{"id":1375,"date":"2014-12-31T21:51:58","date_gmt":"2014-12-31T21:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/?p=1375"},"modified":"2014-12-31T21:51:58","modified_gmt":"2014-12-31T21:51:58","slug":"do-you-hate-that-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/2014\/12\/31\/do-you-hate-that-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Hate That Question?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In which Daniel begrudgingly converses with grown, working adults and steals some holiday treats.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Question\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To my dear reader,<\/p>\n

At a recent holiday party my parents dragged me to, I was cornered once again by a grown, working adult with some professional connection to music, intent on politely grilling me about my future plans. Do not mistake me; he was a nice man with lots of experience in musical theater, which was fitting given my interests. Nonetheless, it seemed the umpteenth time that I had to unpack the messy and vaguely formed goals I have for the future. Such plans hopefully include any and\/or all of the following:<\/p>\n

-WOOFing (Working on Organic Farms) in some cold, distant country such as Iceland, wherein I would work on a farm in exchange for room and board, while also exploring some of the local culture, folklore and musical practices<\/p>\n

-Taking my Birthright Trip to Israel, wherein I would learn of the history of the Jewish people alongside a large group of other young Jews from around the world<\/p>\n

-Becoming a professional narrator of children\u2019s audiobooks<\/p>\n

-Taking more cooking classes<\/p>\n

-Becoming a park ranger<\/p>\n

-Attending graduate school for music composition, with an emphasis in music theater<\/p>\n

-Joining Peace Crops, AmeriCorps or Teach for America<\/p>\n

-Becoming a proficient pianist<\/p>\n

-Getting a masters in teaching, choral directing or composition<\/p>\n

-Becoming a choral director<\/p>\n

-Owning a very large dog<\/p>\n

There is a pattern that opens such an exchange. It usually begins with a grown, working adult looking down at me (I am of rather small stature), asking, with benign interest, how involved I am in music. After I list my credentials most politely, they finally ask \u201cWhat are your plans for after college\u201d. There is a slight pause in which I either snort, laugh, grimace or perform a lovely combination of the above, and after which they always ask \u201cDo you hate that question?\u201d<\/p>\n

The real answer is \u201cnot really\u201d. Yes, there is a part of me that is irked at having to explain my extremely uncertain future over and over again, but I do not begrudge such grown, working adults for expressing (or feigning, at society\u2019s bequest) interest in my future. I do begrudge them, however, for the statements about a career in music such as \u201cOh, that\u2019s a hard business to get into\u201d. To such statements, I respond with the following. Everything is hard.<\/p>\n

All I seem to hear is that everyone has a college diploma these days, so they\u2019re worthless, and that the economy is in ruins, so finding a job is hopeless, and global warming is going to destroy the Earth and soon the world will be a desert wasteland and I may as well give up and die right now. No matter what profession I chose, it would be hard. Life is hard.<\/p>\n

Despite all this irritation I have with the attitudes that grown, working adults have toward my plans, I still don\u2019t really mind the question. The reason for that is that, unlike most of my peers, I am actually very excited for the future. Yes, I am EXCITED about the prospect of having to work hard and pay rent and be a real adult. I am excited to own a house and paint it a horrible shade of green and realize my awful mistake and have to paint it twice more before I get the shade right. I am excited about working on a farm and waking up sore and groggy before the sun has fully risen to assist a wizened Nordic man harvest leeks in late spring. I am excited to adopt an enormous puppy and take it on a seemingly endless hike through the Appalachian mountain range, during which I shall tell every memory I can possibly remember and sing every song I possibly know to that poor, exhausted animal.<\/p>\n

I firmly believe that am lucky enough to be excited about future because I have seen my best-laid plans fail a sufficient number of times, and seen things work out one way or another a sufficient number of times, to know that I\u2019ll just make it work. I may not get what I want from my messy plans for the future, but no matter how I plan them, they will inevitably fall apart and be a disaster. They will also inevitably be \u2013 in the most messy, exhausting and unexpected way \u2013 perfect.<\/p>\n

So, grown, working adults, I say this to you: I have no fear. I\u2019m an adult. I DO WHAT I WANT. And after I was done with that conversation, I decided that I was done with that party, and that my future was to steal as many cookies as I could fit in my pockets before sneaking out the door to watch the TV show \u201cSupernatural\u201d with my sister at home. That plan worked out \u2013 how hard could the rest of them really be?<\/p>\n

With all due respect,<\/p>\n

Daniel Wolfert<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In which Daniel begrudgingly converses with grown, working adults and steals some holiday treats. To my dear reader, At a recent holiday party my parents dragged me to, I was cornered once again by a grown, working adult with some … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":379,"featured_media":1377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[231,232],"class_list":["post-1375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daniel-wolfert-16","tag-future-plans","tag-graduation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/379"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1375"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1380,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375\/revisions\/1380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/whatwedo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}