Chronicles of a College Graduate

Allow me to begin with a brief prologue before I get to the meat of this.

I've been working in retail for the past two years to have a more flexible work schedule so that I can still make money and go to school. Just a few months ago, I came across one of my old high school teachers and took some time to re-introduce myself to her and chat a bit. She asked how I was doing and I mentioned that I was going to college and was going to be graduating in a short amount of time.

"Oh really?" she said. "Good for you! What are you studying?"

"My major is in theater and I have a minor in mass communications," I replied.

Then she got the look. I knew she was going to have that look. It's difficult to avoid that look based on the answer I gave her. And usually people respond in two ways based on that very look. Either, "That's good, I'm glad you're doing well." Or the response that my former teacher had...

"Oh... and what are you planning on doing with that?"

"Well, sooner or later I'd like to audition, but I'd be happy doing anything within the field. Until then, I'll be searching for a full-time job. So we'll see!" I think I may have scared her a bit. Poor woman tried to look like she was being supportive, but I think she may have imagined me two years down the road living in a box on the street with my diploma taped to it. My mother had once made that face once as well... that's why I got a minor in another field.

"Oh... well, good luck with that." And then she picked up her purchases, we said our goodbyes, and she walked away.

And now it's about two and a half weeks since I have graduated, and I am going through what almost every other graduate is going through. Searching for a full-time job, looking for a new apartment, and going through the wreckage of the last five years of my life determining what notebooks I should keep and which ones I can recycle. Costume history or notes about stretches from my acting classes?

Look, I'm going to say something that a lot of you aren't going to agree with. I like my degree. I love it. I'm so glad I decided to major in theater and I made some wonderful connections while I was at school. Of course, I also have to be able to afford an apartment and bills and food, and I need to have a full-time job for quite some time. Well, pretty much the rest of my life. And I have a deadline to do this within the next two months.

Life is hectic and I seem to be living these days that go by slowly and quickly at the same time. Let me put it this way: imagine that you're watching one of those commercials where there's one person standing in the middle and everyone around him or her is a blur of color as they race about their lives in warp speed. I feel kind of like that person in the center and I'm wondering what the heck is going on.

And so I've decided to write a series of articles to journal this limbo between student-hood to adulthood in hopes that I can reach out to fellow college students with my similar experience, remind those who are older of what this life is like and how it differs nowadays, and to inspire those who are younger to prepare now. So sit back, relax, and enjoy reading these as I become my own kind of Alice in this bizarre, post-university world of Corporate Wonderland.