College: Nailed it!

I can't even sum up the emotions I've been feeling the past week or two. I've gone to school for nearly 20 consecutive years and a major chapter of my life has come to a close. I don't know what to do with myself without school and I think I understand why so many of my family members have chosen to become teachers. We're not very good at letting it go. Education molds so much more than just our intelligence. I've learned valuable social skills and life lessons along the way. And my learning certainly doesn't end here. I plan to keep on growing and discovering new things and meeting more extraordinary people as I go.

Oh, right, that insinuates that I have a plan. That's the question I keep getting now and of course it's going to keep coming up until I make something of myself. The truth is I came out of this without a well thought-out or concrete plan or career opportunity. I have options though and that's encouraging enough. I know something big is going to come, I just don't know what. So, I'm staying optimistic. Here are some of my ideas for what I might do:

-Go to Korea. It's something I've been back and forth on for years. I would make lots of money and get to travel and have an amazing experience. However, it would take a year away from pursuing my film career so I might be putting it on the backburner while I apply for some film jobs. Come August, I'll have applied and be at the point of making a decision about it. 

-Apply EVERYWHERE. Right now, I'm trying for jobs as a Production Assistant, Casting Assistant, Writer's Assistant, Junior Editor, and even administrative assistant/receptionist at production companies in hopes of getting my foot in the door. 

- Submit screenplays to: the Hollywood Black List (which they've now opened to the public), Film Festivals, and Writing Competitions. And I'll probably never stop. My screenwriting professor has been encouraging me to do this all year and I think it's worth a try. He wants me to submit the screenplay I wrote this past year but it would need a lot of work before I do that. Something could come of it though! 

-Volunteer with local film festivals and independent films. I'll probably do this in my spare time no matter what I do just so I can gain experience and rub elbows.

-Spend more time in a Spanish-speaking country to work on my Spanish until I become fluent.

So, there you have it. If anyone asks me what I'm doing with my life and I give them a vague, mumbled reply... here's proof that I'll be doing SOMETHING. And I've submitted over 100 job applications already and I'm still on a roll. I'm also working on making connections anywhere I can.

Anyway, graduation was great. I woke up  early and Nick helped me get ready (laughed his head off at my robes and shouted "expelliarmus!" at me) He even lent me his stole of gratitude, we made a knighting-ceremony-esque production out of it. Then he drove me to campus.

The ceremony was short and sweet and full of flamboyant Fine Arts students, bare feet and curtsies galor. Gotta love our colorful little chunk of the U of U community. I even ran into a few friends from screenwriting and other classes who I hadn't realized were graduating. One of my former roommates even met up with me beforehand and we went in together but got separated when we had to gather with our departments. Here are some pictures from the ceremony:

Texted this to Ashley for hair approval. I'm so lame.

The Dean

Byron from screenwriting

My production 1 professor/screenwriting classmate, Dustin, who got his Master's during the ceremony and came by to congratulate me afterwards.

I sat by a friend from screenwriting and a girl I'd befriended downstairs when I couldn't get my hat on straight. I wish I'd taken more pictures :/ Then, afterwards, met up with my family for some pictures outside Kingsbury hall. (Photos courtesy of Harey-Poop)

Why...?

Both grannies were there and gave me a nice bouquet of roses. Such cute ladies.

(I'm the sad little geek waiting by the stairs.)

THE shoes. My mom graduated in these shoes and I've loved them ever since I was little so I was determined to wear them. It took a lot of practice and some coaching from Nick to walk in them ;) 

I had my last screenwriting class the night before. I had to try really hard not to get emotional at the end. That was the one class that had made the biggest impact on me and I had come so far since my first semester taking it. Even our professor admitted that he'd had a hard time coming that night because of all the goodbyes. Screenwriting had sort of become my community during school and it's going to be strange to spend my Thursday nights somewhere else and not having the constant anxiety of writing a screenplay and bringing in pages. I said goodbye to Paul afterwards and he promised to write me a really good recommendation letter.

After the ceremony, I had a nice dinner with my relatives at my parents' house and was overwhelmed by all the hard work my parents did (Mom even made my favorite dessert - mud cake) and the generous gifts and cards from my family. It's just so weird that it's over and now I have to think about my future and be a responsible adult....

I just hope my parents and friends know how much I appreciate their guidance and support over the past 5 years. It's been a crazy ride!

And lastly, I'd like to thank this backpack:

I bought it the day I arrived in Virginia before I'd even checked into my Freshman dorm. My sister, Ashley, had come with me to help me get settled in and we went shopping to get some essentials. It was the first backpack I owned that wasn't a hand-me-down.

It's been through numerous classes, airplane rides, crappy apartments, trax rides, and even trips abroad. I've stuffed it with water-bottles, trail mix, laptops, lunches, textbooks, phones, keys, bike-pumps, notebooks, and more pens and pencils than I can ever count. When my Mom was sewing it back together for the third time she told me I'd better get another backpack or graduate fast because it wasn't going to last another year. That was two years ago and I think out of stubbornness I decided that I was going to graduate with this backpack. So, here at it's retirement, it is held together with thread, hemp, hot-glue, safety-pins, and cloth and has been sent through the washing machine I don't know how many times. And it will probably be my companion on my next several adventures. Here's to being sentimental about cheap crap!

The End.