Tweener Years
I occupy the nebulous territory between being a college student and a functioning, mature adult. Society seems to indicate that after college, you have two choices: either find a job and start working, or go back to school to acquire a more refined set of skills so that you can find a better job the second time around.
I'm in the middle. In many ways, I live as a normal adult. I am 23 and am financially independent (for the moment). I live in my own apartment. I have a steady job. I pay bills, feed myself, and clean my place up.
Then again, I teach English in China. Do I plan on living here for the rest of my life, in dusty little Lianyungang? Hardly. Do I plan on teaching English overseas for the rest of my life? Possibly, but probably not.
So this is simply....drifting, I guess. Wandering around, globetrotting, living from one adventure to the next. Friendships take an ephemeral manner. There's almost an apocalyptic desperation to my encounters with other people. "Hi. We'll hang out immediately and frequently, but the minute we step off that plane back home this will be over. Sure, we'll exchange the occasional e-mail, maybe a coffee in some far off city, but this...this will be over. Remember that".
I almost feel contracts ought to be drawn.
In a way, it feels like college. The folks I thought would be there forever are now sleeping in my memory. Freshman year I considered everyone with whom I shared a joint a lifelong mate. Some have made it that far. Most I don't even know how to contact. (There were a lot of joints).
So what's the point of this long-winded ramble? The point is, someone should coin a term to describe the years between college and normal adulthood. I could be the poster boy for such an age. After all, the modern concept of "teenagehood" is just that- modern. Today's novelty is tomorrow's marketing niche.
So I'm counting on someone to invent a new word to describe me. And the millions of other disaffected, wandering people my age that I'll probably have a beer with in a hostel in the middle of nowhere. "Tweener" won't cut it.
I'm in the middle. In many ways, I live as a normal adult. I am 23 and am financially independent (for the moment). I live in my own apartment. I have a steady job. I pay bills, feed myself, and clean my place up.
Then again, I teach English in China. Do I plan on living here for the rest of my life, in dusty little Lianyungang? Hardly. Do I plan on teaching English overseas for the rest of my life? Possibly, but probably not.
So this is simply....drifting, I guess. Wandering around, globetrotting, living from one adventure to the next. Friendships take an ephemeral manner. There's almost an apocalyptic desperation to my encounters with other people. "Hi. We'll hang out immediately and frequently, but the minute we step off that plane back home this will be over. Sure, we'll exchange the occasional e-mail, maybe a coffee in some far off city, but this...this will be over. Remember that".
I almost feel contracts ought to be drawn.
In a way, it feels like college. The folks I thought would be there forever are now sleeping in my memory. Freshman year I considered everyone with whom I shared a joint a lifelong mate. Some have made it that far. Most I don't even know how to contact. (There were a lot of joints).
So what's the point of this long-winded ramble? The point is, someone should coin a term to describe the years between college and normal adulthood. I could be the poster boy for such an age. After all, the modern concept of "teenagehood" is just that- modern. Today's novelty is tomorrow's marketing niche.
So I'm counting on someone to invent a new word to describe me. And the millions of other disaffected, wandering people my age that I'll probably have a beer with in a hostel in the middle of nowhere. "Tweener" won't cut it.