A living, breathing contradiction

Hopefully

Filed under: College Life — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Kristen Brownell @ 8:30 pm October 7, 2009

About three weeks ago, I started my senior year of college. In case you didn’t know or forgot, I’m working on a B.A. in English. English with an emphasis in creative writing, to be exact.

I knew college would end eventually, but the end has closed in more swiftly than I imagined. I can almost see the “Welcome to The Rest of Your Life” banner at the end of the track. There’s also some balloons, a bottle of champagne, applause, and the ever-present student loan lenders waiting to collect. I can see them standing at the finish line holding a silver platter with a bill on it. The bill is resting on a ruffle of cheerful green lettuce. Lettuce the color of all that money I’m obligated to pay back.

(On a side note, did you hear that the U.S. dollar will most likely be replaced as the world currency? That’ll be an interesting transition)

Four years seems like a long time when you’re starting out, but to be honest, it goes by fast. Too fast, maybe. But I’m happy to say I’ve taken the time to enjoy every minute of it. The fun isn’t quite over yet, though. Because the finale of my academic endeavors is right around the corner: graduate school. Hopefully.

Originally, I was going to apply to ten MFA (Master of Fine Arts) programs. A couple of them were in Southern California, which is where I live, but most of them were back east. I’ve always had this romantic idea of going to the heart of the world to study writing: New York City. I thought about it all summer and asked myself if it was realistic. I mean, $50,000 a year? Finding an inexpensive place to live that isn’t in the ghetto? Learning to live without a car? Being 3,000 miles away from my family and friends? $50,000 a year? Seriously.

In the end, I decided that I’m going to stay in L.A. Going to New York is too expensive, too far away from my support system, and too far away from Hollywood, which is where I want to start my career. I’ve already begun applying for internships at all the big television and movie studios in town. I think it’ll be a good experience to have while I continue work on my memoir.

And then there’s Las Vegas. There’s always Las Vegas. I know this sounds funny, but I don’t like the idea of being so far away from my city. I like the freedom of being able to go there whenever I want. I like that I can drive there in the middle of the night, watch the sun rise from Red Rock Canyon, visit a couple of my best friends, do research for my book, and have a $5.99 prime rib meal all within 24 hours.

If I could live in Las Vegas, I would. But we all know what happens when Kristen lives in Las Vegas. And if you don’t, click “The Vegas Diaries” tab up there on the right.

Anyway, I’ve started the application process and I’m taking the GRE next month (it’s like the college equivalent of the SAT), so wish me luck. My list of ten has been cropped to four, and I haven’t decided what I’m going to do if I’m universally rejected. Just be a peon at a movie studio for a while, I suppose. And sell my memoir. Hopefully.

I know some of you might be interested in hearing about the progress of my book, so I’ll post something about that in the near future.

For now, back to writing.

  • wallyhorse
    Just found this new blog, missed seeing a lot of your posts on MySpace (I'm W.G. there).

    You mentioned living in New York, and I can tell you how ridiculous the rents have become (one reason I have lived in Philly since 1986). That said, there is not nearly as much "ghetto" in New York as there used to be, as one good thing the escalating rents have done is clean up a lot of neighborhoods that had been bad for years, and improved them a lot. Then there are those parts of NYC that never were bad in the first place, and some of them actually are not that expensive (relatively speaking) to live in. You just have to know where to look and who to ask in that regard.

    As for New Yorkers, some are rude, but there are many REAL New Yorkers (a term I use for those like myself who have at least three generations who grew up there), that are not anything like the stereotype at all. Sure, some are very rude at times, but not nearly as many as you may think (and those that really rude I have found in my trips to NYC, especially since 9/11 are those that are transplants, which sadly we do seem to have more of in NYC now than in the past).
  • Happy Thursday, puddin.
  • simplyscott
    You mean like the college drop-out who almost didn't finish high school but now teaches Farsi at the university level and still doesn't hold a college degree of any sort?
  • simplyscott
    Support system? What's that? No, I suppose there are people I could call if I needed real help -- is it weird that the first couple of people I would call would be my ex-wife and an ex-gf or two? Anyway, you gots to do what you gots to do, and after you are feeling comfy in the grad program and have the entrance and acceptance hurdled, then you can see about transferring if you are feeling adventurous -- a slightly smarter, planned-out adventure this time!
  • That's very true - I could transfer in the future if I wanted to. Or move somewhere after grad school. I don't have kids, so it makes me more mobile. I'll just have to see how things go, I guess. In addition to studying writing in NYC, I've always had this dream of attending an Ivy League college. Or maybe teaching at one. Could you imagine? The high-school runaway turned showgirl teaching at Harvard? That'll be the day.
  • SWB
    Ha! Remeber Swingers? (the movie). All those guys came from NY to BE in LA and you know what? You're all grown up now and you're so money and you don't even know it! Baby.

    But seriously, New York basically just has all the downsides of CA, but without the good weather...

    I think you're making a good choice.
  • "Swingers" was on T.V. the other night and I didn't watch it. I've always heard it's a good movie, though. Isn't Vince Vaughn in it?

    And I agree with you - NYC has just as many downsides as L.A. I've gone there a couple times to visit, and to be honest, I'm not sure I could deal with the people on a long-term basis - the rudeness and the abruptness and the rat race and all that. L.A. folks may not be much better, but at least I know how to handle them!
  • SWB
    It's the first movie I saw Vince in and it's a trip to see it now because he's so much younger then. At the time, the movie really blew me away because it was more like an indie movie from the standpoint of not being highly produced and the camera shots were more organic and not the (at the time standard) dolly and crane shots where everything is super-perfect. Now days with reality shows and so-on, everyone is used to seeing camera angles from hand helds, but then it gave it an air of creativity. Even if it was more likely due to having a really low budget at the time... Yes, you should see it.
  • I love the phrase "support system." It translates to "healthy" for me. I have no doubt you'll do great, no matter where you end up and it'll be a glorious day when you get to send off the last student loan check. It'll be interesting to know your successes, post college, on that day. I'm sure there will be many.
  • You know, I think one of the reasons why I fell apart in Vegas is because I had no support system. I'm not saying that I'm not independent, and I'm sure I'd have an easier time relocating on my own now, but . . . it sure is nice to be surrounded by so many people who care about me, you know?

    And yeah, the student loan thing = a thorn in my side, but every college student (or their parents) has to deal with it. I got great interest rates on my loans, so that's a plus. I'm actually not as worried about it as I seem. There are many types of payback plans, and they base it on how much you make and can afford (in other words, they don't start charging $1000 a month right after you graduate). I'm hoping I can pay the loans off in one sweep when I start earning royalties from my book. ;)
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