I sort of modified this “Life of a Blogger” topic a bit. I want to talk about the past and the future. I sort of got this idea from Charlotte’s post on why she wants to grow up.
The Past
I’ve always been ready to grow up. For some people, high school or college are the best years of their life. Then they grow up and all they think about is how they wish they were back in high school.
This has never been me.
I have always, always been ready to grow up and get started with my “real” life. High school and college always felt like something to do to waste time. I don’t feel like I actually learned anything from school. I mean, sure, I learned calculus, but that’s long gone now. But overall, I don’t feel like I learned anything that’s actually going to help me with my “grown up” life. It all went in one ear and out the other because it was so irrelevant. I don’t need to know random information about past American wars for my future life. I don’t need to know about limits and infinite sequences in my future life. Sure, I feel like a basic understanding of history, literature, and math is important. But after a certain point, when you start going into really advanced topics, it feels a bit useless unless it’s related to your career (like medicine).
And on the social side, high school and college sucked for me. I’m bad at making friends and I’m picky about who I actually want my friends to be. My high school didn’t have any book worms. Most of the people there liked shopping and partying, which is so not me. I didn’t click with anyone.
So both the social and academic aspects of high school and now college just felt pointless. Everything I ever learned about art or being a web designer/developer has been self taught. School never helped me with that. I just feel like I’ve been going through the motions so one day I can come out on the other side with a piece of paper (degree) that says “Congratulations! You’re smart!”
But now I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I’m almost done with college and I feel like my real life is finally beginning. And I feel like I’ve gotten a taste of it the last few weeks since I moved in with my fiancé, and I’m LOVING it.
Plans for the future
I feel like I can clearly paint the next year of my life, and it makes me giddy with excitement! I graduate college in July and then I’M DONE!! And immediately afterwards, my fiané and I are getting married! In ITALY!
My Job
After that, “real life” will begin. I will be doing freelance web design work full time. I’ll have to try to fit into a groove that really works. I’ll have to find a good balance between designing pre-mades and taking on custom work. I will also be doing other ventures like running my own web hosting business for book bloggers.
The hosting business is something my fiancé and I are working to set up right now and it’s a little scary. With making pre-mades, there’s no risk. If I spend 10 hours making a design and no one buys it, that sucks, but all I lost was time. But with web hosting, I had to buy a quality dedicated server, which is costing $300 per month. That’s an investment that I may never see a return on. So I have to cross my fingers and hope that this venture is successful. I have to hope I get enough clients to cover the server costs!
So it’s a little scary, but it’s also very exciting! I LOVE the idea of running my own hosting business because it combines my love for WordPress, techie things, and my really weird love for customer support, haha.
Living Arrangements
My fiancé and I will be staying in his studio apartment for at least another year and a half. It’s going to be a bit interesting. It’s a small apartment, but we love it. It’s in an excellent area (both for me in terms of going out, and him in terms of getting to work), the building has its own gym, it’s quiet/safe, and brand new. It’s a small space, but we can’t bring ourselves to part with it right now. It will be interesting to see how we get along with it!
Kids
My fiancé and I aren’t planning on having kids anytime soon, but it is something we’ve talked about. Eventually we think we’ll want two kids. This is probably at least five years down the line though!
I’m actually slightly similar to you in that I never really enjoyed high school, especially the senior years. Most of my classmates were really into partying whilst I was the book nerd in the corner studying furiously. So whilst most people were so sad to say goodbye to school, I was so ridiculously pumped for Uni.
I have to say I love Uni though because of the freedom. I mean sure, I still have to go to classes, but they’re all about training me to be a doctor. But I also have more free time in general to do things that I feel are helping me set myself up for life.
And I’m so excited for you as well!! Getting married in Italy? That is going to be amazing. All the best for the wedding! 🙂
I’m glad you’re loving uni! It does feel like you have a lot more free time at uni, huh? High school means you have to be in classes or at school from 8am-3pm. But uni it’s so different. You may only have one or two classes a day, and then the rest of the day is yours!
Highschool? “best years of my life”? NO. I couldn’t wait to be done. My friends didn’t read either and there’s only so many things you can think up when they say “and what have you been up to” (because who reads in their free time? What craziness is that?!) -_- ITALY?!! OH WOW.
I remember getting into a mini fight with some girls at high school because they said something like, “Obviously I’d rather see the movie than read the book…” GRR.
I love your little updates. I don’t know why but I find your life fascinating. You always seem to be doing so much. I feel stagnant more often than not.
I really loved college but I was the same way with friends. I am social and anti -social at the same time. I am picky with my friends and I never clicked with a lot of people. I too am not into partying and stuff like that. However, I LOVE learning. Knowledge is my thing. The more I have the happier I am. The problem is when I finished college I couldn’t get a job because of lack of experience and it was during the time of the lowest employment rates. So my life never really started right after college. My plans crashed and burned. But I am a little more hopeful with my future plans of the blog touring website, graphic designing, and I am in the process of getting my book (that I co-authored) self-published. So at least I am moving forward again. I think my mind was always so set on getting a 9-5 job that I never realized I could make my on way. I just hope it works out. It’s scary.
Lol thanks! 😀
It’s cool that you love learning! I really hope your blog tour business works out well. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you! I know it can be a bit scary because there’s always the fear that it won’t work out.
Great to know you a bit better from your post! I totally agree with you about High school. It was an awkward time for me, I didn’t find many friends that had the same interests and were the same as me in high school. But uni was when it all took off for me but now after I’ve graduated I really do think all the awkwardness is over and I’m truly happy with who I am.
I’m so glad things are going well for you! It’s great that you’re happy and comfortable now. 🙂
Exciting times ahead for you both 🙂 I am almost at the winding down stage in my life, so I am looking forward to living a dramatically scaled down lifestyle without any major commitments. We just want to be free of it all and be able to tour the country on our Harley, in other words ….. just chill. We have worked hard and it is time 🙂
ps I am looking forward to moving my hosting to your new server.
I’m so excited for you! I definitely look forward to that hosting business of yours.
I think you’ve probably seen my reply to your comment about this but I am so with you on the school part. I know you have to go through it because with a college degree it is difficult to get a job now but it doesn’t mean I’m going to enjoy it. Studying is not really what I excel at and I’m better at doing more practical work. But just gonna slog it out so I can hopefully do what I want.
I’m so excited for you 😀 I mean it’s Italy!
High School was definitely NOT a peak time. In the slightest. I don’t understand people who are nostalgic for high school.
College, on the other hand, was great. I love learning, and I love learning in an environment where most people WANTED to be there. I joined some on-campus groups and found a lot of great friends in college, had some wonderful professors, and got a lot of experience. I definitely miss it, though I think “real life” is underrated too! It’s been pretty good so far as well.
I might be in the minority here, but I actually enjoyed high school… Well junior and senior year anyways. That was when I was finally able to take AP. Although, I probably will never use my AP History, AP English, or AP etc, I felt like I was finally challenging myself. Plus I was finally with like minded people. My school was kind of split. One half you have all the partiers that go to the beach all the time and what not. The other half you have the more geeky and nerdy students. I was the latter.
Undergrad was okay… I made some good friends there, but it wasn’t all that great. My department was super unorganized. So classes were a pain. Making friends in such a large school was also difficult for me. My current master’s program is something I’m really just trying to get in and get out. I just need the degree. It doesn’t help that the program is small, and I don’t mesh super well with anyone. I talk to all my classmates, but that’s it. I only see them in class.
So I can’t wait to get out of school. I’m super tired of studying and exams. I will definitely miss my winter and summer break though. That’s the only loss I’m sad about…
Congrats about your engagement by the way! Italy, that’s awesome!
Oh my… high school years. It only reminds me of the time I just thought I was not *normal*, that I was a sort of weird alien who doesn’t think and do things the same way as other people. I was terribly bored and frustrated with life. Horrible.
A few years later, I got my first job in a video game digital distribution company. That was a revelation. I finally learned stuff I wanted to learn, I finally earn money to be really independent, I finally managed to meet people with similar taste.
It felt like life suddenly turned into something completely different. I can only share your enthusiasm. You’re going to love your new life, I’m sure! Good luck!
Differently to you, I hated high school but absolutely adored university. I graduated in January so now I’m entering the ‘real world’. So far, I am missing university so much. I’ve moved back home until my partner is finished with his studies and I can get a full time job to be able to afford to go back to having our own place. It feels a bit like a regression from the independence I gained at college.
For the future, I’m scared but excited. I really want to get into publicity in the book publishing business. It’s my absolute ambition and I won’t be content until I get it. The only problem I’m having at the moment is getting a foot in the door. I’ve got work experience and an internship but it’s still so hard. Part of the reason for starting my blog almost two years ago. It’s exciting but stressful and scary. I sometimes wish for what was the simplicity of university. Yes it was stressful and tough, but at least I was doing something every day and not just piling up the job applications in the hope that someone will take me.
Blimey that was longer than I thought it would be. Great post, hun!
I totally understand where you’re coming from. I think I would have different feelings if I were moving back home after uni or stressing over job applications. But I’m not even done with uni yet and am already living with my fiancé, and I already have plans in place and clients to be a freelance web designer.
But I think if I were in your shoes, I’d also feel like I was regressing. So I completely understand why you’re feeling differently.
Aw definitely. It’s a pain but things will definitely get better.
I envy your position but am so happy for you too! I really hope your web design business goes well for you. You’re very talented so I don’t see why it wouldn’t! 🙂
High school was horrible, I used to get picked on a bunch and bullied back in elementary, and although College was better it still sucked a bit because personal stuff was going on.
Right now my plans for the future are moving into a house next week, which is a first for my fiance and I! We are also getting married in October. I’m also looking for a job, and the search for that has been a long one.
Excellent post! I felt the same way about high school. Not only was I pretty much the only book nerd I was also very shy and still deal with social anxiety. I preferred my books, still do. The ONLY thing that I truly learned in high school that has carried over was typing. I loved that class and got a bit ocd with it all. Used to just ghost type all the time 😀 Of course now I can type 100+ wpm which is why my posts are usually so very long. I truly believe school should be tailor made to fit each individual child’s interest. Learning so much useless information didn’t help me one bit. I passed the tests, whoopee I still sucked at life for a long time.
Congratulations to you. That sounds so exciting getting married in Italy. Also sounds very exciting about your own hosting. That’s got to be scary, heck just making my first blog was scary but it’s also exciting. I think you’ll have a great plan and wish you all the success in the world. I really like my hosting provider, they have super fast customer service. Usually within minutes but I will probably make the jump. I want to build a community with my fellow book bloggers and I can’t think of any better suited to that task than you. I know your customer service rocks, you’ve helped me out so much every time I’ve had a problem. Yes, it will be a growing experience and there will be some growing pains but I think the journey itself will be worth me switching over.
Please keep us updated. I’ll be happy to sign up. I just can’t think of anyone more qualified to host my site than you nor can I think of anyone better. You love reading and even your themes and plugins seem tailor made for us. I know you’ll be a success at this.
Doht, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to post using my blog account. I’m still not used to switching back and forth. 🙁 That’s me above.
I definitely know what you mean. Making friends is hard, but I feel like I’m okayish with it so far and I really like high school. I completely agree about the learning thing, though. Like I feel like college is the only place where you really learn the stuff you need. Why can’t high school be tailored to what you want to do when you grow up as well? I feel like that’s better than learning all this specific stuff that you don’t even need unless you plan to pursue a career in that. Ugh, but it sounds like you have your future perfectly planned out! I really want to try out your server as soon as I can afford the migration to WP and solidify what I want to do with my blog in general. Good luck with it, though, I’m sure it’s going to be great, and yay for being able to do freelancing soon! Congrats again on your engagement 🙂 <33
I LOVED high school and university! I grew up in a small town, so I went through K-12 with the same people, which meant we built some of the strongest relationships I’ve (to this day) got in my life. University was such an amazing experience, both intellectually and emotionally, and I feel like it’s where I really grew into the person I am today.
But I’m also super excited for the future. Kids will happen, one day, but I’d love to get in a bunch of travelling first.
You’re getting married in ITALY?! *swoons*
I’m still in high school, and I can’t wait to get out. Early childhood is long gone (oh, how I envy my little cousins), and I’m not going to get it back, so there’s nothing left to do but move on. I haven’t had a “BFF” since elementary school, so leaving old friends and making new ones won’t particularly be a challenge. I’ll find a way to stay in contact with the true friends.
I can’t quite relate to being sick of classes because I’m an extremely studious person. However, there are certain subjects that I could live without.
My future isn’t clear yet. It’s like this: I know I need to head west to get to a certain destination, but I haven’t decided which roads to take and which cities to stop in. I know that I want to go an out-of-state university–a good one. And, I’ll most likely be majoring in mass communications.
After that? I haven’t really decided. Maybe I’ll stick to journalism. Maybe I’ll do PR for some big shot company in Silicon Valley. Maybe I’ll become a freelance book editor. The only thing I’m sure of is that I plan on putting my English and journalism skills to good use and I want to do something involving media.
I may not be sure of my future, but you seem pretty sure of yours, so I wish you the best of luck with both marriage and your career 🙂
I’m currently a senior in high school and as of now, I doubt I’ll miss high school because I just didn’t really click with anyone in my school except for one. Like you, I’m very picky on who I want to be friends with. Lots of people in my school likes partying maybe every single weekend. I like to party too but not that often. Like you, I love web design and I’ve been toying around with html since I was 10 years old (I’m 17 now). So yeah, I’ll probably not miss high school. It just could have been better haha. As for growing up, I don’t think I’m ready yet! I see myself still dependent to my family, but of course that has to change soon.
Ashley, I wish you and your fiance’ all the BEST! 🙂
As far as living life…lady, you are doing it. You have strived for your goals and they have and are becoming a reality.
I know I am the minority (not a book blogger) but I adore books. I love sitting in old book stores (with old creaky floors) and seeing what kind of old and rare books I can find.
Thank you for all that you do. 🙂
Nope. I’m very self-conscious and shy so making friends is hard. I also grew up in a strict home so I didn’t get out and socialize a lot and the popular kids thought hanging out at a pond and drinking was a good time. Not so much for me.
I have really enjoyed adulthood and the fact that I get to make my own decisions. Also? I would never go back to high school because I’ll be damned if I’m going to ask someone for permission to go to the bathroom ever again! 😀
So glad that you are going to be all grown up come July. 🙂 Enjoy your time because one of the things grown ups don’t tell you (I’m breaking rules here just so you know!) is that time truly begins to fly once you’ve hit the grown up stage. My husband and I were married at 22 and we thought in five years we’d want to start a family. It’s been almost seven now and we’re still not ready. I’m ok with that. It sounds like July/August will be very busy for you, enjoy it and congratulations!!!
I have really enjoyed adulthood and the fact that I get to make my own decisions. Also? I would never go back to high school because I’ll be damned if I’m going to ask someone for permission to go to the bathroom ever again! 😀
That is one of the best way to describe why I hated high school. I got sent to the principle’s office multiple times daily for walking out of class to use the rest room. I reached a point where I refused to ask for a common necessity of life. They constantly tell you that you’re an adult now but treat you like preschooler’s. Me and the principle finally reached an understanding on it. Basically he got sick of seeing me so teachers quit sending me to him and I got to go to the restroom without asking 😀
So exciting!! Ken and I have been looking at some houses online lately, but we haven’t physically looked at anything and it’s not serious yet. But it’s scary yet exciting to think about! And I’m with you, I want kids but like, a few years down the road!
Ohh looking a houses! That’s so cool! Coding God and I would love to get a house, but I guess we probably won’t be doing that for a while! It’s fun to look though. 🙂
I’ve always felt funny admitting that I have never given a hoot for past stuff, and have always looked forward to “growing up”, but I’m with you. I hated high school; I was bullied, living in an abusive home, my friends treated me like a social project, and I was in the midst of full blown complex post traumatic stress disorder with suicidal ideation (that I never acted on, because I didn’t want the haters in my life to win). Now, though – I just celebrated my eighth wedding anniversary to the love of my life, my daughter’s about to turn three, my brand is really starting to pick up steam, I’ve cut ties with all of the abusive people from my past, and…I’m ready for MY life, NOW.