today i am weighing the question of whether i have missed my chance to pursue greatness. my feelings vary from day to day. i’m not going to sit here and say, “college was such a waste of money, man.” but the truth is, this four year commitment has impeded on some of my life goals. the trick — i often believe — is just getting your diploma and moving out after high school. living costs are close to that of tuition (albeit in a major city it might be slightly more), but you can get an odd-job to compensate for the price differential. plus, you can devote as much time as you want to honing your craft. if you know you want to do something, why jeopardize the opportunity to get started now? many of us go to college unsure of what we want to do with our lives. the time we spend in classes, choosing a major, it’s supposed to direct us to a field of work. many of us (at the end of four years) graduate still not knowing what we want to do with our lives.
most of the people i know who have graduated are greeted by the real world with mundane, low paying 9-to-5 jobs. on weekends and during free time, they dabble in what they “really enjoy.” the question i beg to ask is, “well, if it’s what you really enjoy, why not strive to do it for a living?” the most common response to this question is, if your interests are in entertainment or the arts, there are countless others trying to do the exact same. “the notion of trying is pointless” is a misconception. we forget that, yes there are so many actors and musicians and writers out there, but they can’t all be better than us, can they?
i guess what i’m hoping is, the skills i’ve learned in college will work to my benefit. i don’t want to fall into the abyss of a “career,” and being relegated to practice or write on my own time. is scraping your way along, existing solely to reach an ideal, a worthy conclusion to this tale of post-graduation ennui that is soon to be my life? time will tell.
today’s inspiration comes from this article i read on slashdot back in mid-january. i met brian when i was maybe 11 or 12 years old. lee i only knew slightly, but brian definitely had a huge impact on my youth. being around someone 24-hours a day for the duration of a few summers can do that. if i had more space i would delve into specifics, but… even as a child his genius and talent was obvious. over the past ten years i’ve steadily kept up with his career, and tried to spread word about his projects. we’ve traded a few e-mails from time to time, play catch up, and other nonsense. so today i just wanted to wish him the best of luck, no one i know deserves more success.
