Having a job, even a shitty job, makes everything else better. I’ve resisted having one for so long and now that I’m back in the swing of being a contributing citizen I realize the folly of my earlier position. There is a healthy amount of political debate at my work too, which I find cool in a excited that people are participating in something socially important but depressing that they are so easily sucked into the Democrat vs. Republican game sort of way.
My job is at a collection agency by the way, meaning I call people for hours on end and argue with them about their debts. The work is manageable if you can learn to find humor in some of the absurd and heated things people say to you.
While it is unfortunate that I have less free time, that is precisely the part of working that makes playing worth so much more. You realize that you have limited time to get drunk, play guitar, and otherwise have a great time, making those activities all the more enjoyable when you get to partake in them. I can qualify this by saying I got kicked out of POVs on Saturday night for dancing on tables with Andy.
I have these two competing thoughts in my head: acceptance of all the unique and intellectually varied circumstances that comprise a person; and an equal level of frustration with my current surroundings, specifically the gaps between my circumstances and the circumstances of those people.
Are there peers out there that passionately confront important social issues? That balance discourse with action? Am I in the wrong place? Or do they even exist?
I want something more fulfilling than my current situation.
And why are male / female reactions so fucking absurd? There is nothing more unexplainable than the complete abandonment of rationality and the breakdown of social functioning between two people once one party expresses interest. I’ve made so many new male friends in the past year, all predicated upon simple social interactions that were carried out with little resistance from both parties. Take those exact same interactions – What did you do last weekend? What’s your favorite drink? Color? Band? Flavor of ice cream??? – add affection and you’ve got an absolute mess.
Maybe I just try too hard. Maybe I try too hard to force things. I’m not sure, but my new objective is to minimize that resistance. If I know of your existance and I come up to you seeking information about you, what you believe in, or to share information about me and what I believe in, I do that because I’m actually interested in finding out what you have to say, not because I’m trying to pass the time. Life is as short as you make it, and people make it a lot shorter by wasting time resisting interaction.
Thurston Moore makes my ears scream for more.
Go buy/download Thurston Moore albums. Go buy/download Sonic Youth albums. If you aren’t amazed I’ll like you less for your musical opinions!
This post reminds me of the blogging of yore, where I would start at the top and talk about things in my day I did or that interested me until I reached the bottom.
Dan Schoppe said,
March 24, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Pretty cool about your job! You can probably showcase your debate skills in this type of environment. Are you going to save up for a car now? My parents are making me write them a check for the car that I’ve had on indefinite loan since 2004, bummer.
tschwab said,
March 25, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Yes, my goal is to have a car by the end of April. I’m so pumped for it, because this means I get to finally get to expand out of the Blaine region on weekends, in spite of the lame-asses around here who don’t understand how everything is 10x better in the cities.
Dan Schoppe said,
March 27, 2009 at 2:20 pm
But don’t you want to stay in Blaine forever?
spencerb said,
April 1, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I don’t think there are peers out there seeking. At least in my experience, there is no desire for a genuine dialogue on issues. One where I start somewhere, you start somewhere else, we discuss our beliefs and each reach some new position based on that discussion. Maybe I haven’t been talking to the right people.
For some reason, I think people are geared toward a conflict and digging into their previous held beliefs. You know me, my political and moral beliefs aren’t too out there, I’m not questioning everything in a futile way. But if you never question anything or accept what other people are saying, you’re beliefs seem pretty meaningless to me.
Also, recently I’ve noticed a desire for people to only discuss facts. Again, maybe this is just unique to my observations, but it seems like people would rather discuss just the facts instead of what the implication of those facts are for one’s belief system. As another branch of this, if facts aren’t there people seem less willing to make assumptions or answer hypothetical questions. Even in the last election I think that politicians did this a lot…”I won’t answer a hypothetical.”…
As an econ major, you know we are apt to make seemingly-absurd assumptions about economic theory to reach a sensical result. So it is troubling to me that people won’t make basic assumptions about things to have a discussion. If you reach the point where you could proceed with a small assumption or stop talking because you don’t have the specific fact, continuing the dialogue seems like a better choice to me.
I’m not sure where this comment is really going. I guess its pretty vague in who I’m talking about, but it is just a general sentiment I’ve been having recently. Probably why I enjoy using my blog and comments on your blog to have these discussions.