Yeah, some time like 4 or 5 years ago ( I guess that would make me only 25, but still...) I came to some major league disillusionment, but weirdly, it's also helped me get some perspective on what's important in life. When I talk to undergrads at the art school here, every once in a long while they'll say something like "You're so bitter!" but I don't feel bitter. I'm just like "Yeah, you'll graduate, you'll get out there. You've just gotta keep trying to make stuff. Some people you know will hit it big really fast, others won't, a lot of people will stop making art completely. If you can still bother yourself to create anything at all after three years, you'll be ahead of a lot of people and way behind a select few others who are either just lucky or have trust funds." This sounds depressing to someone coming out of school, but it's really not as bad as it sounds. When you realize you're not really God's Genius Gift to the Earth you have to re-assess why you care about what you care about, and re-invest in what is actually important to you.
Here's another conversation from work. This happened today:
ME: So you cleaned up. Thanks.
STUDENT: Yeah, how does it look?
ME: Pretty good. But it still smells.
STUDENT: Really? What does it smell like.
ME: Rotting food.
STUDENT: Oh Yeah. Not too sure what we can do about that.
ME: Probably find the rotting food and throw it out.
STUDENT: Yeah, the thing is, we wanted to start composting. But then we started getting those little flies that fly around and lay tons of eggs in everything--?
ME: Fruit flies?
STUDENT: Yeah, flies.
ME: Yeah, composting is an outdoor activity.
STUDENT: Okay.
ME: I reject your composting scheme.
STUDENT: What?
ME: Don't do that anymore.