Warning: This is my first blog! I may or may not know what I'm doing. I wrote this in part to express my moving anxiety but mostly to encourage people to do what they want. If something seems interesting, just do it. Talk to interesting people, study interesting subjects, visit interesting places. Life is more exciting when you go with your instincts, that's what they're there for.
Five years ago, I was a boy who was just about to start high school. I was worried about what I wanted to do with my life because that's what kids worry about when they start highschool. All I really enjoyed was music, WoW, and my recent trip to The Big Apple.
I remember having many dinner conversations where the focus was on my older brother who was just starting his senior year. He was dead set on being a fire-fighter while I was still contemplating how I could live in New York and also make video games. One of those nights though, the conversation shifted to me and I expressed my interest in animation. Unfortunately, my high school had a poor selection of art classes and nothing dealing with computer animation.
I don't remember exactly why I wanted to do animation, but i'm going to blame this.
Spoilers: Arthas becomes the Lich King
Fast forward four years and i'm just about to graduate mid year after somehow passing everything with a combination of acing every test and never doing my homework. Im registered for a community college so I can take classes during the spring but I still need to apply to 4 year schools for the fall so I take a day off of school to get everything done. My mom and I get together and start going over the different CS (lol why would i want to do this) programs so we can gather applications. It was pretty boring so I took a break and went to get the mail where I was greeted with a large package addressed to me. It appeared to be from a college I had never heard of which was probably begging me to go to their school but this one stood out because of its size. I figured it would be best to open it before I threw it away just out of curiosity. I wasn't prepared for the beautiful 600 page book that sat inside.
It was a catalog for the School of Visual Arts. Catalogs are not known for being exciting but when the 50 pages of information are sprinkled throughout 550 pages of student work, you pay attention. So that's what I did. I sat down and flipped through the pages while admiring the photography, the graphic design, the cartooning and fine art. Then I came to the Computer Art/Animation section and the memory of that dinner came back to me. I looked at my mom and told her to forget the other applications, I wanted to do this instead.
I quickly learned that art schools wanted artists to apply so there was of course a portfolio requirement which I couldnt fill, but that didn't stop me. Luckily, Cataclysm had just launched so it was a good time to say goodbye to WoW and focus on learning to draw. Being a noob wasn't terribly exciting so i'm going to skip forward 5 months to when I recieved my acceptance letter. I was super excited of course since all my effort payed off, but it also came with the realization that I was going to move out. However, I didn't really think about it too much since I still had all summer left.
Well, that summer is just about over. On August 27th, I have to pack my bags and go to Manhattan. I wouldnt normally be concerned with moving out but going from suburban Raleigh, North Carolina to lower Manhattan is kind of intimidating. I've only spent a grand total of 8 days in the city so I'm still new to it. If any of you lovely TLers have any advice on how to survive in NYC I would love to hear it ^^
Did i mention that MLG Raleigh starts on August 27th? The day that I have to leave. T_T
My favorite band recently split with their drummer and one of their guitarists but it didn't stop them from putting out a new single. You should listen to it. Or don't if it's not your cup of tea.
On July 23 2011 05:40 obesechicken13 wrote: Paramore has a history of trading members. They never "split up." It'd be like saying a sports team split up because they traded a player.
I just meant they split with the Farro brothers who were two of the founding members so it was a big loss.
Thank you everyone else for your comments, i'm sure i'll post some of my work here in the future.
congrats on getting in to your dream school! The same happened for me, but I'm going to Rochester Institute of Technology for either CS or Game Design. Hopefully the latter :D
Well hope it cools down by the end of August because right now it is disgusting outside. Anyway, something that may help til you get used to the subway system is hopstop.com.
On July 23 2011 07:43 twelveapm wrote: Well hope it cools down by the end of August because right now it is disgusting outside. Anyway, something that may help til you get used to the subway system is hopstop.com.
Hah, I gotta be that guy: I've never met anyone who actually liked Paramore, let alone thought of them as his/her "favorite band". Just giving you shit, of course, but I didn't know they were still around.
Anyway, nice blog and good luck. NYC is like any other city, really, but just a larger-scale version.
Make an effort to go out every day possible and explore. You can spend years adventuring in a city of that size and not see nearly everything.
Go to hole-in-the-wall diners, visit every art gallery available, visit the art house cinemas (I assume they still have some), go out and experience the night life, etc.
Living in a city of that size provides you with MILLIONS of new opportunities. That can't be said for many places. Take advantage of them.
On July 23 2011 05:40 obesechicken13 wrote: Paramore has a history of trading members. They never "split up." It'd be like saying a sports team split up because they traded a player.
I just meant they split with the Farro brothers who were two of the founding members so it was a big loss.
Oh, any reason why?
Thank you everyone else for your comments, i'm sure i'll post some of my work here in the future.
On July 23 2011 05:40 obesechicken13 wrote: Paramore has a history of trading members. They never "split up." It'd be like saying a sports team split up because they traded a player.
I just meant they split with the Farro brothers who were two of the founding members so it was a big loss.