I’m sitting behind my mahogany desk, one of the few left in the world, staring out across New York City. My executive office is located in one of the beautiful skyscrapers and though I am a little bit scared of heights the view is no less breathtaking. On my wall, placed so visitors can easily see, hangs my framed degree. It is a simple piece of paper that reads:

Jonathan Gurney, Bachelor of Arts in Security, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies.

I look up and smile at it before turning back to the blog entry I’m composing and...Freeze. None of this is real. Let the desk vanish, taking with it the fancy office and skyscraper view. My real desk is actually located in an open-plan environment; I have my own computer and company phone line (extension 8859), a rather nice desk lamp and a whole 1 metre of extra space before the next guy’s desk starts. My computer is currently showing a really boring screensaver of the company logo. I tried changing it a week ago but the IT department insisted that I keep it the same.

Pinned to the wall of my cubicle is a picture of a rather dirty looking dog chewing on a forlorn teddy bear. This is my dog Dickens, I have to pick him up from the kennels when I’m done here as I can’t really leave him to his own devices around the house. Underneath the picture is a post-it which simply has the word ‘milk’ on it in a very untidy scrawl. I gave Dickens the last of my lactose free milk this morning because I was sure I had another carton under the sink. I didn’t. No milk means no coffee which means a much slower day. I could grab a mug from the employee lounge but I will be leaving early today anyway, Tuesday’s always end early because the upper management has late lunch meetings with the competitors. It’s a civilised way to do business and as we all get the rest of the day off I sincerely hope it continues.

Let’s talk about my job. Am I a best-selling writer or an international super spy? The cubicle environment should really have given the answer away. I actually work in an advertising firm doing research on the impact some of our previous campaigns have had. Thus I have joined so many other graduates in the great tradition of doing something completely un-related to your degree but I’ve still found a lot of the skills that I picked up during University to be very useful, particularly the research practice I used to have to do. I’m also not very senior in the company, I have at least 3 bosses and each of them seems to want something different which is another thing University prepared me for as I used to have to take 3 different units at once. I guess the people in charge have taken notice of this also as they are hoping to give me extra training and give me more responsibility, there was even some talk about giving me the chance to help develop an actual advertising campaign. If nothing else the extra money would help take a bit of the pinch out of mortgage payments.

My salary is decent enough at the moment to have allowed me to take out a reasonable mortgage on a small house. It is by no means my dream home but it’s comfortable and it has a small garden for Dickens to run around in. Also it’s quite handy for a small park that is only about ten or fifteen minutes walk away. On days like today, when I get out of work early, I generally walk Dickens down to the park for a good long game of fetch. It tires him out nicely so by the time I am getting ready to go out with some friends he is fast asleep in his basket. I think we will be going to dinner and then karaoke tonight. Hopefully I won’t be expected to sing, although I guess most of my friends were there for my hugely drunken performance of ‘Build me up Buttercup’ when I was still at University so it’s not like I can really embarrass myself more than that.

As for writing, well I haven’t let that fall entirely to the wayside. I contribute the occasional article and opinion piece to a local newspaper. It doesn’t pay at all but I like it, although one of my recent opinion pieces drew the ire of a local resident who proceeded to send me some very angry letters but they have since apologised. I think one of my greatest achievements was brought about through the newspaper. There was a plan to demolish the local park where I walk Dickens and I was asked to do an article on it. I think it would have been very easy for me to simply write a scathing denouncement of the construction company, but really for them it was simply good business so I didn’t. Instead I tried to come at the issue from a different perspective, simply reminiscing about the good times I had enjoyed at the park and how I would miss it. I could not have predicted the vocal response that this article would get as it seems a great many of the elderly residents in this area also have very fond memories of the park and were horrified to find out it was going to be built upon. The sight of a hundred old folks picketing a construction company is something that I will never forget. The article was so well received in fact that, according to the editor, the newspaper was contacted by a much bigger publication asking for the details on the writer. I haven’t been contacted yet but it was still quite exciting.

So that’s really a snapshot of my life as it is right now. It may not seem like I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to when I was in University but now I am in a position where I actually know how to accomplish those goals. If I could give myself some advice I wouldn’t waste my time by telling him to work harder, he never listens to anyone that says that so why would he listen to me? Instead I’d tell him that his degree isn’t magical and most of the harder work comes after University, but if he completes University he’ll be a lot better prepared to face it. Now if you’ll excuse me I can see my boss getting up from his desk with his jacket, this is usually the signal that the rest of us can go home. I mustn’t forget milk.

Jonathan