Look, I learned something!

Well, as of about 10:30am tomorrow, I will officially be done with school. I can stop saying "I'm a student" and say "I'm a graphic designer." That's really weird and awesome. I had my final reviews on Tuesday and two final critiques yesterday. All that's left is for me to turn in my last assignment tomorrow morning. During my portfolio review with Evann, she asked me how my experience was and I told her that it was awesome and it was. I would have never gone to art school when I was younger because that was only for cool people and I was not that. I also told her that going to college at 28 was a very daunting task but I felt like I got more out of it than I would have had I been 10 years younger. Interestingly it was LM's mom and Jeff that really got me to go. When we were at LM's gradution for her Master's degree (smarty), her mom asked me if I was ever going to go to college and I was all "it'll take forever and I'm too old" and she was all "well, the time's going to pass anyway so wouldn't you rather just do it and have something to show for it in the end?" and how can you argue with that wise logic? I looked at her and a light went on in me brain and I mentioned it to Jeff and he was totally all over it. He helped me get started and has encouraged me every single minute.

Interior design school was pretty fun and I met a few people that I will probably be friends with for evah (I'm talkin to you SJP) but I don't think I really fit in until I switched to graphic design. It was a risky move that many people were not so sure of since I decided to do it just as my granny was dying and I wasn't really in my right mind, but I knew deep down that I had to do it even though it scared the shit out of me. I don't think I would have been nearly as successful had I stayed.

I wasn't much of a student in high school because I was the fat girl and hated school until my senior year and when I had a full-time job fall in my lap right before I graduated, I took that instead of going to college. I probably should have gone straight away but I really had no idea what I wanted to do and I wasn't really aware of how different college was from high school and only saw 4 more years of torture so I took the job. I figured I would go later but it took a whopping 10 years before I got the nuts to go. During that time I was a receptionist, a pizza delivery driver, a receptionist again (VERY bad experience), a travel agent, a house painter, a billing agent in a big corporate machine and an art supply salesperson. Now I can say I'm a graphic designer and be proud of the work I put in. I also feel like this all DID happen the way it was supposed to because had I gone right after high school, I never would have been a pizza delivery driver, which is where I met Rob who was friends with this skinny guy named Jeff and this cool girl named LM, who in turn introduced me to MANY of my current friends.

I also met friends in this field, albeit WAY younger than me, but awesome people just the same. So to Liliya, Tiffany, Stormy and Johnny Virus I say thank you guys for taking me in and making me feel like I belonged somewhere. I wouldn't have made it through these last few semesters without you guys and I wish you all the best. I hope our paths cross again.