My First Year In The Real World

Exactly one year ago today, I stood up, turned my tassel over and stepped into the real world. It's cliche, but damn - what a year it has been. Back on May 9th, 2009, after the initial highs of being done with my college education was over, I was terrified. I had no clue where my life would go. I had a degree in music education, but wanted to pursue my dreams of having a career in the music business. The problem was I didn't know those dreams were. I was just hoping I could put my foot in the door somewhere and work my way up the ladder, something everyone told me I would have to do.

After sending 42 resumes all across the country during the summer, my mentor Bruce Burch forwarded me a job opening in the music industry in Nashville. I sent another resume, had a phone interview and was hired all within a day. It was a big sigh of relief and excitement engulfed me. Moving to a new city and a new job was pretty amazing. It looked like my life was on that road of working up ladders, but life sometimes likes to throw some curve balls.

Pump the brakes!! Three months later, I got laid off. This completely shook my world and panic took over. I tried to look for other jobs, but kept hearing the same thing: "We're looking for someone with more experience."

UGH.

Periods of solitude and hopelessness suck, but they really do make you grow as a person and force you to make decisions. I had to skip this whole "climbing up the ladder" plan because that plan no longer exists today. I repeat: the plan of working up the ladder does not exist anymore. I went straight to what my passion was.

I've been creative all my life. Either making stop-motion movies with Lego pieces or sketching Star Wars characters on paper. Being creative will be the only thing that will make my life worth while. Coming to this conclusion, I decided that I will be a audio engineer and composer for film and interactive media. After I decided this, I put my plan in motion. I reached out to my mentors, got put in touch with people that could help me and been having a blast since.

Interning with Tommy Cooper has been completely inspiring as I've learned so much about audio engineering and life in general. I've also been supplying scores to a short film, an upcoming indie video game, and some hip hop vocals from co-workers. I've got so much in stored for the next year as well!

Anyway, I was just musing on the state of my life a year after graduation and it's tough but definitely a lot better and more focused. 5 years of college prepared me for the real world, but the real world is definitely where I've learned about what I want to do with my life.

Cheers to all new grads (oh, and moms!). In the mean time, I'll still be blogging about nerdy things.