Life Sucks III: Life in the Real World
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Author: Robert A. Seace (Agrajag\/AJ)
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Published by: RLunatic\/Jhayden pro-ductions
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Introduction
\n############<\/p>\n
\tYes, yet ANOTHER installment in the pathetic ongoing saga of
\nlife-loathing and random bitching… Back because YOU asked for it.
\n(Well, not really… Actually, it’s back just because I felt like
\nbitching some more. I don’t really give a rat’s ass about what YOU
\nwant.) Yes, now there is an entire TRILOGY of bitching and whining
\nabout the suckiness of life! Enough to make even the most hopeless
\noptimist suicidal!<\/p>\n
\tIn this third book, I examine the Real World and all of the
\nSuckiness therein. Other than that, it will be pretty much like the
\nprevious two books: lots of bitching and moaning and complaining
\nabout things I can’t change. The only change will be the focus of my
\ncomplaints…<\/p>\n
The Real World
\n##############<\/p>\n
\tNo, I’m not talking about the brainless MTV show where they
\nget a group of idiots to live together in some loft for a few months
\nuntil they kill each other… I’m talking about that especially
\nsucky portion of life that comes after we are all grown-up and out of
\nschool and actually earning money at some sort of job… Now, to
\nsome of you this may actually sound like a GOOD thing. Well, if it
\ndoes, then you obviously haven’t actually experienced it firsthand
\nyet. It is NOT a fun thing. Sure, you are actually out on your own,
\nno longer controlled by your parents, and are free to do basically
\nwhatever you want. However, if you do the wrong thing out here in
\nthe Real World, the consequences are MUCH more severe than they used
\nto be back when you were living with your parents or going to
\ncollege…<\/p>\n
\tIf you didn’t feel like going to classes for a week at
\ncollege, no one gave a shit, and it wouldn’t really do you any major
\nharm since you could likely just catch up by reading a few chapters
\nin a few books (hell, I’ve had classes where I only showed up in
\nclass to take the tests, and STILL aced the class)… However, in
\nthe Real World, if you don’t feel like going to your job for a week,
\nyou will be in some SERIOUS trouble. If you are lucky enough not to
\nlose your job, you’ll likely at least lose a week’s pay. And, while
\nthat may not sound that serious, believe me, you need each and every
\nlast CENT of the money you earn just to survive. The loss of even a
\nDAY’S pay will completely screw up your entire budget for the next
\nmonth or so…<\/p>\n
\tWhen you were living at home with your parents, and you ran
\nout of cash because you blew it all on something unneccessary, the
\nonly thing you had to worry about was not being able to buy more
\nunneccessary things. You were still assured of being able to have a
\nplace to sleep and plenty of food to eat. However, out here in the
\nReal World, if you blow all of your money on something unneccessary,
\nyou may very well find yourself going without such things as food and
\nshelter until your next paycheck…<\/p>\n
\tSo, in general, there is very little allowance for screw-ups
\nin the Real World. Certainly a hell of a lot less than there is in
\ncollege or at home with your parents…<\/p>\n
Finding a Job
\n#############<\/p>\n
\tOk, the first thing you have to do to become part of the
\nReal World is get a job. Sounds easy enough. It isn’t… You may
\nthink you will have no trouble at all finding a job. After all,
\nyou’ll have a degree in XXX from YYY College, so there should be TONS
\nof companies knocking down your door to try to snatch up you and your
\nskills! Heh. Nice delusion, but nothing near reality… Jobs are
\nvery difficult to locate. And, a GOOD job is damn near impossible to
\nfind. So, if you are still in college, start searching now. Don’t
\ndo like I did: wait until after you’ve actually graduated and then
\nbegin searching.<\/p>\n
\tI fully expected to find a fantastic computer programming job
\nthat was close-by and payed me an ungodly amount of money in a matter
\nof a few weeks… After 3 months and hundreds of resumes, I luckily
\nstumbled onto a good job in Boston (I lived in northern New Hampshire,
\nsome 3 or so hours drive away), which payed a moderately low salary…
\nBut, it was definitely the best thing I had seen or was likely to see
\nanytime soon, so I snatched it up. Luckily, I’ve grown to love it,
\nwhich is a very important thing. If you don’t like your job, you
\nshould definitely be hunting for a new one as soon as possible.
\nThere is nothing worse than being stuck your entire life in a shitty
\njob that you hate. Life is bad enough on its own without the added
\nsuckiness of working at a job you don’t enjoy…<\/p>\n
Finding a Place to Live
\n#######################<\/p>\n
\tThis sucks… It’s generally not too hard just to find
\navailable places to live, but it’s definitely hard to find one that
\nis within your price-range. And, any place that is cheap enough to
\nafford is generally a dump. So, to find a really good place may take
\na consiberable amount of time; probably as long or longer than
\nfinding a good job… The problem is, you usually don’t have that
\nmuch time to find one. You usually will need one RIGHT NOW, and
\nwon’t be able to predict that you will need one a few months from
\nnow. When you get a job, you will need to re-locate there (assuming
\nyou aren’t one of the extremely lucky people who finds one close to
\nwhere they already are). And, there is no way of knowing in advance
\nwhere exactly “there” will be until you actually get the job (unless
\nyou narrow down your job-hunting vicinity to a single place, which
\nwould be truly stupid). So, when you finally get a job in East
\nTimbuktu or wherever, you need to move there NOW. So, the result is,
\nthe first place you live in will generally suck or will be so
\nexpensive as to completely drain all of your money… Or, both…
\nAnd, of course, there will likely be a lease, so you can’t move out
\nif you happen to find a better place once you are there. So, the
\ntrick becomes finding a good place, with a rent you can afford, and
\ntiming it so that you can move in there as soon as your current lease
\nis up…<\/p>\n
Getting to Work
\n###############<\/p>\n
\tSo, you’ve got a job and a place to live. Chances are that
\none is not within a reasonable walking distance of the other, so you
\nwill need some method of transportation back and forth between them.
\nEither you can have a car and all the bills and troubles associated
\nwith them, or you can do the public transportation thing. I’m not
\nsure which one is worse…<\/p>\n
\tCars are fine if you’ve got nice cheap, reliable beast, and
\nlive\/work in some small town where the people don’t drive like idiots
\nand there aren’t a lot of car theives waiting to swipe your vehicle
\n(or you have an old, ugly beast that no one would want to steal).
\nBut, for most people, this isn’t true. And, even if it is, you still
\nhave the normal maintenance costs, and gasoline to buy (especially
\nimportant if you DO have an old, reliable beast of a car), and the
\noccasional major repair. It adds up pretty quickly…<\/p>\n
\tTaking public transportation, on the other hand, is pretty
\ncheap, compared to having a car. However, there are other problems
\nassociated with it Mainly, having to deal with the other people who
\nare taking public transportation. Some of these people (and, for
\nsome of them, that is using the term “people” quite loosely) are just
\nplain strange… I’ve seen more weird people on Boston buses and
\nsubways than I’ve ever seen anywhere else in my entire life (and,
\nI’ve lived my entire life in New Hampshire, which is loaded with tons
\nof strange people). On buses, I’ve seen people who just start
\nrandomly singing and\/or talking to no one. I’ve seen others who look
\nlike they belong to the special effects department of some science
\nfiction TV show. I’ve seen others who look mean enough to chew
\nthrough lead pipe. I’ve seen others who just come up and start
\ntalking to you like they’ve known you your whole life (and the really
\nscary ones actually know things about you)… There are some truly
\nSTRANGE people who take public transportation…<\/p>\n
\tAnd, aside from the problem of weirdos, public transportation
\nis also slow as hell and not very reliable. There seems to be little
\nrelation between when a bus is scheduled to arrive and when it
\nactually does. And, the time that it takes to get where it is going
\nseems to vary greatly with each trip, which makes predicting when to
\nleave so as to get to work on time next to impossible. There have
\nbeen days where I get to work an hour early, and others where I get
\nthere an hour late, but yet I left my apartment at exactly the same
\ntime, both times…<\/p>\n
Paying Bills
\n############<\/p>\n
\tThis truly sucks… How I hate paying bills. It is a truly
\nsucky experience to see the money you’ve just worked so hard all week
\n(or two weeks in my case) for disappear in a matter of a few minutes
\nas you pay various bills… Rent, phone, electricity, gas, cable TV,
\nstudent loans, credit cards, etc., etc., ad infinitum… There just
\nseems to be no end to them. You just pay one, and another one
\narrives to suck away a bit more of your money. And, after paying
\nthem all, you MIGHT just be lucky enough to have enough left over for
\nluxuries like food… In fact, in order to pay them all, you may
\nfind yourself resorting to using things like credit cards, which will
\njust put you further in debt and increase your bills each month. A
\ntruly vicious circle…<\/p>\n
Socializing, Dating, and all that Jazz
\n######################################<\/p>\n
\tWell, this sucks whether in the Real World, or in college,
\nor wherever. But, at least at college, you could find time for some
\nsocializing (if you wanted to; I had plenty of time to, but just
\nnever wanted to). Here in the Real World, there just isn’t much damn
\ntime for anything except work. My average day consists of: get up at
\n5:00am, shower, drink coffee, play on the Net for a while, get to
\nwork at about 8:30am, work straight through the day usually taking no
\nlunch break whatsoever, head home at about 5:30pm, eat (finally),
\nwatch TV for a bit, then go to bed around 10:00pm or 11:00pm… Not
\nreally too much time for socializing of any sort. Then, on the
\nweekends, when I do have time, I’m usually dead tired, and just want
\nto sleep and\/or relax to make up for working so hard all week. Of
\ncourse, even if I DID have the time, I probably wouldn’t do anything;
\nsocializing is not my favorite activity, and I’m too damned shy to
\nask out any women I’d want to go out with… But, that is an
\nirrelevant side-issue…<\/p>\n
The Things that DON’T Suck
\n##########################<\/p>\n
\tIs there any part of living in the Real World that DOESN’T
\nsuck? Sure. You are after all on your own, free to do pretty much
\nwhatever you please. You are making your own money and are
\nresponsible for keeping yourself alive, which can be a pretty
\nsatisfying experience. (Though, in a split second, I’d trade in that
\nbit of satisfaction for a free and clear few million dollars…)
\nPlus, you are now out there doing something important, and
\ncontributing to the society as a whole, and making a global impact on
\nthe world… Or not…<\/p>\n
Conclusion
\n##########<\/p>\n
\tWell, I’m not sure what the message or point of this book is.
\nBut, I’m sure there is one in here somewhere… But, basically, I’m
\njust saying that life sucks; and, even more so when you are out in
\nthe Real World. But, as usual, for all its Suckiness, life is
\nstill worth living. Even though it is quite often painful and
\nhateful and completely unfair, it is still far better than the
\nalternative…<\/p>\n
\tSo, if you haven’t yet entered into the Real World, enjoy
\nthe comparatively easy life you are currently leading… You may
\nthink you have it hard now, but be thankful that you aren’t out here
\nwhere life is a whole hell of a lot harder…<\/p>\n
\tAnd, if you are here in the Real World already, then you have
\nmy sympathy and understanding… But, don’t think that you are the
\nonly one this is happening to; everyone goes through it. Your
\ntroubles aren’t any worse than mine (not many people’s troubles are
\nworse than mine) or most others. So, stop whining and feeling
\nsorry for yourself, and go out there and live the least Sucky life
\nthat you possibly can… And, when life comes up and kicks you
\nsquare in the crotch, just remember that no matter how bad you’ve
\ngot it, at least you are alive… And, at least you aren’t me…<\/p>\n
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\nSend comments, complaints, gifts, flames, bombs, : Rob Seace
\nthreats, money, food, naked pictures, body parts, : Agrajag
\nsource code, jokes, quotes, alcohol, etc., to… : ras@world.std.com
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\n“Life, loathe it or ignore it. You can’t like it.” – Marvin<\/p>\n
