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ejridener

~ "This above all; to thine own self be true." – Hamlet, William Shakespeare.

ejridener

Tag Archives: high school

30-day writing challenge: Day 24

25 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by ejridener in Challenge, College, Life, Uncategorized

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Tags

challenge, College, friends, high school, personal, television, The Office, writing

Day 24: Write about a lesson you learned the hard way

You always hear adults say “enjoy it while you can” as you’re “struggling” through high school. The first taste of real life is choosing which college you’ll attend when you graduate. I don’t know that I really took the time to enjoy those days as I should have.

I hated high school. It’s not exactly as if I had a stereotypical misfit story but it was close enough. I wasn’t sporty because I have no coordination and trip over my feet walking. I didn’t dress like every body else because I hate bright colors and I listening to the type of music that is best played at an eardrum rupturing level. I was in the “smart” crowd and most teachers liked me because they never had to keep and eye on me.

Now? I started working a week before my freshmen year of college started and have been going like the Energizer Bunny ever since. The first semester of college was rough and I remember sinking onto the couch on my few days of no school or work and passing out mid-text to my boyfriend at the time. I did well that semester and the ones to follow but there are times, oh there are times, when I feel like my head will explode from the amount of school work that’s piles up. I’ve found I function best with roughly four hours of sleep.

Andy Bernard, "The Office."

Andy Bernard, “The Office.”

I wish I could go back to those simpler days and enjoy having time. Now when I want to catch up on a television I’ve missed a few episodes of I have to plan it carefully around an essay’s due date or an exam. If I want to hang out with friends the situation becomes a play-offs style game of phone hockey where the victory is finally finding a day, two weeks later, when everybody is off from school and work.

I guess learning things the hard way is what makes you appreciate those things so much more. Now all I have to do is figure out when the good old days are happening so I enjoy them while I’m still there.

30-day writing challenge: Day 11

12 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by ejridener in Art, College, Life, Uncategorized

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Tags

art, challenge, Chicago, College, future, high school, hobby, New York, painting, school, writing

Day 11: Something you always think “what if” about

Done sometime in my second or third year of college.

Done sometime in my second or third year of college.

I have a strong passion for art. In a recent discussion board post in my new media theory class my professor had mentioned art as her first true love and contemporary art was her first true lust. In my response that week I ended it with art being my first true love and Baroque/Romanticism was my first true lust.

It should be no surprise I wanted to go art school.

I’ve always been drawn to drawing and painting and used to spend hours in our basement working on various pieces in various mediums and dreamed of selling my work someday.

Done in my senior year of high school.

Done in my senior year of high school.

When I started high school, I began looking into different art schools. I didn’t exactly want to go to one of the Art Institutes and I knew I wanted to look into schools in a city setting. I had lowered it down to two; the School of Visual Arts in New York City and Columbia College in Chicago.

I was excited to get my portfolio together. I was a sophomore in high school and figured I would start early to have my best pieces together. It was during that time that I had a harsh realization with myself.

I was a terrible professional but an amazing hobbyist.

My first oil, The Rev, done in my third year of college.

My first oil, The Rev, done in my third year of college.

I had my strengths and weaknesses but decided to save myself the heartache of being told I wasn’t good enough not only to get into an art school but also to make a career out of it. It was a sad moment, yes, but necessary.

Now, many years after that Sopranos-style sit down I had with myself, I still am left wondering “what if” I had just gone for it and applied to art school. Would I have gotten accepted or rejected?

Guess I’ll just have to stick with the “what if.”

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