Where You Been Isn't Who You Are. But It Helps.
Dear Students,
I got hipped to a website by Felix Yip, that wacko Canuck planner who spilled paint on the floor during the first Creative Thinking class last year.
Probably you been to his site-- felixyip.com-- and seen this map there on which you can have the countries you've been to marked in red.
create your own visited countries map
An old guy like me has been a few places.
You think.
Until you look at this.
I haven't seen anything yet.
I have 2¢ worth of advice.
It comes from having started working in junior high school pulling sludge out of sewers at a do-it-yourself carwash in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
From having worked a night job all through college.
From leaving town the night after graduation from Michigan State to drive to a job in Colorado.
It's good to work hard at a job.
It's also good to work hard at you.
It's not graduation time.
But it is time to start thinking about what you're going to do after graduation.
Don't go look for a job.
Go see something you've never seen.
Go see something you've never seen and stay there for a while.
Agencies that have internship programs in the summer aren't going to hire new people while they've got the 1st year interns working for them on the cheap.
Go get your head turned around in a country that's not on your red list.
You ain't never again going to be so young and pliable.
Go make it work for you.
This is not a picture of God.
This is not almighty.
I can tell you that most of the impact it will have on your life will be detrimental rather than enlightening.
I don't expect you to believe that thought whole--you'll have to earn that wisdom yourself--but there's a chance you'll consider it for a 3 month period. So I offer it.
You got plenty of time to serve the dollar bill.
Serve your mind.
Go.
I got hipped to a website by Felix Yip, that wacko Canuck planner who spilled paint on the floor during the first Creative Thinking class last year.
Probably you been to his site-- felixyip.com-- and seen this map there on which you can have the countries you've been to marked in red.
create your own visited countries map
An old guy like me has been a few places.
You think.
Until you look at this.
I haven't seen anything yet.
I have 2¢ worth of advice.
It comes from having started working in junior high school pulling sludge out of sewers at a do-it-yourself carwash in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
From having worked a night job all through college.
From leaving town the night after graduation from Michigan State to drive to a job in Colorado.
It's good to work hard at a job.
It's also good to work hard at you.
It's not graduation time.
But it is time to start thinking about what you're going to do after graduation.
Don't go look for a job.
Go see something you've never seen.
Go see something you've never seen and stay there for a while.
Agencies that have internship programs in the summer aren't going to hire new people while they've got the 1st year interns working for them on the cheap.
Go get your head turned around in a country that's not on your red list.
You ain't never again going to be so young and pliable.
Go make it work for you.
This is not a picture of God.
This is not almighty.
I can tell you that most of the impact it will have on your life will be detrimental rather than enlightening.
I don't expect you to believe that thought whole--you'll have to earn that wisdom yourself--but there's a chance you'll consider it for a 3 month period. So I offer it.
You got plenty of time to serve the dollar bill.
Serve your mind.
Go.
9 Comments:
Right.
You speak from my heart.
Wow. Mark Fenske is a fine individual indeed with tonnes of wisdom to share, but the replies to his posts have been like hallmark cards. Maybe Mark could stand on a perch and everyone could line up for miles to kiss his ass. Or better yet, a lifesize statue of Mark can be cast in bronze and then people can get their picture taken with the divine wisdom excreter.
You ever think about the horror it would be to love chocolate and live in a poor section of Africa? I remember watching this traveling show on tv, and to buy a simple Hershey chocolate bar (which we take for granted) it took a wad of cash about 1/2" thick (their currency of course.)
Now think about what if you wanted chocolate to give back to your friends back at the base camp. That'd be a backpack full of money! So then you're walking around town feeling like a drug dealer with a backpack full of money, while all you want is some chocolate... forgot how i wanted to end this, but yeah... get the visual for that... money for chocolate.
Dave, I have no idea what you just said, but I do know that in order to take a trip, or anything of the sort, for the next three months, a backpack full of money is exactly what I'll need. Exactly what I don't have. And while working odd jobs in another country or city is most certainly an option, I'll have to find a way to get there first. But on the contrary, if I want it to happen, I guess I'll find a way to make sure it does, right?
Nicole, getting something is all a matter of how bad you really want it.
As for 3 months in a foreign land with a backpack full of money... if you pitched it right, it sounds like a TV show (unless one already exists.) And if the TV pitch worked, they could send you to the other country, supply you with the money, and you could eat all the hershey bars in Africa as you please. On the other hand...
I did have this idea with a friend to save about $3,000 and just fly out to a third world country with a beach. We'd live in a hut near the beach, surf all day, and hang with the natives. With 3,000 US dollars, you could probably live in the area for half a year without sweating the all mighty dollar. And on the brighter side, you might realize the other important matters besides making mad benzos.
Fenske, I wish I had taken your advice and seen something before taking that first gig. Now, I have to try and fit it in on a long weekend.
Well, Dave, thank goodness for me I'm pretty sure I "realize the other important matters besides making mad benzos."
As for saving up $3,000 and hanging out in Africa, it sounds nice, but not nice enough when the amount of U.S. dollars I owe to the U.S. government (and other places) is well over what I should expect to earn in a year from my first place of employment.
And you most certainly don't have to tell me about wanting something being a matter of how badly you want it. It's the only reason I'm back in Richmond after thinking I had left this place forever and would never be back. I actually would love to spend the summer reading and writing. You can do that anywhere.
cannot believe you haven't been in spain. missing out big time there... how are you?
hey, dave - if you were living in "a poor section of Africa" and pre-occupied with chocolate, you'd have bigger problems than you describe here.
nicole - you don't need the backpack of money when people need your skills (which, if you can write, they do) -
http://www.devjobsmail.com/main/homepage.html
fenske - you know where i stand on this. thanks and keep it up.
w
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