Lost post: 6/6/10

[In case you don't figure this out, today is a day of clearing out all those drafts in my post list-- deleting those that never really got started, finally publishing those that were at least half-baked. Though clearly some, like the one directly below, never really got to the point, which is probably why they remained as drafts, waiting to be completed. I'm not sure where I was going with this one-- I may have been feeling broke at the time or something, but I'm pretty sure I was headed down the road of how that's ok, and I like what I do better than if I was just selling widgets somewhere and making a lot of money at it, or how it's still a privilege to have been able to get a college degree at all... whatever. Mostly I decided to rescue this one from the "drafts" vault because I think it's an interesting reflection on what it's like to live in Denver, land of well-educated young professionals with a good amount of disposable income and who require a lot of special gear just to be outdoors.)

Nobody ever told me...

...to pick a career where you can make a whole bunch of money.

I feel like that was someone's job along the way-- possibly a high school guidance counselor, or a college admissions person of some variety-- but as they were probably also an overworked, underpaid member of society, perhaps they all just forgot to do so. I didn't get much better leadership from my older brothers, either, who hold degrees in such lucrative fields as linguistics and philosophy. Myself, I eventually decided on a degree in sociology. This tends to make other sociology degree-holders happy, as well as people who majored in communications, because when they learn that your degree is in sociology, they can delight in finding a fellow possessor of a college degree, but no marketable job skills.

Ok, well, I suppose that's not entirely fair. I did graduate college 5 years ago now (yikes!), and since that time, I suppose I've added a few relevant tidbits of experience to my resume. But still... I know many people my age, or heaven forbid, even younger than me who have very nice townhouses (or own their own homes!) because they are working for insurance companies, have started their own businesses, or are on their way to becoming doctors. They drive cars that do not suddenly require new engines, the heat (and AC) works efficiently in their apartments with accent walls that do not violate any sort of rental agreement (and in fact may have been already artfully added by the property management company), and think nothing of purchasing a hundreds-of-dollars ski pass every season, or gym and yoga memberships. They shop at REI, instead of just wanting to shop at REI. They have $600 bikes. Plural.

So perhaps Denver is a depressing place to live if you are a person who has chosen a profession (or meandered into it, anyway) where you actually have to plan your budget and peruse craigslist for a $60 bike instead (for the record, I've yet to find a bike). There are a lot of young, successful people in Denver. An abnormal proportion of college graduates and even more highly educated people inhabit the state. These people tend to make good money. And let's not even talk about Boulder.

But I, as I believe I mentioned before, am also one of those college graduates (I did say I graduated, right? Not just that it had been 5 years since I'd been in college?) True, I do make a lot more than I could make in Michigan, but then, that's Michigan-- continually bringing up the bottom of the list of economically successful states in the union. So I don't think that's really a fair comparison.