1973
Summer

The Spring Quarter ended mid-June and I did well making A’s in CIS-380, CIS-401, and Physics Lab, and then C’s in Humanities and Physics 2.  With school out for the summer and only working part time at the computing center, I had a lot of time to enjoy life and did so which I contrasted with one of my good friends at the time was who was taking school and life more seriously.  I wrote…

He seems headed toward the "have to make money, get a good job, get married, get ulcers," and in general became the everyday middle class boring person. When in school he studies 6-7 hours a night and rarely does anything else.  I think he is trying to look 6 or 7 years into the future, when he has graduated and is working for some big corporation somewhere as an engineer.  

The problem is as I see it is that I don’t know if he has the right attitude for life or if I do. Then again, we both might, "To each his own." But life as I see it is to be enjoyed. There is much to learn, to do, and to see that I don't see how he could live a life as a typical middle class man.  It seems such a boring life. I would like to spend about 20 hours a week at a job I could take as a hobby, make, say $10,000 a year, and have plenty of spare time to paint, read, work on hobbies, write an many other things. I like life and all it has to offer, both the good and the bad, and besides if there was no bad how could one define what is good?  I could spend years traveling around looking at art exhibits. I have also found that meeting new people is one of the most interesting and rewarding things in life.  There all so different and each interesting in their own way. That is why I like going to school. There are always new people to meet and new idea to understand. I could go to school for a long time if I didn’t have to make "the grade" to stay in school. Most of the people at the university spend more time trying to make the grade than they do  56 else. Which is bad because it teaches people how to compete with others when, I think, it should be teaching how to live with others in harmony, friendship, understanding, and trust. (sounds idealistic I know)

My friend later graduated from the University with a degree in engineering, immediate got married, took a job with an aerospace company, had two beautiful children, and worked his whole career at the same company before retiring.