White, White Wine

Currently Listening to: Sun Yan Zi (Stephanie Sun) - "Kai Shi Dong Le" (Beginning to Understand)

I woke up this morning and my voice was non-existant. Last nights heavy dosage of white wine, Karaoke and an average of 5 hours sleep for the past week left me stumbling my way to a glass of water and a short (and pretty incoherent) breakfast conversation with my family and cousins about last nites activities..

Ah, the social gathering. Be it a dinner party, work party, or just a party, one of the things I've been doing a lot of is flexing the social skills. Not necessarily out of choice, but more out of necessity. Singles out there know what I mean. While that doesn't mean that I'm against meeting new people, but without a significant other to retreat to, you have to make a concious effort to meet people in the wonderfully superficial social dance we call "mingling". Case in point:

Ben: "Hi, I'm Ben, it's nice to meet you..."
Them: "Hi, I'm ..."

Now, depending on the a few factors and the occasion itself, the conversation can go a few ways. But keeping it recent, I was at an engagement party last night, so...

Ben: "So, how do you know so-and-so?"
Them: "Oh, I'm a high school friend...and yourelf?
Ben: "Yeah, I took a few classes with her back at the start of uni too..."
Them: "Same uni? UNSW? "
Ben: "Yeah, I'm from there finishing off my degree. I do a combined Com/Arts degree..."
Then: "You're still at uni? Wow..."

Stop. Now, the fact that I'm in my 5th year of uni draws quite a few odd looks, and even more so when people find out I'm NOT doing a Com/Law degree or Medicine. In fact, in a room full of Accountants, this can be quite concerning. Short of being stereotypical, I think most people think that my Com/Arts degree is a waste of time, and that the only good that can come of it is that I have a double degree (and an inferior one to Com/Law at that). If they don't ask me if I paint or draw in my Arts degree, it's a good start right there.

Them: "So, what do you do in your Arts degree?"
Ben: "Well, I major in politics and Chinese."
Them: "You know, that's a really strange combination with Commerce...of course, if you want to go work in China..."

What I find really disappointing these days is that a lot of people see uni as a means to only one end, i.e. getting a really good job. While I'm not trying to say that people who do so are wrong, I don't think the pursuit of mental gainsand capital gains is mutually exclusive. And therein lies the crux of something that has been on my mind for a while, the polemic way of thinking that seems to be the common mindset, where being one thing means you can't be the other. Haves and have nots, good and evil, right and wrong, black and white...

Me? I'm trying to keep my mind on shades of grey matter...