Back to School

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Welcome to the life of a Postgrad in Suburbia.  The job opportunities are in the most inconvenient locations, the skills for the downtown positions require many years' experience, and nothing has come across the table that you can see yourself enjoying for the next 1-5 years.  Unfortunately, that leaves me in an awkward situation in which I am writing this blog, trying to find new things to do, in a position that was dead-end 3 years ago.

So what does this mean to you? In German terms, this could be referred to as Schadenfreude; which in the words of Avenue Q, is known as "happiness at the misfortune of others."  For me, it means finding a way to delay loans, discover new skills, and become more marketable to companies.  Yes, Postgrads, i am referring to going to a community college for additional classes.  Thanks to a clause in my loan contract, I can continue to defer loans while still in school (with only a 9% interest rate!), but have to take classes that may or may not be enjoyable to myself or others.


This said, my first course at community college happened to be nothing like the NBC hit comedy Community (Although I can relate to Jeff Winger).  Did I expect a life of claymation and musicals, with great hijinks that could pass for entertainment? No.  I expected a demi-college experience that would allow me to meet a few people who knew about this area or about a need for my skill set.

Unfortunately for me, I did not read into the community part of this.  My first class was that of Adobe Photoshop, and as many job descriptions have included this as a vital skill; I thought this would take me in the right direction.  My classmates, as nice as they were, definitely were cut from a different stone; and had this been a creative writing class, a history class, or even philosophy; I could do as I have done throughout college, shown only my finalized copy that would turn heads.  Unfortunately, when working with visual arts, every move that you make can be viewed on a 27 inch monitor; and therefore scrutinized by classmates. 

This is when I noticed the community part.  They weren't scrutinizing my work, they were complimenting my poorly developed photo modification. Why are you so nice to me? Why is everyone so friendly? Why can't you just wait for the final product, and then be blown away?

Maybe my desire to act in a Don Draper fashion isn't able to be fulfilled, but that ends my rant.  Community Colleges are valuable institutions, and I will continue to indulge in these courses until I am hired and can afford to take a vertical move in my educational ventures.

If you are in the Aurora area, I invite you to join me at some classes at Waubonsee: specifically Web Design, Adobe Creative Suite/Cloud, and maybe even Sign Language!  Actually, I could just walk into a marketing class and be the overachiever. I assure you won't be the only one somewhat displaced.  First round is on me at Ballydoyle's.

Photo is property of its original owner, I take no ownership for it.