It’s not the bar-hopping, man-conquering, responsibility-free land that I was promised. It’s also the land of zero budget and crappy jobs - things that seem to resolve themselves by the thirties. This is purgatory, and we (my roomie is here too) are tired of it.
I need a sugar daddy.
Anyone else here feel the same way?
I felt that way thirty years ago when I was an ungrateful, unobservant whippersnapper with a head full of false expectations. Things got better when the expectations normalized.
Nope. As far as I’m concerned my twenties have until this point been a “bar-hopping, [wo]man-conquering, responsibility-free land.” And it’s great. Some more money would be nice… but the only thing I need it for is beer (well, and rent, but that’s really secondary). A socialist government has to be good for something, right?
You are on crack.
I would give anything to be in my twenties again. Enjoy it now. It just gets worse/harder as you go. If you play your cards right, you’ll just drive a nicer car.
Whiner!
I weep for you. I deeply sympathize.
In the sense that I don’t at all, that is.
It’s not that that I am ungrateful. I do realize that I have it better then many people. I just want a little fun. Maybe a vacation, maybe an illicit weekday night out with a call-in sick the next day. Just can’t manage to drop the responsibility act and do it.
Here’s hoping you get lots of years to practice!
Wait a minnit. . .
I’m currently 28, and have been living a “solid” life, with a steady job with definite prospects for promotion (which happens to be a kickass job that lets me travel, by-the-way), free weekend (for the most part), and the benefits thereof.
I don’t know what the heck you’re doing wrong, but I’ve lived over seven years of good times, with very few things to look back on.
I’d be your sugar-daddy, but hey . . .
Tripler
It’s all a matter of perspective.
… you’d rather be my sugar daddy? 
I’m 33 … that’s not a problem, right?
I forgot to mention…This mini-rant was brought to you by my dad. For the last 3 years, I’ve been trying to convince him my career plan is what I really want. He wants the M.D. after my name. He said today he’s settle for the Ph.D. I think the M.Ed. L.P.A.C. I have planned is best (I mean how many letters can you throw after your name anyway???)
I didn’t have the opportunity to find a kick-ass job. I had to take the crappy one that had tuition benefits because daddy-o stopped paying after I dropped pre-med. I took on full-time work and schooling at 19 years old. Stuck there now to pay for my master’s. I think it just hit me that this next 6 years or so are going to be dedicated to work, study, saving (for a business start up) and all that other fun stuff. School resumes again in exactly one month. I feel like this is the LAST CHANCE to live it up.
Phew, I feel better now.
My 20s were a struggle as well. Took me a year to find a “real” job that wasn’t really real, then got laid off. Bounced around doing crappy service jobs for two years or so, struggling to pay rent, driving a crappy car, no vacations and mo money to do anything fun. Eventually I got a better job in my career. Ever since then I have made bad decisions followed by lucky windfalls (buy a car that’s really too expensive then get a huge raise), or I life has happened (we bought a house with plans to do some minor decorating and remodelling and my wife got pregnant). My salary is several times what is was in my 20s, but my responsibilities have grown much quicker. These days when times are a wee bit stressful I try to remember that all that stuff I worried about ten or fifteen years ago and I can’t. I am also plagued by all the coulda-shoulda-wouldas that happened/didn’t happen, and it sounds like you have a definite plan for yourself. In my book that puts you light-years ahead of most people of any age.
So, just wait. This will get better, or at least different. And you’ll have more money, but more repsonsibility…oops, there I go again. 
Well, I put it this way: I needed help, and the First National Bank of Mom and Dad helped out for a year, but I made my own way with loans, part time jobs, and what not. I found my own way. And the only letters I have after my name are “Capt, USAF”.
It’s your own life, and you should find your own way. And if I could send you guts-in-a-jar to get there, I would. Just do what you want to do. How you get there is your own business.
Tripler
I have eight letters after my name, with a comma.
No, it’s more of a nihilistic anomie. I find that my salary more than adequately covers my expenses.
If you’re not satisfied with your life now, you’re probably not going to be satisfied in ten years either. There’s no magic age when suddenly everything starts working right without effort.
What! So no one told you life was supposed to be this way. Your life’s a joke, you’re broke, your love life is DOA.
I’ll be ducking and running now.
After I finish laughing, I think I’ll shake my head in wonder. Why does anyone want to quote that song anymore?
Oh, don’t make me laugh. Resolve themselves by the thirties?
Yeah, maybe. If you don’t decide at 29 that the nice “solid” career that you happen to hate is the worst thing you can be doing - and if you really want to avoid throwing yourself in front of that subway (and there were days it crossed my mind. I don’t think I was ever that desperate, but I’m glad I’m not doing that anymore - the job or the commute), you have to get out.
So now I’m 31 - and finally in a job that I love - having taken on an extra $30k in student loans to do it. I’m also now in a career that pays significantly less than what I was making. If I’d stayed in the job I was in, my salary would now be double what it is in the new job. But I’d still be miserable, and probably well on my way to a heart attack/ulcer/stroke by the time I turn 35.
But If you want to be happy, you have to make the steps to make yourself happy. Socially, I’m still working on the happy thing, but new towns are tough the older you get.
Amen!
I’m 20, and so far I am enjoying my 20s. OK, I have no money as I’m at university. However I have a great fiance and great friends. Life is great!
There are no free rides.
Welcome to Hard Knocks.
Population: 100 Bajillion.