So yes, Graduate School! That place of growing debt, endless work and study, free labor, and -- yes, again -- dormitaries. I'm so excited let me tell you why.
First a short history lesson. I graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree and license for teaching Instrumental Music (band). And then I didn't do anything of the sort. Oh, I got interviewed and was offered jobs but I had no interest in actually running a band. I'm talking about the behind-the-scenes blood-sweat-and-tears administrative work that makes it possible for that pep band to play Smoke on the Water 15 times per ballgame. Do Not Want, and it scared me off.
So I took a temporary job on an IT Help Desk with an outsourcing company, where I tell people how to launch Microsoft Word for a third of the pay a non-outsourced Microsoft-Word-Launching-Technician receives. Just temporary! The plan is to work on my music writing skills and apply to Graduate School ASAP!
Fast forward 4 years. I've barely written anything and I'm "highly valued" at this soul-sucking and unrewarding help desk job. Luckily, I've had the opportunity to direct a local choir, and was good at it, and started to think that maybe now running a band or choir doesn't seem like such a scary thing. But now there is a whole new problem...there are no music jobs. The economy has tanked, competition is stiff, and there are no music jobs.
My only options were to find teaching jobs out of state, get into graduate school, or find a new and better IT job (the hell with that!)
And here we are. I have been accepted to a graduate program at WCU. The semester hasn't started yet and I have still have preparations to make and hurdles to leap, all while whiddling away time at the help desk. But soon, my life will move forward again, after taking a giant step backwards.
First a short history lesson. I graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree and license for teaching Instrumental Music (band). And then I didn't do anything of the sort. Oh, I got interviewed and was offered jobs but I had no interest in actually running a band. I'm talking about the behind-the-scenes blood-sweat-and-tears administrative work that makes it possible for that pep band to play Smoke on the Water 15 times per ballgame. Do Not Want, and it scared me off.
So I took a temporary job on an IT Help Desk with an outsourcing company, where I tell people how to launch Microsoft Word for a third of the pay a non-outsourced Microsoft-Word-Launching-Technician receives. Just temporary! The plan is to work on my music writing skills and apply to Graduate School ASAP!
Fast forward 4 years. I've barely written anything and I'm "highly valued" at this soul-sucking and unrewarding help desk job. Luckily, I've had the opportunity to direct a local choir, and was good at it, and started to think that maybe now running a band or choir doesn't seem like such a scary thing. But now there is a whole new problem...there are no music jobs. The economy has tanked, competition is stiff, and there are no music jobs.
My only options were to find teaching jobs out of state, get into graduate school, or find a new and better IT job (the hell with that!)
And here we are. I have been accepted to a graduate program at WCU. The semester hasn't started yet and I have still have preparations to make and hurdles to leap, all while whiddling away time at the help desk. But soon, my life will move forward again, after taking a giant step backwards.
No comments:
Post a Comment