So I've come to a somewhat comfortable realization lately.

I am a less than famous working comedian. A handful of you might have heard of me, but nothing huge. I married very young and divorced after just two years, partially because she wanted kids right away and I wanted to pursue a career in comedy, which was my dream.

I spent much of my 20s as a road dog. Sleeping in cars, on cots, just roughing it. I finally etched out a career. So now, I live comfortably ($50k a year, far from rich), but I also only work like an average of 5-7 hours a week, if you spread it throughout the year.

This means I have a boatload of free time. I can sleep as much as I want, I get drunk all the time, and work doesn't feel like work.

Well, here's where it gets interesting. I have a next door neighbor I chat with sometimes. He's a guy in his late 20's, and I'm early 30's. He's got a pretty hot young wife. He works a 55 hour a week job, and its pretty goddamn hard labor, to pay for his house, which is worth nearly twice what mine is. He is always working. When he's home, he's always working on projects, doing chores, and it seems to be maybe one night a week he has to relax.

I, on the other hand, just kind of have a rotating door of girlfriends, the same way a lot of performers do.

I get chided a lot about Peter Pan syndrome, and as a conservative I do venerate the family unit...but every time I look out and see his wife coming and going and think "Boy, must be nice to have that", I remember how much harder he has to work than I do. All those hours doing a boring, difficult job. So what is it I think "must be nice" when I look outside? Pretty much just fucking her. She doesn't really have a remarkable personality, and those looks are going to last forever. But his work is going to be decades more. For what? A couple orgasms a week with her?

I would not trade lives with him at all.