V William Uuer/DN
Todd Vegas, manager of the Nebraska Union Burger King, looks over job applications.
Many jobs can mix with career plans
By Bryan Peterson
Senior Editor
I have held quite a number of
jobs in my life. Most people work
one job for a lot of hou rs, but I tend
to work several smaller jobs at
once.
If asked where I work, I usually
reel off an extensive list, but the re
ality is not so impressive, because
most of them are very part time.
My career plans are about the
same — I want to be doing several
things at once, not stuck in one job
or routine.
I occasionally wonder about
being a writer. I am not yet confi
dent enough about that to use the
capital W when I spell “writer," but
I may get there someday, someday
a long time from now.
One thing that gives me hope is
the fact that almost every time I
read a little biography of a novelist
inside the book cover, there is
always a list of all the weird and
seemingly unrelated jobs the per
son ever held before stumbling
upon writing.
In fact, almost every writer I
have ever read for a literature class
worked as a journalist at one time
or another, so even now I might be
on the threshold of writing that
special work that makes it.
Rather than practice writing like
I should, I have tried to work as
many jobs as possible, getting no
particular depth in them but aiming
for a long list.
I usually try to work jobs which
somehow dovetail witn other in
terests or studies of mine, and each
job seems to provide its own unique
rewards.
What better job could there be
for a student than getting paid for
attending class? Well, notes do have
be taken and typed, but Jon’s Notes
offers a great chance to sit through
a class for free, and I have done so
for several courses in my areas of
study.
With the same idea, I have graded
philosophy exams for several classes
and tutored a few students in basic
logic. Later, I offered Supplemental
Instruction for psychology students,
getting a chance to hone my skills
in these areas.
I was also a student assistant for
three semesters, a job which did
not pay but which did offer free
housing as well as intense interac
tion with floor residents and other
staff members.
During my early semesters in
the residence halls, I spent obliga
tory time working for Food Service.
Such jobs are usually good for the
free food they offer, but the point
was moot in this case.
In my first semester at UNL, I
rode the bus to Omaha a nd worked
at a record store called Drastic Plastic
every Monday. As a result, I now
have a tremendous collection of
obsolete, obscure punk records
which, if laid end to end, would
reach from here to a CD factory
somewhere near Boise, Idaho.
Before finishing high school I
already was judging at speech and
debate tournaments, events which
tend to stretch into 48-hour mara
thons.
Naturally, one gets paid by the
round, not by the hour. But a large
duffle bag full of political buttons
and bumper stickers for sale helps
make judging debates more re
warding.
Another great way to make
money on weekends is by selling
various bodily fluids. Now this does
not tie into my academic studies
directly, but can provide good study
time, whether making twice-weekly
trips to the plasma center or being
confined at Harris Labs.
It is harder to tie jobs into my
course work during the summer,
but it can be done. One of my jobs
for the past several summers has
been painting addresses on curbs,
a physically draining task on steam
ing August nights which offers
copious time for the recitation of
Milton sonnets or the composition
of pedantic essays upon tne most
obscure subjects.
And of course, like all good
writers (and many bad ones), there
is the requisite time spent writing
for a newspaper.
Baldridge
Continued from Page 6
working. I hate to look for work
that I won’t like, having to debase
myself for scabby old bosses.
And, truth be told, I hate work.
I used to be ashamed of this. I
felt like there was something wrong
with me, that I hated work so. Ana
1 do, so very much.
But now I’m out of the closet.
(And into the fire?) And I’m not
alone. There is, it seems, a whole
army of us out there, secretly hat
ing the process by which we buy
our bread on credit.
We should band together. We
should take a stand ana defeat the
market that would parcel out our
lives into fiscal years. We should
rally. But it sounds too /nuch like
work.
So here I am, with no market
able skills and little desire to ac
quire. 1 just don’t have the attention
span to learn to drive the big rigs
like those retirees on television.
I don’t work well with others, I
don't trust long division, and I can
barely read.
So, I came to college. I came
because I figured my lack of skills
could be made into a virtue, that
here I might find a job scribbling. I
figured that here I wouldn’t need
to do much of anything to gel by.
So far, I’ve been right.
MSalt. It’s responsible
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pressure, a risjk factor for
stroke and heart attack. It’s a
habit you can’t afford not to
shake.
American Heart
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the copy enter
Open 24 Hours
475-2679
1201 "9" St.
Lincoln, NE
466-8159
330 N. 48th St.
Lincoln, NE