I guess I was coming at the issue of real life with the simplistic viewpoint that real life is just "reality" as opposed to what we normally thing of it as being. I mean, would you say that a person who went to college straight out of school, graduated with a PhD and immediately got a job teaching at a University, would you say that that person has never experienced reality?

Different? Sure. But is school or living with your parents or living in Poland any less "real" than living by yourself trying to make ends meet? I think it's different, and certain of those scenarios may be more difficult than other ones, but they're just different ways of experiencing reality, one is not any more real than another.

I think it's probably true that we tend to consider "real" whatever we're familiar with. So I think school's real, you might think working outside of academia is real, Kobe Bryant thinks a glamorous life of a basketball star is real.

But what defines real life?

That being said, I understand the meanings we attach to terms like "the real world." "The real world" is basically whatever is not sheltered from the stark realities of this world. But again... And I could go off about how school illustrates this.

This is getting a little dangerous from my perspective, because folks, I don't care if you disagree with me. In fact, I'm only pretty sure that I'm thinking clearly on this. I do think it all is a matter of perspective, though.