This took a while to get to. My weekend went from "chill" to "non-stop" after the night at Steve's house. I watched my brother play two more games, attended the senior banquet, took fireball shots, partied all night, did mother's day, did graduation, did graduation gifts, and somehow managed to get on a flight and come home to make it to work in the morning. Woo! One of the most interesting things I'm learning as I get older is how people balance being parents, partying, and careers. My parents never drank and avoided a lot of social events as they were happier chilling with each other and us and doing their own things (like traveling). For that reason, it wasn't until I was 13 or 14 and saw my friend's parents smoking weed and partying that I started to realize some parents drink, etc. It's not until now that I realized "growing up" is not really a thing. There is no moment that you suddenly act 100% responsible or stop making sexual innuendos at inopportune times. I always assumed I would stop partying and have a career and be a parent at some point. As I hang out with people who have kids more, I realize this is probably not the case. In fact, hanging out with a 35 year old with two kids can be filled with almost as much debauchery as hanging around 21 year olds. The main difference is the conversation - it is way better at 35. Cliff's wife said a couple really insightful things about raising kids and having a career. Namely, it's hard but totally worth it and it is possible to do both and rock at both. It's evident how much she loves being a mother. She mentioned that your career really doesn't start to truly pay off until you are in your early to mid thirties, but that's also when most women start really wanting babies. It's not like you have to choose but really...you have to choose. You can't dedicate yourself 150% to both things because you'll probably burn out and die. She mentioned that no matter how rewarding a career can be, being a mother is more rewarding. I also learned the differences between sales and new business development. I'm still convinced they're pretty much the same though except one has connotations of a man with a briefcase selling you shit you don't need. Finally, I learned how much I've learned at my job. I'm way more of an engineer than I know. I can talk (and enjoy talking) about tech specs and the future of certain technologies in the same way I can talk creative shit / design.
I love those weekends, the ones where you do so much stuff that you wonder how the hell you managed to put it all in two days. Some years ago I took on an office summer job, working full time as the only one under 25. I'm quite good at adapting to new social situations, and it didn't took long (two hours, to be precise) before one of the people I worked with informed me about all the office gossip. That woman is really stuck up, the new manager doesn't know what he's dealing with, there's a new guy handling data who's having a hard time adapting - he came from a government job, y'know, and they basically told him exactly what to do, and we don't do that around here... You know what I mean. I was a temp so I could easily sit next to people I only knew tangentially at lunch, and thus I had quite some fun following the office drama, being a yes man to all. Then I realized - these are supposedly all 'adults', who are chatting about each other not much different from highschoolers. The same dynamics, backstabbing and rumours. And most of all: I could effortlessly fit in. It made me understand that being grown-up is only really different in the number behind your age. Do you agree with that statement? Or, to put it differently: has it affected your view on motherhood? I still hang around friends from high school sometimes, and it always amazes me how much different each of them has become after only some years of studying. We did a Jargon Game a while ago: come up with a definition from your field, and the others have to guess what it is. I'm convinced that what you expose yourself to heavily affects how you think. It's one of the reasons I like geography / urb. planning: since it is such a wide field, I get exposed to lots of different ways to think about reality, and thus I understand people better. For instance, I had a course on economics and an engineering course, and I find it very interesting to look at the differences in reasoning / rationale between them.It's not until now that I realized "growing up" is not really a thing.
She mentioned that no matter how rewarding a career can be, being a mother is more rewarding.
Finally, I learned how much I've learned at my job. I'm way more of an engineer than I know. I can talk (and enjoy talking) about tech specs and the future of certain technologies in the same way I can talk creative shit / design.
Just for the record, in case someone feels it was implied, I don't smoke pot, and I'm pretty sure no one at that party does either. I have nothing against it, but I would never dream of smoking it in front of my children and I don't think I'll let my children ever see me drunk either. Right now, they have no idea either way. Partying at this point in my life means having some friends over, a few drinks and barbecuing. It's likely over by 11 PM at the very latest. Very, very different than what many of you are used to I would guess. I actually get more satisfaction out of recreating with friends these days than I do "partying." -okay, that's probably a lie but the importance of partying is drastically diminished these days and doesn't really even factor in to the "balancing of time." Edit: I would say it as "balancing family, friends and career." Not "partying." Fwiw.
Sorry if my comment implied any of that. It wasn't my intention. My comment was based on my experiences with a lot of different people. Specifically, I took fireball jello shots with some parents of my brother's teammates. While I consider that partying, they were still not out of control or blacked out or anything by the end of the night like some of the youngers were.