Yesterday I was invited out to Liverpool street to meet up with a friend. Jon works as an intern in a bank; his internship is giong to end in a couple of months and he has gotten the taste of money.
When I spoke to him, he seemed, as he has always been, optimistic and like some kind of 80s yuppie. What I found entirely confusing was that this guy, who had been working behind a bar since his graduation in October 2008, got into a banking internship by july-august. Good for him. In the space between August and today, he has gotten the lust for money. I have always known him as an ambitious individual. In university he used to sell used cars, it is that kind of audacity that he has where he speaks a lot and dazzles others. I certainly was.
This fellow wants to work full time in a bank, he wants to work hard for money. His world of aspiration, the city, executive priviledges and greed are alien to me.
My life was one of working hard through my teens. I was very insecure and very lucky. I was insecure about the grades that I had gotten in my GCSE's, I was just about lucky to get into 'A' levels, and very very happy to get not only a place at university, and a pretty good one at that. Excluding the fact that I had depression. I was lucky to get a 2:i, and to get into a masters. I fucked it up when I chased Marie and Antonia during my studies. I didn't realise that my academic life had ended. i hope it may continue.
In september 2008 was the stock market craziness. Now it is hard to find a job. I have done a few interviews and the only positive that I held on to was having love. I've lost her now, and I can't find a job. I have been trying.
Perhaps getting into teaching is my best way out. Of course that PhD plan may be open, but I'm not counting on it. I hope increasingly and sincerely, that my teacher career may take off. In more positive news, I have heard that heads of departments at schools get a higher pay. 25k a year isn't something to sniff at. This isn't the most ideal of worlds. The climate outside is cold, desolate and inhospitable. So is the economy. My friend who works at the bank occupies a world that a graduate like me could never enter. He never worked very hard, yet he won the stakes. I worked my balls off and wanted an academic career. I have been chewed out and living off my parents. What hopes does a university graduate like me have, when so many others are in the same situation as I? In a sense I must just fend for myself, but I fear what will happen to wider society when such conditions which are unresolved and, recession or not, this problem will worsen.
When I spoke to him, he seemed, as he has always been, optimistic and like some kind of 80s yuppie. What I found entirely confusing was that this guy, who had been working behind a bar since his graduation in October 2008, got into a banking internship by july-august. Good for him. In the space between August and today, he has gotten the lust for money. I have always known him as an ambitious individual. In university he used to sell used cars, it is that kind of audacity that he has where he speaks a lot and dazzles others. I certainly was.
This fellow wants to work full time in a bank, he wants to work hard for money. His world of aspiration, the city, executive priviledges and greed are alien to me.
My life was one of working hard through my teens. I was very insecure and very lucky. I was insecure about the grades that I had gotten in my GCSE's, I was just about lucky to get into 'A' levels, and very very happy to get not only a place at university, and a pretty good one at that. Excluding the fact that I had depression. I was lucky to get a 2:i, and to get into a masters. I fucked it up when I chased Marie and Antonia during my studies. I didn't realise that my academic life had ended. i hope it may continue.
In september 2008 was the stock market craziness. Now it is hard to find a job. I have done a few interviews and the only positive that I held on to was having love. I've lost her now, and I can't find a job. I have been trying.
Perhaps getting into teaching is my best way out. Of course that PhD plan may be open, but I'm not counting on it. I hope increasingly and sincerely, that my teacher career may take off. In more positive news, I have heard that heads of departments at schools get a higher pay. 25k a year isn't something to sniff at. This isn't the most ideal of worlds. The climate outside is cold, desolate and inhospitable. So is the economy. My friend who works at the bank occupies a world that a graduate like me could never enter. He never worked very hard, yet he won the stakes. I worked my balls off and wanted an academic career. I have been chewed out and living off my parents. What hopes does a university graduate like me have, when so many others are in the same situation as I? In a sense I must just fend for myself, but I fear what will happen to wider society when such conditions which are unresolved and, recession or not, this problem will worsen.
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