Seems like every other person I know that is around my age is heading back to school for another degree, getting married, and/or buying a place right now, or is planning to do one of those things in the near future. Some people have already done one or more or all of those things. All significant things, yet deceptively insignificant, since so many are doing them...

It's that time. Time for big investments. Big committments. Big promises. Gotta kick things up a notch. Gotta find inspiration. Gotta find a true calling. Gotta get out of the mid-20s rut. Gotta get ahead of the game, and come out on top when the economic is better. Gotta try to buy more time.

Reasons and motivations enough for everyone else... but where are my reasons and motivations? I don't have the means to buy a place yet, and being married would not provide me with any immediate benefits. If I want pick up the pace, shake things up a bit, lay down some foundations for future success, embark on a new adventure befitting my current stage in life, I've gotta look at the option of going back to school for another degree.

Since "everyone is doing it," they must all be on to something. I'm forcing myself to give it a more serious thought. Up until now, I haven't had a real urge to go back to school full-time. If money was not a concern, I'd be more than willing to go back to school full-time just for the sake of learning. I'd love to study biology again. I'd also love to study English, and get deep into the history of something. But because money is a huge concern, I figure that I should only consider going back to school full-time to develop my career, and to qualify me for more and better jobs.

However, business school, law school, med school, and the like, hold zero appeal to me. More importantly, I'm not smart enough to get into those kinds of schools. I'm lazy, and I have ADD. There's just no way I could ever get into the schools to my friends have applied to. Harvard, MIT... Gosh, if they all go to top notch schools, what could I ever hope to accomplish with less prestigious education? Some direction would be enough.

But I'd still be trailing in the rat race. Does that matter? Is there any imaginable, possible scenario in which *I* could ever obtain a Nobel or Pulitzer or other prize? Yes, folks, I'm going to find a cure for cellulite!

My brother might go to law school this fall. If he does, I have no idea how he's going to pay for it. Could my parents re-mortgage their little house in Castro Valley? That would basically be giving my brother the house, which is just about all my parents have. And I'm fine with that.

I'm probably better off taking job-skill-related classes after work, until I either get richer or smarter or... I don't know. I'll give this school thing more concentrated thought in the next few weeks. The current standstill must end.