My life has felt pretty surreal lately. I was gone all summer on an internship in London and I'm still adjusting to Kansas.
While I was there I met famous people, attended pitch meetings and fashion shows, lived in the heart of the city, coached voiceover artists and helped sell one show to the Art Channel. By the end, it felt less like an unpaid training opportunity and more like a contest that I unknowingly won. I kept expecting some idiot Television Presenter like Ryan Seacrest to jump out and yell "Surprise! You're the first unwitting contestant on Dream Job, where one lucky person gets to live their dream for two months before we send them crashing back to reality."
And reality came with a cold, wet thud.
Three days before I was scheduled to return home I received word that my grandfather died. Less than 24 hours after I was stateside, I was at his viewing and 12 hours after that I was carrying his casket
His passing was an eerie period on a summer that was already full of moments of perspective and maturity. Seriously, I grew up more this summer than any other time in my life. Every life is full of watershed moments that change a person, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. My summer had plenty of those, and while I won't go into them I will say this: I got my drive to do things back because of this summer.
Five minutes into the car ride back to Lawrence I knew it was time to leave. Time to get out of the city and start over somewhere else. Get a job. Start a career. Get a life that doesn't revolve around shitty house parties, zero-responsibility employment and fair-weather friends. This semester is my launch pad. There will be no misfires.
I don't know what I'm going to write about in this class. I love film and music and I can be politically outspoken about issues that are important to me. I'm also very much an observer of people, relationships and trends. I do know that entries like this one will be rare. Anyone expecting an ultra-personal emo-blog will have to look elsewhere.
I have no delusions about Hearst Awards (my money's on the Grad students), but if I can be poignant and funny a few times without sounding like a hack, I'll be happy.
Comments (2)
Lucky for you, the Hearsts aren't open to grad students.
Sounds like you got a good deal out of the London experience. I had about a year where I, too, found myself expecting Ryan Seacrest to be lurking at every bend--but that's why we don't soak grapes in Windex before we eat them anymore.
Posted by Ryan McG | August 20, 2007 7:24 PM
Posted on August 20, 2007 19:24
I decided to respond to your entry partly because you mentioned Alan Watts in a comment to another entry, but also because I appreciate and admire when writers attempt to describe the abstract way reality molds our psyches.
I once spent a night laid over in London. I saw
Big Ben, a big palace (I think it was Buckingham)and I walked up and down the Thames only to find the best Indian food I had ever eaten. The biggest thing I remember though is how on the street, right after the curb, it was often written "Look Right". I often imagined the word "American" written right after it and chuckled when I imagined an American tourist getting plowed up onto the windshield of one of those little European cars. I know that's horrible but in my defense the tourist did continue to click pictures. I don't know where this comment is going so I'm just going to end it by encouraging you to continue to look right.
Posted by Matthew Foster | August 22, 2007 11:23 PM
Posted on August 22, 2007 23:23