Dennis and Leanne Sarcowitz are your typical Young North American Couple: middle class, literate, professionals with creative streaks, white wine with seafood, she drives a KIA sedan (he's holding on to his Civic), fitness enthusiasts, photogenic, politically liberal... I interviewed them because they're my age and I needed a blog post, but also to find out more about this exciting and diverse world, and others' experiences of it. Plus, everyone loves the interview format!
Publicato: Alright, thanks for agreeing to do this. You're helping me out a bunch. I guess the most obvious place to start is to ask how you met each other.
Dennis: Well it's pretty much the standard version: two people in similar social circles meet –
Publicato: Cool, yeah...
Dennis: – and they connect over really basic stuff. 80's movies, childhood memories, a shared fondness for plummy reds, similar senses of humor. It's standard but it's magic, you know?
Publicato: Oh definitely. So it's love?
Leanne (laughing): I guess it is. We're happy.
Publicato: Right on. Everyone's talking about gas prices, what do you guys think about it?
Dennis: They're great. I'm saving twenty or more bucks per fill-up. I still go out of my way to avoid traffic, but most excitingly –
Leanne: We're talking about doing a nice road-trip this summer with the money we're saving. Connecticut, to visit some of my family, and maybe all the way to Oklahoma to visit his. On the way we'll do some good hiking and camping and sightseeing... this is the year to do it.
Publicato: I hope so. If a '73 style crisis develops and you get stuck in backwoods Arkansas, will you liquidate your whole nest egg to get home?
Dennis: It's super unlikely, and we have other resources, but yes, we would do quite a lot in order to make it home safely. Gas will probably go up in a few months and we'll, I dunno, fly to Europe again or something. Spain's real nice any time of year and we haven't been to Bucharest yet – which we really want to do before it becomes touristy.
Publicato: Oh, word?
Leanne: I read somewhere that it's going to happen in the next few years and we want the authentic experience. Eastern Europe is beautiful, with rich culture and history, and it would be a shame to visit after it becomes a money-sink filled with kids and idiots like Western Europe.
Dennis: Plus, I mean, it'll be something to tell our friends about.
Publicato: Interesting you bring up friends, because I was just about to ask what their role in your life is.
Dennis: So that's the next question?
Publicato: Yes.
Dennis: Well, they're the people we compare ourselves to the most. They're our inspiration to do better. And [chuckling] they keep our weekends interesting, to say the least.
Leanne: Friendship really is amazing. Somehow you bond with these people and grow up alongside each other and there's just so much there... I think everyone takes friends for granted. It's not easy to do right by them, but I feel I could do more.
Publicato: Of course there's some friends...
Dennis: Yeah, I mean sure, there's old college buddies who don't share my lifestyle. There's some friction there, but it keeps me grounded when I hear their stories. They don't have mortgages, they still do drugs, no long term relationships, some have never even brought a fine Zinfandel into a top ten restaurant. They act like uncorking fees are highway robbery. They... [deep breath]
Leanne (to Dennis) : Let me take point here, honey. [To Publicato]: They've still got a bit of growing up to do, so they see our lifestyle as boring and settled... we see theirs as messy and undeveloped. It's a big trade-off in young adult life – do you keep living it up or do you get to business? Eventually most of your friends have families, houses, stable weekly schedules... or you befriend younger groups or groups of old deadbeats. I can sympathize with them. There are so many choices it's easy to be paralyzed. So many of what society calls 'bad behaviors' can seem fine to someone who doesn't go overboard. And the settled life isn't for everyone.
Publicato: Very interesting, I mean we could keep talking about it... but let's move on to your favorite activities. Earlier you told me you like to stay active.
Dennis: Yeah we love to go for a solid run together early each morning. We've both got memberships at ______ Fitness. We go several times a week at least. Working out keeps us centered and focused, but most importantly it keeps us happy. Plus you never sleep better or wake sharper than when you're active.
Leanne: It liberates me from the humdrum of working life. I recently got a standing desk (which I love), and I'd love a job where I was active all the time instead of drinking coffee, talking to people and answering emails, but there's not a lot of professional development in tree planting, and I'm not built for construction.
Publicato: Nice pun, Leanne.
Leanne (laughing): Thanks, I didn't even catch that one.
Publicato: I guess the audience would like to hear what it is exactly that you do. Dennis, let's start with you.
Dennis: I'm an account manager at ______ International. It's not the most exciting work, but I find it does contain some fulfilling challenges, plus I like almost everyone I work with.
Leanne: I'm in human resources –
Publicato: – Booooo –
Leanne: – but I'm not one of the bad ones, I swear! I do hiring and I'm probably going to move into management soon, but I started in sales when I was younger and kind of want to do that again before I go full career-mode.
Publicato: You can do ad sales for the blog.
Leanne: Doesn't Google have a fairly robust monetizing system? Also they probably have rights to display ads and I don't know that you can override that... I mean with infotainment and advertorial content you might be able to eke out close to a thousand dollars a month, but you'd need to step up your layout game and I'd want to see readership numbers. SEO, also... just on a quick browse I can say your tagging doesn't inspire me.
Stay tuned for Part 2, in which we discuss ISIS, the housing market, elusive wines, the weather, grocery deals, more favored activities, and the best places to walk your dog.
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