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Concerning the Good Life
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I have slowly been revising my priorities lately. I find that in my neck of the woods too much emphasis is being placed on being a productive member of society for my liking.
one of my friends chose the business career path less than two years ago. He is a marketing analyst answering directly to the board of directors in a major industrial corporation.
He gets paid handsomely by the month. His schedule is "as long as it takes to get the job done", which often translates into 60+ hour weeks. he gets up at five thirty every morning, works 10-14 hours, returns home utterly exhausted, eats with his girlfriend, hangs out with her for 3-4 hours and goes early to bed.
I have decided that this lifestyle is not for me (but it very well could be, If I get a job in academia when I'm done). Too many of the things that fascinate me are outside the reach of commercial utilization.
At this point in my life, 25-30 hour work weeks are optimal for me. I like to read books, build and play strange instruments, dance and sing according to century-old traditions. Paint toy soldiers, design new casings for existing consumer electronics, invent wierd gadgets, be politically active. And I also love spending time with my beloved.
This partial list of hobbies is not compatible with being a career chaser, and as such... I need to acknowlege that I won't be earning enough money for indulging in all my materialist urges.
This is no sudden realization. My dad owns a company and I have vivid memories from when I was a kid of how lonely I felt when he had to back out on promises he had given me about spending time with me, because some unexpected extra work demanding his attention at the company. He worked, much like my friend does now, about 12-14 hour days. My revolt against his way of life happened as a teen, when he offered me to be part of the business, provided I took educational steps that would steer me towards a engineering degree. I basically said "Hell no" and started a degree in archaeology. He respects that now. Even if he was quite sad at the time (before my revolt he was telling me about how he longed to add "& son" to the company name).
I want my work to be life-enabling ... not the other way around.
But I find that such sentiments are frowned upon by many of my peers and indeed society at large.
Luckily, my GF is sympathetic to my current view of the world. There is no demands typical of "high-maintenance" women. She does not long for two-point-five kids, a villa and one-point-three cars parked in a garage in some fashinable neighbourhood. Hippy females are truly a blessing to mankind (or at least to me).
So now I just need to figure out how to go about it. I still want to go through with the PhD, even if it seems unlikly that I will be using it for it's intended scientific purposes. Right now I am going at the thing like a three year employment contract
I am still at two minds about virtually everything at this point though. Time will tell how things pan out, I guess.
Cheers
-m
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