I am 25. Wow, did I really just write that? I feel so young yet so...old. I feel like I should have accomplished more at this point in my life. A generation ago my parents were parents! I can't even imagine being responsible for a child at my age. My job isn't secure and my student loans tower over me, threatening to crush me (or my wallet) into oblivion. I like to have fun with friends, but I'm not interested in club-hopping and drinking. That just seems immature. I am in a relationship but am not at the point of committment. I feel as if my life is being held in suspended animation. This is what is now called the quarter crisis. Everyone knows about the mid-life crisis. Fifty something men freaking out over hair loss, turning in their wives for newer models, blowing retirement on ferraris and sailing around the world in boats. They sense that their life is mostly over and just cannot accept their fate. Us quarter lifers are in much the same boat but for a vastly different reason. We realize that our life is ahead of us and have no idea what to do with it. Many of us can't afford to live on our own and still crash in mom's basement. It seems the world expects so much from us but isn't helping us along the way. We have to go into massive debt to earn an education, then start at the bottom writing letters and making labels for the boss. We're supposed to have luxurious apartments like the cast of Friends and drive beamers with the tops down. We should play the field but we really ought to think about settling down and finding "Mr. Right." The feeling of malaise is so thick at times that it nearly suffocates me. I want to have it all right now but I can't and that frustrates me to no end. So for now, I'll live like a pauper and wait for the crisis to pass. Unfortuanately, I have no idea when that will be.