I'm Moving to Vegas to Become a Go-Go Dancer!

DAY EIGHT: Write a poem.

Clearly this 28-Day Challenge thingy has been a fail, as it is far past 28 days since I started this challenge and yet I’m only on DAY EIGHT. Whomp whomp. As for my poem, here’s a lil haiku for ya…

I’m really hungry

I would like a rack of ribs

Wow I’m a fat ass.

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“It’s hard to make a living when all we do is work”

I recently heard this quote somewhere, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Let’s repeat it together: “It’s hard to make a living when all we do is work.”

The other day I was joking around with my dad, reminding him that he essentially has gotten a big salary raise now that I’m done with Penn and am no longer subjecting him to a ridiculous financial burden. I told him that he and my mom should go on a long 3-week vacation somewhere. They work hard, they deserve it, plus they’re both self-employed so it’s not that big of a deal to just take off from work right? WRONG! My dad replies that he can’t afford to take 3 weeks off…he’s got bills to pay, too many patients to see, and an office to uphold. And I thought to myself, damn, has my dad become a slave to his work?! Has he too become that stereotypical American workaholic?!

Somehow the Europeans have mastered what it means “to live.” In France, everyone is guaranteed, BY LAW, 5 weeks of PAID vacation days. Meanwhile, in America, there isn’t even a law requiring employers to grant employees vacation. You’re considered lucky if your boss gives you 2 weeks off! In Sweden, parents get 13 months PAID maternity leave, while in America you get 12 weeks UNPAID and usually ZERO job security. (Baby daddies in Sweden are livin it up!!)

So, it really irks me when people say, “there’s nothing like living in America.” Yes, America is great, but it seems like people here work harder and get less benefits. People in other countries seem to have more free time to live and spend less time slaving in an office. When people say, there’s no place like America, I say "yes, in fact there is...it’s called Australia" (minimum wage is almost double what it is here in America and you get 4 weeks PAID vacation by law).

And then when Americans do go on vacation, we’re lounging on the beach with our laptops and Blackberries. I’ll never forget going to Miami for Spring Break with my parents and every five seconds, my mom was on her phone with one of her employees; the woman never got a break! Now if she had competent workers, that may not have been a problem, but the fact that they knew she’d answer if they called shows just how attached we can be to our work. So even when we are trying to “make a living," we can't seem to get away from work, work, work!

In America, we definitely seem to value material things over life experiences. While we Americans are taking our little week vacations to the same tired ol’ South Beach, Las Vegas, Caribbean islands, our European counterparts are spending weeks exploring Southeast Asia, going on African safaris, chillin beachside in the Polynesian islands. No wonder 63% of Americans can’t locate Iraq on a map. I think it has to do with our lack of vacation time to explore the world PLUS our love for the finer things in life. We’d much rather drive a pimped out Escalade and spend summer vacation in Atlantic City over a fuel-efficient scooter and a memory-filled excursion through the Outback. Let’s keep in mind…I never met a single American backpacker while I was in Australia. We just don’t do such things!

On another note, all this talk about work and living and finding a balance has got me thinking about the rules to life…..and how there aren’t any! Slight update on the current state of my life: It’s been 7 weeks since I graduated Penn and I still admittedly don’t have the slightest clue what I’m doing with my life! And frankly, I’ve become a pro at avoiding the subject altogether. But I’ve realized that this avoidance stems from me being afraid to make a prominent decision that might throw people for a loop or isn’t considering customary to the unwritten rules to a graduate’s post-college experience. It’s expected that I go to college, do some internships throughout college, network network network, graduate, get a job in the same field I interned in, and keep climbing up the ladder. The Wharton grad who decides instead that he wants to pursue a rap career is looked at as a madman. However, I fully support the crazy Wharton grad and admire him for saying screw the rules and doing what he wants to do. Why? Because there aren’t any rules in life and sometimes I think we forget that!

Giving “the rules” the finger takes some risk, but might also open up the possibility to truly enjoy life. Right now I'm kind of deciding between 1. getting a job in TV/film and sticking with the original plan or 2. saying screw "the rules" and moving to The Bahamas to become a server at Senor Frogs or shipping off to Vegas and working as a go-go dancer at Privé to pay the bills. Just kidding! But you see what I mean…my biggest worry right now is whether or not sticking to the rules and my original plan is going to compromise my current thirst to travel, rebel and be young and dumb, and spend my twenties having lifelong experiences outside of an office setting. The mere thought of sitting in an office chair, staring at a computer, answering phones in a few months makes me want to break out in hives.

Decisions, decisions! All I know is, I don’t want to be kicking myself 40 years from now saying “it was hard to make a living, cuz all I did was work.”

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FYI: Monday, July 4^th at 9pm HBO is playing a documentary called “Citizen USA: A 50 State Road Trip” where the filmmaker attends naturalization ceremonies in all 50 states and meets brand-new citizen to learn why they chose America as their home. Should be interesting…