RecreationalGamer
11-23-2010, 09:53 AM
This one goes out to all the youngens who are apart of this wonderful forum. As I sit on my living room couch at 10:30am, drinking some stale yet effective coffee, I decided I would open up a little bit and share my condition with everyone here. More specifically, to all the US American youngsters who are about to graduate high school.
I'm in my late-twenties and still haven't gotten a degree in college. I think we could debate that a degree doesn't really make a difference at this point, what with all the economy problems and employers trying to find the cheapest employees they can. But the saying is true: the older you get, the harder it is to get educated.
I was a free-lance rock star when I was just getting out of high school. I played a lot of great shows that inspired me to take it to the top. But two things happened: I didn't make it to the top, and I learned something even greater about myself than music ever could discover: I have social anxiety. That's why I spend so much time on forums, Yahoo Answers, and other online social networks, rather than out in the real world.
At the brink of entering one of the world's greatest music schools, I chickened out. Well...my brain did anyway. I didn't feel like making the move, so I've lived my life with no education beyond HS. I remember in HS, I played music for a GED graduation. Mind you, I've matured since so GED graduates please take no offense, but back then I remember thinking how those people were so old to be JUST getting started in life.
Now...the same applies to me. If you're in HS and a freelancer, GO TO COLLEGE. I'm going to a community college next Fall to get an associate's in some type of computer education. Really excited that I can finally move my life forward. Because, like we all say will never happen, I GREW UP, and not in the "oh my god I can buy alcohol" sorta way! It was a smack in the face. Suddenly I was a grown man, and I didn't have anything to show for it but maybe a few songs. And that won't impress the boss at the interview.
I learned from observing friends and listening to their stories that college is actually a really great place to go if you're an artist of any kind. All it does is expose your talent to more people, AND you get a degree while you're at it. Plus you're still young and have every excuse to live the dream.
But when you're closing in on 30 and that dream hasn't taken you anywhere, and you haven't done anything about it, you turn from a really cool musician to an old loser.
Now I'm getting my "GED" if you will, in life, and HS graduates entering college are viewing me as someone who is "just getting started."
It's not an easy road to travel no matter what direction you take in life, but please...
Go to college.
Thanks for hearing me out. Sorry for the blog-type message MODs, but I really think the younger people in this forum who are still in HS need to know that if you don't attend college and your life-long dream doesn't come true, you're stuck in a rut with very, very few options, if any at all.
:)
Love, or don't,
Rec
I'm in my late-twenties and still haven't gotten a degree in college. I think we could debate that a degree doesn't really make a difference at this point, what with all the economy problems and employers trying to find the cheapest employees they can. But the saying is true: the older you get, the harder it is to get educated.
I was a free-lance rock star when I was just getting out of high school. I played a lot of great shows that inspired me to take it to the top. But two things happened: I didn't make it to the top, and I learned something even greater about myself than music ever could discover: I have social anxiety. That's why I spend so much time on forums, Yahoo Answers, and other online social networks, rather than out in the real world.
At the brink of entering one of the world's greatest music schools, I chickened out. Well...my brain did anyway. I didn't feel like making the move, so I've lived my life with no education beyond HS. I remember in HS, I played music for a GED graduation. Mind you, I've matured since so GED graduates please take no offense, but back then I remember thinking how those people were so old to be JUST getting started in life.
Now...the same applies to me. If you're in HS and a freelancer, GO TO COLLEGE. I'm going to a community college next Fall to get an associate's in some type of computer education. Really excited that I can finally move my life forward. Because, like we all say will never happen, I GREW UP, and not in the "oh my god I can buy alcohol" sorta way! It was a smack in the face. Suddenly I was a grown man, and I didn't have anything to show for it but maybe a few songs. And that won't impress the boss at the interview.
I learned from observing friends and listening to their stories that college is actually a really great place to go if you're an artist of any kind. All it does is expose your talent to more people, AND you get a degree while you're at it. Plus you're still young and have every excuse to live the dream.
But when you're closing in on 30 and that dream hasn't taken you anywhere, and you haven't done anything about it, you turn from a really cool musician to an old loser.
Now I'm getting my "GED" if you will, in life, and HS graduates entering college are viewing me as someone who is "just getting started."
It's not an easy road to travel no matter what direction you take in life, but please...
Go to college.
Thanks for hearing me out. Sorry for the blog-type message MODs, but I really think the younger people in this forum who are still in HS need to know that if you don't attend college and your life-long dream doesn't come true, you're stuck in a rut with very, very few options, if any at all.
:)
Love, or don't,
Rec