the Summer of Sanjiv

by sanjiv solanki

(( page 4 ))

On the bright side, I learned more about how to deal with rejection and varied degrees of failure. My heart wasn’t too set on flipping burgers, even in the short term, so not getting work doing so didn’t exactly eat me up inside. Still, some form of employment would have been nice for my self-esteem. Aristotle said that we are what we do. What am I if I do nothing?

Going out with friends, as I sometimes did, underlined my feelings of social inadequacy. I imagined my friends and I introducing ourselves to attractive members of the opposite sex.

“My name’s Stephen,” one friend would say. “I’m rehearsing for the lead role in a play that opens in town next month.”

“I’m Will,” another friend would say. “I’m leaving in a few weeks to tutor prodigious kids on philosophy at Johns Hopkins.”

“I’m Sanjiv,” I’d say. “I’m currently unemployed, but a lot of the jobs I’ve applied for have been telling me I’m overqualified.”

Too many nights ended with me alone in my bed, falling asleep to the two a.m. version of Sportscenter.

I finally found gainful employment at the local franchise of an international chain of coffee shops. The work isn’t too bad, even if it isn’t too rewarding. The people working there with me are nice enough, but the shop is set up across the street from a few office buildings. So every few hours, you get a lot of self-important junior executives with frosted tips, wearing half-silk, half-cotton button-down shirts, their cell-phone earpieces firmly in place.

“I want a grande, half-caf, nonfat cappuccino… AND I WANT IT TEN MINUTES AGO!” they shout. I’m consistently unimpressed, but I’m sure they feel pretty good about themselves. At least it’s good real world working experience.

Pretty much all of the other people working there are just like me, stuck in that purgatory between the lives of a student and a professional. It’s not a bad dodge, all in all. And I get free coffee too. Even though I’m not really that into coffee.

For my own part, I’m also applying to some graduate film schools, and I’ve got this little gig writing a piece for Toner. I know I’ll eventually find regular work doing something I really enjoy. I like to think I’m a talented writer, and I hope you agree, after you’re done reading this.

Looking back over the last four years, there are probably a lot of things I’d do differently. I might have gotten more real world experience. But, all things being equal, I’ve led a pretty eventful life, and I’m curious to see where I end up next.

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