money can't buy happiness
The last few weeks have been kind of stressful because of money. I hadn't planned for the amount of fees that I would be charged, so I did not budget wisely, and there was a point when it looked like I would have to choose between paying the rent and buying food. However, things worked out and even though I still don't have a lot of money, I have enough to get by.
I finally called Mark. Considering that we hadn't really talked in four months, we had quite a pleasant chat that lasted about 40 minutes. After talking to him, I realized how good I have it. I live in a lovely house with three good friends who I get along with, while he is living in a crummy apartment (and paying about 2x as much as me) with four guys that he doesn't really like. I have time to have a social life and sleep and eat and have dinner parties, in between going to very interesting classes and working 14 hours per week (or less), while he is working 70ish hours per week at a job he doesn't really like and has no time to do anything and spends Saturdays running errands. Also he doesn't get any vacation until February, and had to get special permission to take Christmas Eve off.
What is the point of having a lot of money if you can't enjoy it? Mark described his life as "painful," and said that he hopes to have saved up enough money in two years to move back to Chicago, and either get an MBA at some place like University of Chicago or Northwestern, and find a job at some sort of investment bank doing what really wants to do, which is not programming, but actually trading. I know that I'll never be rich being a librarian, but that's fine. I'll be working at a job that I like, and have time to have a social life (and/or family) and live comfortably.
Anyway, I didn't say "I told you so" even though I'm pretty sure I told him so.
I finally called Mark. Considering that we hadn't really talked in four months, we had quite a pleasant chat that lasted about 40 minutes. After talking to him, I realized how good I have it. I live in a lovely house with three good friends who I get along with, while he is living in a crummy apartment (and paying about 2x as much as me) with four guys that he doesn't really like. I have time to have a social life and sleep and eat and have dinner parties, in between going to very interesting classes and working 14 hours per week (or less), while he is working 70ish hours per week at a job he doesn't really like and has no time to do anything and spends Saturdays running errands. Also he doesn't get any vacation until February, and had to get special permission to take Christmas Eve off.
What is the point of having a lot of money if you can't enjoy it? Mark described his life as "painful," and said that he hopes to have saved up enough money in two years to move back to Chicago, and either get an MBA at some place like University of Chicago or Northwestern, and find a job at some sort of investment bank doing what really wants to do, which is not programming, but actually trading. I know that I'll never be rich being a librarian, but that's fine. I'll be working at a job that I like, and have time to have a social life (and/or family) and live comfortably.
Anyway, I didn't say "I told you so" even though I'm pretty sure I told him so.