Something I learned while completing a Fine Arts Degree

Something I learned while completing a Fine Arts Degree is that most everyone in the room thinks they, and only they, are the next greatest thing to ever happen to the world of opera, or music, or theatre, insert disciplines till hands are satisfied with amount of typing. However, the other thing I learned while preparing for my riveting career in the food service industry is that very few of us are the hot stuff we think we should be. It's just a fact and a tough one: not everyone gets to be an astronaut when she grows up. 

But don't worry! This is not a rant. As you may have guessed by now, I stopped pursuing a career in Fine Arts. I did some retraining, got a nice, stable job with plenty of challenge that I plan on doing for the rest of my working life. It’s great! But this isn’t the story of my job either.

No, this is the story of what you can make of the rest of your life. You know the time I mean, that 50 to 75 years or so after you realized that maybe you aren't actually Mozart, or his slightly older, English speaking cousin. 

I am setting out to finish some projects I've had on the back burner for a very long time. One of them, my book, has been a work in progress, since junior high. To be honest, it’s actually been lost, retrieved and lost again by my husband in a series of poorly executed computer upgrades and consequently, only a few key scenes of the original remain. But nonetheless I think 17 years is long enough to have a story rolling around in the back of your head. 

However, concurrently, I have a few other projects that I’ve been working on: one is an opera in one act, called “Loan Remission: a Musical Guide to Repaying your Student Loans in a Tight Economy” and the other is a painting with no particular title but it’s oil, roughly 2x3 and supposed to be of some pretty buildings.

Why then am I bringing all this to your attention when what clearly needs to happen is I need to sit down with a glass of something malted, play some light classical music and churn all this out? Well, there are two reasons: first, that pesky job and my excellent family, both of which I love so very well, have a habit of being a touch all consuming and I hear it’s important to have…like…outside interests or something; and second, I’d like to tell you about it because I think it will be interesting.

Also, and this touches on one of my issues with the way people talk about projects and achievements: I think too many things are presented without any realistic discussion about all the hard work that goes into them. What I mean is, it’s easy to stand up and say it was all a snap after you’ve done something impressive or even time consuming. But I’d prefer to be honest and say to undertake any of these projects, even if the product is only so-so takes a little more than just a plucky attitude.

So without further ado, it is September 14, 2010. Let’s see what I can get done in a year.