Oh God. I'm an academic! How did that happen?

Well, first you have to study for 25 years while working full-time and raising a family.

Then you pass the PhD examination.

Then you apply for a job, get interviewed and get offered the position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Then you have beer, tell all your friends and realise, as one actual philosopher said in his response, that "you are in the mainstream now".

When the haze clears, you realise that it's no longer a game or hobby. This is serious now. You have something to lose.

And despite all that, you are still looking forward to it like nothing since Christmas morning when you were eight...

That's when you realise you are an academic. They pay you to argue!

Yaayyy!!!