head downstairs again to write a little bit. Once I get tired, I head back up to watch a little TV, play a game of Madden, then head to bed to watch Leno, the Daily Show, Colbert, and do a little reading before passing out.

Tomorrow, hopefully things change. I have my first interview. It is for a substitute teacher position. This won't be an everyday thing, but it will be something. It will give me some variety in my life. Maybe there will be some cute female teachers. Maybe some of the students (no, I am not interested in jailbait; keep reading) will have some older sisters in college they can introduce me to. This week, I haven't visited any sites for employment. It has been cold and snowing; I would rather just wear ski pants outside. Plus, I haven't shaved in forever and am sporting a starter beard. The beard will be gone tomorrow, when I begin anew. Wish me luck!

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good luck pidge!

-- Matt

8:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that maria chick was even hotter than natalie. the one who had to ride the bull :)

11:36 PM  

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