right amount of time?

I hear people talking about where they stand at in their lives, regarding their career paths, which major their pursuing, jobs they have or don't have, how much longer they have to finish up at school, and in each circumstance I always have this idea of the standard, or correct place to be in life. Culture has seemed to do that to us, imprint some sort of correct timing on where we have to be in life at what age. A good handful of my friends don't have jobs or go to school, seem to be drifting through life, similar to the life of Cassady (except at times Cassady even resorted to jobs), enjoying the quick moments and experiences in life, the "life of a rock star". I'll find myself envious of their lifestyle at times, wishing to drop everything in times of build up of responsibilities and things to do despite the progression of what I've worked for. But then when I hang out with them for extended periods of time, I often find myself growing tired and bored of sitting around talking about petty things they've accomplished, tours they're going on, places they've been, the failings of others, nothing of any substance, and the lack of care for anything that I find interesting. And here I sit in the cafeteria of a community college as a girl across from me talks to her friend about her position as a manager working 40 hours a week, dealing with other district managers and , and the problem she has with only taking a few higher classes a semester; things such as physiology and other 200/300 classes that she needs to take to be closer to finishing up her major in some complicated branch of science. Then I have other friends who are finishing up school with jobs and a social life, what seems to be a good balance and place to be in one's early twenties. However, a handful of those have no idea where they are to head after they finish school, since they don't want to be working at their little bit higher then minimum wage job, but are wary of the idea of jumping into a career. There seems to be a quarter life crisis where a person has to figure out where they are, where they want to go, and by what time. And as our society dwindles away jobs and our money, should we be on the ball with little time for social events/life, or should we be living our twenties as much as we can, with a fair amount of balance of school and work in there as well? Since we are young and able now, should we be enjoying life as much as possible? Or just work hard and get enough money to retire as elderly and fragile in hawaii? Getting old isn't worth the work. I'll stick to my balance of professional student, worker, and traveler.