Monday, April 07, 2008 Baumgart: Professional Bum By Elisabeth Baumgart inkblots
I’M starting to miss school.
There! I said it! I’m admitting it to the whole world and I am not ashamed! Yes, dear readers, I miss being a slave to education and studying until the wee hours of the morning.
Just weeks after graduation, I will admit it: I miss being a nerd.
Which is rather strange, since years ago I simply couldn’t wait to graduate and be done with all the school requirements, reports that needed to be written and the endless studying.
But these days, after successfully finishing my bachelor’s degree and finding myself being rather “unproductive”, I come to the startling realization that my brain is turning into mush.
And there is no uglier thought in the world than thinking about your brain turning into a puddle of goo.
Back when my friends and I were still struggling through college, we promised ourselves that we would become professional bums for several months. We promised ourselves that well-deserved break we all needed after all those years of working ourselves to the bone in attempts to pass all our college classes.
After four years of hard work through college, we really needed the break.
Back then (more specifically, during our stressful thesis-writing days), nothing was more tempting than lazing around all day and doing virtually nothing.
Our friends who were already working gave the same advise to all of us: rest before you start working.
So, rest we did.
And after barely a month of the so-called “resting”, most of us are already complaining of how completely boring it is to be a professional bum.
With the recent events of our official “bumhood”, most of us are already throwing in the towel and giving up on being a bum.
Those who have sworn to be a bum for six months have already gone job hunting. Others already have jobs. And others are already planning to go back to school to pursue further studies.
I find it rather annoying how this “bumhood’” is turning out to be no fun at all. I feel scammed, cheated and lied to.
Where’s the promised fun in doing nothing? Where’s the rest and relaxation when all you can think about is worrying about getting a job and hoping against all hope that your brain won’t turn into a puddle of goo and ooze out of your ears?
Perhaps there is a formula to being a bum. There are loads of bums out there in the world who have been professional bums for months (even years for some).
I can’t even be one for a month. Perhaps my “inner bum” is not well tuned.
Either way, being a bum is starting to become really boring. It’s just too much, doing nothing is too much for us to handle.
So in a few days’ time, I’m kissing “bumhood” goodbye.
