Life Question
 

Ok this is going to be the worst question of the day -

Where were you when you were 23?

I was out surfing, still fairly much are now actually.

College

Where wasn't I was the question? I am only 26 but 23 was the best year of my life, I was just out of college and working full time earning some real cash for once.

A perfect harmony of College parties/friends and money. The money is still here but the friends and parties have almost dried up.

East Germany

I was a binge drinking, social cigarette smoking, bar hopping, one-night stand, study too late, where's my check mommy, let go snowboarding, out-of state student at the Univ. of Oregon.

Now I'm a surfing, corporate minion, pelican lurker, study for the cpa exam lunatic, i wish i had a second car, a garage and a quarter million dollars for a down payment, with a tan living in southern cal.

It seems like so long ago, so much has changed since then and it's only been a year?? :eek:

Now I don't feel so bad at 23 - I am trying to get a grip on my life but it hasn't been working to well - I have been going after stuff I've always wanted -

"Now I'm a surfing, corporate minion, pelican lurker, study for the cpa exam lunatic, i wish i had a second car, a garage and a quarter million dollars for a down payment, with a tan living in southern cal. " -

I am not to far off - except I don't surf and don't have a tan, I have a borrowed garage for the Porsche, the 2nd car stays outdoors and I am so sick of the CPA exam - I don't know if I want to take it anymore.

Eh, all you need as a 23-year-old is to get laid by a 33-year-old. That'll fix your wagon right up! :D

the futuuuure
:D

Not sure if you're going to take the exam anymore?

Tell me about it!!!!

I'm studying pensions right now...PBO ABO PSC DBP DBC...and DTLs and DTAs... *brain overload*

I'm taking financial on the 26th :eek: What about you?

My older buddies have always said the first year OUT of college was one of the hardest of their life. The whole, "welcome to the real world you're on your own, but wait, you still don't know **** so I'm paying you barely enough to get by" *****ing sucks. Basically we're freshman again 'cept the senoirs are thirty years older than us, sweet. :rolleyes:

Do you work at an ACTG firm?

You're not alone so hang in there. Think about next fall when the exam is out of the way, the air is cooler, and the 911 runs a tad tighter...things will be a little easier. Two words that help me through my days: deferred gratification. We have time on our side, work now play later.

P.S. If I didn't surf (huge stress relief) I would have dropped the CPA thing and would be selling cars at Pacific Porsche. lol

Doing a thesis - 15 hours a week, and I didn't have a part-time job because I'd had one for the previous 5 years and had plenty of money saved up and a job lined up for the next year (by the end of March, as I turned 23, I'd somehow already fluked a grad position).

It was a great year.

at 23 I had recently dried out, was in my 2nd semester of college, having swtiched from music major to chemistry. Spent the previous 4 years out of HS working for a living and, um, er, in a haze. Working sucks. School rules. When I found out I could go to grad school and they'd pay me I said "sign me up!" I'm still in school (so to speak).

On the verge of being an alcoholic, working full time at a job I had had since 19... 10 years later, much better job, not drinking nearly as much (2-3 beers a week, as opposed to 2-3 before leaving the house), wife, kids, family, 356.

I was working for a very large Swiss company as a programmer, just got into my first apartment, dating every hot babe in the company, going out too late every night with the guys....phew. I'm tired thinking of it.

Year? 1983...the good ole days.

I was in West Germany.

Lesotho and South Africa on a Fulbright scolarship in Economics. Got the Fulbright stuff out of the way in a couple of months and was picked up as a freelance foreign investment consultant by Barclays Bank in Lesotho. (My professional assessment was: you're f*cked. Nobody in their right mind would invest in the 4th World pit that was Lesotho. Of course I made that decision require several months' investigation, lunches, travel, etc.)

Played cricked for the Lesotho national team (really not a big deal) and toured all over southern Africa with the team or solo. Boozed my way through the year (it's not a joke when people sent to these parts of the world are warned that alcoholism is an "occupational hazard"), but didn't whore around -- Africa. HIV. You do the math. Though I had a fiancee who came over from the States for the last five months of my stay, which took the edge off. :D

All in all, a year that will be remembered fondly and related through colorful anecdotes in my memoirs. Reserve your copy now.

JP

yeah I did that

worked in a shop drank tons of beer smoked tons of weed. trying to think about it is kind of a haze, but I am sure it was fun.

I am 25 now and still drinking a ton and partying a ton gave up the weed though. recently started school and doing good, trying to make it thrrough.


Kyle

Working full time as a mechanic on a professional bike racing team travling the world.

23 years ago, I can barely remember. I was 1 year out of college and just starting out this 8-5 gig I still do today.

Where will you be in 23 more years? Hopefully retired with lots of grandkids to spoil.

Kurt
I spent a lot of time in Frankfurt too. But at that time der ost was a bit more interesting. since most folks could not go. Just one trip inside that wall was enough to make one appreciate the US and why our guys running that continuous "exercise" in the Fulda Gap.

Right now im sitting here thinking... god I dont want to turn 23 in Oct. cause nobody likes you when your 23. I wish I could go back to 18. Currently Im drinking and smoking more weed than I ever have in my life while holding down a very good job as a produce broker and making pretty decent money. I still live with my parents so I can save to buy a house or condo in the near future. I never go out and have fun because I have to wake up at 6am for work. I am a decent looking guy, but never meet any cool girls and have been in a serious dry spell for about a year now. I dont really dig the chicks you might see at a bar or something, I like them a bit more real. Meanwhile all of my friends are in college and partying every night. I've been trying to find a "happy place", but its hard to get used to a full time job schedule when it seems everyone else is having fun. My emotions go freakin wild all the time, like im bi-polar or something, my dreams are getting crazier every night, maybe im just really confused about life. I've been starting to understand Tabs lately. Is this normal? I really didn't hold back here. Did some of you older guys feel like this too?

Im open to suggestions or advice, thanks for listening.....I feel better already.

O yeah, I think between surfing all the time and racing once in a while I manage to keep my sanity.

Here here!!

Spend some time writing something about yourself and take a picture, post to website. Before you pay the subcription you check out the ladies in your area, send them a free note or whatever, if you get a hot one the responds, THEN you pay the subcription. During that month (you have paid for) you try to get in touch with as many women on the site as you can. I can usually get three or four dates with goodlooking girls within a month. Before month ends cancel subcription. It's a game plan that has worked for me....last two girl friends. I dated on for a year and a half and the last one for 6 months. Warning: Lots of chick with kids who arent up front about it! Ask me how i know...

I used to get **** from my buddies, they relied solely on bars for women, Fri and Sat. I explained my theory to them and now they're all bout it.

Internet dating happens 24/7. Not just on Fri and Sat. It works for you. You do nothing cept check your email.

"But it costs twenty $ a month!" I can't remember the last time I went to the bar and spent LESS than $20! $20 is four drinks....two for yourself one for a lady....mabye one for your buddy... go home broke, sober, and 80% of the time without a chick.

Give it a shot. If nothing else use the intenet to fill in your dating potential for the rest of the week.

As for the weed smoking. It's a downer and may be the reason behind that "bi-polar-ness" you're feeling. I went to school in Oregon....Eugene, OR....everyone smokes! It was hard not to. When I moved back here, I purposely seperated myself from those that puff...I havent cheeched in over a year. Makes some moves...socially. Dude surfing should be all you need to escape !!!

Hey thanks Billy and Philip. I really should try the online thing, what can I loose... you know. I see so many of the ads for that stuff though. How do you know which ones are the best? Hopefully I wont get stuck with one that has a kid. No offense to them, but if im gonna have a kid its gonna me mine.
You guys are probably right about the smoke too. Its getting easier to kick now that im becoming more clear headed, so i'll lay off for awhile and see where it takes me. I've heard from alot of people that its unmotivating, but I also know people who do it many times daily and can be more productive than someone who doesn't. This used to be my case, but as I get older it seems to just slow me down. I appreciate the words fella's, I try my best to learn from others who have been there.


Lets hear it SoCal...

i was living in tahoe making like 4 bucks an hour, starving, not getting with any chicks (except fat ones, the guy to girl ration for locals is about 5to1), smoking too much grass, drinking till it hurt and skiing EVERY day at squaw valley. got about 120 days a year for the two i spent up there.

a quick comment on dd74's take on the older woman deal. funny when you're 23 a 33 y.o. woman seems like a dream, now that im in my mid 30's i'd kill for that 23 y.o. squeeze again. i remember how soft thier skin was, how hard the body was, and how they believed most everything you tried selling them. they were much more low maintenance at that age. once they hit 30, they get WAY more complicated, soft and things start to sag. @ fourty it is sagging, it just starts at 30.

funny too how when we guys were 16 we could have screwed 10 times a day and all the girls would say is NOOOO.. now im mid 30's and if it aint strange (meaning not the same ol slab) and they (woman) are the ones that want it all the time. mother nature has really played us on that one. i F way better now, just better technique, not better/more energy

Working for Aerosmith.

At 23, I'd quit college after deciding I didn't want to be an accountant like 2 of my 3 siblings; I moved from a small town in KY to Chicago where I knew no one, got a job making good money but working 70 hours/week, got my own place living on my own for the first time (after 3 disastrous months with deadbeat "roomies"), and started living, learning, and growing.

Only thing I'd do differently is I would've changed majors in school, rather than quitting altogether but at the time, it seemed like I had to get out, period; I should have searched around to find something I liked more and gotten a degree in that.

That and I'd have slept with more of the women that were throwing themselves at me at the time, though likely it wouldn't have happened so often if I hadn't been so hard to get - I had a very religious upbringing and though I'm an atheist, I wasn't much for pre-marital sex. Lots of girls seemed to find that a challenge: deflowering some wide-eyed kid from Podunk. Maugham once said the most successful playboy he knew pretended to be a virgin.

Oh, and I wouldn't let my dumb-ass brother talk me out of getting the black 944 I wanted back then! It was 10 years before I bought a Porsche!

Emanuel

In the Army, 1965.

I can't remember back that far.

Moving back to the subject of internet dating :) Yup, I did that for a year, it was fantastic. I've got no idea of how many nice girls I dated in the year - so I highly recommend it.

But wait there is more... Speed dating. I thought it was a bit impolite to say on my internet dating profile "old guy in his 40's looking to meet gorgeous tall skinny blonde, who is in her 30's but looks like 18...". Well I did actually but I was getting so much hate mail I changed it to "genuine guy..." or something like that. But I went to speed dating and a chick walked in who, well she is blonde, 5'11, very slim, 39, looks 18, smart, gorgeous, financially indenpendent, likes surfing, likes the 911, likes me. And we have been together every day since.

Really enjoyed reading that Bill - and a great thread!

Colin (Married 6 years and never speed dated).

And then there are men like this one guy I once knew, who drove a Mercedes convertible and rode a modified Ducatti. He did not "need" to work because his wife bought him everything. But then again, if she ever got bored of him, uh-oh... :rolleyes: