[OT] How busy is life?

[WSmith]

Thanks, guys, especially Eosin. Because of this thread I am going to log off and shut the computer down for the rest of the day. I spend way too much time on the net when I have tons of other stuff to do like clean the house, play with my son, take the dog out, etc.

edit: I forgot, that is another side product of me surfing the net all morning long. My son sits there and watches the damn TV most of the time. That just irks the heck out of me, but for some reaosn I feel compelled to sit here and ply the boards all morning long! Shame on me! I need to get out from behind this screen and play with him and his Fisher Price Castle, Pirate Ship, and Pyramid. That I am sure will mean much more to him than sitting watching kids shows all morning.

I too feel EXTREMEMLY RUSHED! I hate rushing around. What is that country song,

"I'm in a hurry to get things done,
I rush and rush until life's no fun,
All I reall have to do is live and die,
So I'm in a hurry and don't know why."

When I was a youngster, it was nothing to play 5 or 8 different gaming systems. I am pretty much sticking to 3e now, if for nothing else that I don't have the time to not only learn, but to play other gaming systems.

Oh, and I don't have a cell phone. I refuse to own one. I laugh at people who say "I can't believe I ever lived without one!" I live without one and I think life is much better for it.

 

[Quickbeam]

Several observations before I logout for the day...

-- Technology has definitely NOT saved humanity any time, but as Old One noted, simply allowed us to cram more garbage into the same 24 hour day. It's up to each one of us as individuals, to occasionally step away from all of life's irrelevant clutter and focus on friends, family, and the glorious wonder of life.
-- Americans do know how to relax, but our society has an ass-backwards way of rationing work and pleasure. Thus, we end up with very little time available for fun and games. The Germans, Japanese, and others have it right -- very productive work cycles, with loads of vacation time each year.
-- Part of your perception RW may be attributable to cabin fever. The school year is drawing to a close; Spring has not yet fully sprung; Opening Day for baseball hasn't yet arrived ; and the Boards still don't have our avatars back up .
-- I don't care how dedicated to your career you may be, it's still just a vehicle for earning money. Spend as much time with those you love as possible...it's doubtful you'll look back on your life and wish you'd have worked a few extra hours.
-- God (or life) will never give you anything that can't be handled one day at a time.

And to all of you fine parent-wannabes, GOOD LUCK!!! My wife and I had our second baby six weeks ago, and let me tell you the fun never stops .

 

[Heretic Apostate]

I was laid off a month ago. I have enough of a severance package, as well as the vacation payout that I never had a chance to take, as well as my last check, that I don't have to worry for a while. I'm looking for a job, but I'm not stressing. I'm not going to [font color=red]settle[/font] again, since I've ended up in minimum wage jobs, or jobs working grave shift, or jobs with 45+ minute commutes, or jobs that are actually in the field I want but at the entry level. Since I'm getting unemployment, I can't turn down a job, but I can point out that I have two degrees, and that I get bored quickly, and do they really want someone who would immediately start looking for another job?

Anyway, I don't have much of a social life. My jobs over the last 5.5 years have all been over long commutes. Three of those years, I spent working grave shift. All my local friends have drifted away, and the only old friend I have has turned out to be a bible-thumper who hears voices in her head. (Great woman, but totally messed up in the head....) So, no-one to hang out with, unfortunately. Which probably explains why I haven't gone out much in the last nine months or so.

No dates, that's for sure. I've never met a girl who's available and interested. More my style to be attracted to women who are both unavailable and uninterested, I guess.

If it weren't for the fact that I'm taking three night classes (total of four days a week), I wouldn't go out except to fax my resumes, and that would be once a week.

So, nope, life is just dragging along. Ugh.

 

[kenjib]

It usually gets worse after you graduate from school and start working full time. People wake up early to commute 30+ minutes, then work 9 hours, commute back home. Then you have to cook dinner, clean the dishes, etc. By then it's close to bed time. If you have kids there's even more to do.

Weekends are filled with miscellaneous errands, cleaning the house, the yard, the garden, keeping finances in order, etc.

The standard work week was expanded from 40 to 48 hours during the Reagan administration. Remember how people used to say '9 to 5?' Now it's 8 to 5 or 9 to 6. In addition we have one of the lowest average amounts of vacation/holiday time in the entire industrialized world. Americans of today are hard workers. I imagine it's probably a significant contributing factor to our standard of living - but at what cost?

Enjoy college while you are there. I don't know all of the details of your situation but it's possible that the fact that you can take a full load of courses, do freelance writing, and still have time left for games, socializing, and plenty of internet might not be all so bad.

When I just got out of school for about a year, in order to make ends meet, I was working a full time job at a bookstore, another 4 hours per day at an internship at a software company, and was taking one to two classes at the UC Extension program. Everything else in my life was squeezed into an hour or two per day and one day that I had off on the weekend. I didn't really do much for recreation that year. This was around 5 years ago. Things are much, much, better now and I'm a happy camper. I think it has more to do with the specifics of one's life at the moment rather than a general trend, but who knows?