When keeping in touch via email or Facebook from Australia I'm likely to type something like: "drove down the Great Ocean Road today, school tomorrow, homework, etc."
"Etc" I suppose could be a conglomerate of many things. But I use it for generally two things: playing my music and going out on the town. Often, they go hand in hand.
I censor these activities, by the use of "etc," for a host of reasons (mainly for my mother and future employers) but now that just seems silly.
#1. I'm legal to drink in this country. The drinking age is 18 in Australia, I'm nearly 20. I'm not consuming alcohol within any amount that will cause my liver damage. I know the difference between a social drink and binge drinking. And, my mama raised me right.
#2. Playing my guitar in bars usually doesn't fare well in peoples' opinions who think I should be working harder on my degree. For those people: I have been on the Dean's List every semester but one, which I missed by 0.1.
The truth is I love college. I love writing for the newspaper. I like class, and I tolerate the cafeteria food. In two years I will be a very proud, very grateful Winthrop graduate.
And, diploma in hand, I want to run away and play my music. I know I sound like a 16-year-old boy who just encountered AC/DC for the first time perhaps and now wants to be a rock star. But wholly and truly it's what I want to do.
There's a bar here in Geelong, called Beav's, which I've played in a handful of times, and I think I can lay partial blame there for inciting this wannabe singer in me.
I do something here I haven't done yet at home-go out on a "school night" (Wednesday), play one or more sets 'til late in the evening, consume one or more beers, and go home smelling like smoke, guitar in hand.
And so now, at the risk of sounding like I have beans for brains, I want to get my degree but not use it completely for at least a year or two. I have all my life to carry around my notebook and meet my editor's demands.
I know I was cut out for journalism. I crave the way newspaper feels in my hand. I know that, for me, being a journalist would fulfill my life.
But it's always been in the back of my mind that performing my music does the very same thing. Now, it's at the forefront of my mind.
People in the "adult world" constantly advise "young people" like me to follow our dreams and not have regrets. I don't normally listen to said adults, but today I shall.
I can't wait to write the "small town girl makes it big" stories. But I'd also love to be that girl, too.
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2 comments:
Well, first of all, welcome back to the blogosphere! You've been gone too long!
Eschew "etc." from your prose. That's my advice (for what it's worth). Overuse of "etc." is the sing of a weak writer, and we both know you are not weak in that regard, dear.
Yes, follow your dreams, by all means. Swim in the ocean. Go barefoot. Catch a rainbow. Sing in the rain, etc.
(See what I mean?)
Welcome back.
Anna! You are a fantastic woman. I'm glad you're thinking about these things- I'm proud of how my nextdoor neighbor and Wofford resident is turning out! I look forward to reading that article- What a story it would be if YOU got to write it. It's as if you have the chance to take control of your own fairytale. And you do! But since you'll have one foot in the media, and one in the music, well, you'll be able to tell the honest story of how you made it BIG!
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