Have you passed your self-made age?

[Coho]

I remembered when I was a boy. I dreamed that by the time I reach 28, my self-made age, I'd own my own boat, not a very big one, but one big enough to accommodate long distance trips between continental shores. I think I'm getting there. How about you guys?

 

[JayJay]

A lot of targets have been reached and even surpassed. Life is good!

 

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by JayJay

A lot of targets have been reached and even surpassed. Life is good!

Indeed.

 

[Vintage Gent]

Sometimes, but occasionally, it's more like this:

He had driven half the night
From far down San Joaquin
Through Mariposa, up the
Dangerous mountain roads,
And pulled in at eight a.m.
With his big truckload of hay
behind the barn.
With winch and ropes and hooks
We stacked the bales up clean
To splintery redwood rafters
High in the dark, flecks of alfalfa
Whirling through shingle-cracks of light,
Itch of haydust in the
sweaty shirt and shoes.
At lunchtime under Black oak
Out in the hot corral,
--The old mare nosing lunchpails,
Grasshoppers crackling in the weeds --
"I'm sixty-eight" he said,
"I first bucked hay when I was seventeen.
I thought, that day I started,
I sure would hate to do this all my life.
And dammit, that's just what
I've gone and done."

- Gary Snyder, "Hay for the Horses"

 

[West24]

my goals money wise are to be very comfortable and be able to do what i want to do by the time im 27. im 21 now, lets see what happens!

 

[mishon]

No. I am 27 and I am nowhere near where I want to be in my personal life - very single, and my career - soon to be laid off.

 

[Piobaire]

I went with "Sometimes".

My horizons expanded greatly from those of the teenager in a rural cowtown I once was. All that guy's goals were passed a long time ago.

My young adult goals hoped that by 40, financial independance would magically be had, and I would be travelling the world, a true man of leisure. With three years left on that time clock, I know that guy is going to be disappointed.

My adult goals are on track and then some.

 

[grimslade]

Some think it a matter of course that chance
Should starve good men and bad advance,
That if their neighbours figured plain,
As though upon a lighted screen,
No single story would they find
Of an unbroken happy mind,
A finish worthy of the start.

 

[jhao]

I'm just starting my career so i'm not even near my goals, but by 28 years old I'm going to acomplish them.

 

[gamelan]

27/28 seems to be a theme. what's with that age? at that age i was only 2-3 years into my "career". (wow, do i really have a "career"?)

-Jeff

 

[TheIdler]

I don't understand this question, sorry. Is this the age at which you thought you'd become a self-made man?

I can tell you this: if you had asked me, at any point in my life since I was 15, to tell you what I'd be doing in five years' time, I would have been wrong every single time. I've also been extremely happy at pretty much every stage, with the exception of one two-year period in my early thirties.

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by gamelan

27/28 seems to be a theme. what's with that age? at that age i was only 2-3 years into my "career". (wow, do i really have a "career"?)

-Jeff

I've noticed it's an age where people often die. Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Alan Wilson (Canned Heat), Heath Ledger, Shanon Hoon (Blind Melon), to name just a few. I think it is about the age where people finally shake off the illusions of childhood and realize there is a whole life as an adult that needs to be lived. My guess is that long road to the tomb looks too tough to follow for a measurable number of people, right around that age. I remember turning 30, it was pretty tough. I don't think hitting 40 will be as tough at the big three-oh was.

 

[Coho]

well, for some of us, that's about 1-2 years after grad/professional school.

Originally Posted by gamelan

27/28 seems to be a theme. what's with that age? at that age i was only 2-3 years into my "career". (wow, do i really have a "career"?)

-Jeff

 

[globetrotter]

in the year 2000, I hit 33. so when I was a kid (say before 12 and a path sort of solidified) 33 for me was a magic age. by that age I thought that I would have everything - and a boat was actually on the list.

my goals and time frames changed as I got older.

 

[dl20]

I'm 28 and have another year to finish my doctorate. 2 yr postdoc after that and Ill get a job. After A year or so i'll get a private practice going which I expect wont hit its peak until 3-5 years later when I can have that be my full-time position supplemented by teaching. I dont expect to hit my peak until I am approaching 40.

dl