My First Post...what this is all about.

I've blogged before, but for the most part it has been a journal, a storage space for my stream of conciousness and episodic memory. Never have I blogged on one particular subject or theme, so I'm a bit worried about the mortality rate of this. It's entirely possible that in a year this will be the first and only post I've made. So we shall see.

I am essentially writing this to chronical my journey of attaining a Community College Associates Degree and with a lot of work and luck, the attempt to transfer to Columbia Univeristy. It's a long shot but something says: fight for it.

So a little background info then?

I'm 24, went to work straight out of highschool full time, and started Hillsborough Community College in the fall of 2005 full time. I did horribly, got my financial aid revoked and decided to go back to just working. In 2008, I returned part-time, and fully out of pocket at the urging of a friend and academic mentor. I hammered out 3 semeseters of my worst subject: math, completeing through Pre-Calculus Algebra. In the process, I restored my GPA from a 1.0 to 2.6 and got my financial aid back.

I'm now moving up from one class at a time, taking Intro to Psychology and English I, to fulfill a social science and communications degree requisite. Over the next year and a half I have a couple of goals I wish to fulfill:

• I plan to up this to three classes (9 credit hours) in the fall '10 semester and eventually take on 4-5 classes (12-15 crdit hours).


• Apply for Honors Institute


• In addition to working 25-30 hours a week for a major entertainment venue, and getting what sparse acting jobs I can, I will seek out and find a volunteer oppurtunity to get and stay involved with.
  

So here I go to get my dream.
They say to go big or go home...in my case it's go big or stay home.
I fell quite in like with Columbia University a few months ago. I had requested information from every major school in New York City that had a theatre program and when I received an envelope, white and glossy with letteringin that famous baby blue hue, I admitedly felt like Harry Potter with his first letter from Hogwarts or like Charlie with his golden ticket. I gingerly skimmed the look book and obsessivly read and reread the semi-mass produced letter from Dean Marinaccio. Even now it seems...too good. As if I'm not quite ready to accept that I'm good enough for it, and of course reading the above stats many would assume I'm not and not be far from correct.

So why do this? Why punish myself with overscheduling and mainlines of caffiene, when perfectly good schools are here in Florida? Frankly, it's just not the right city. Eight million people live in NYC and most will tell you its the best place in the world, and yet everyone who doesn't live there seems to tell me I'm nuts for wanting to pack up everything I own and ship it to a dorm in midtown. Putting it simply, I'm inexplicably drawn to that city. Living there, if only for a couple of years to finish school is something I feel I must do inately. I'm no turnip-truck jumper, I know it can be a seedy, shady place with horrible weather. I'm not expecting the Emerald City...just a place that I can walk to a coffeeshop for breakfast then a few blocks and a train ride to classes, another train ride and few blocks to an internship and then home in a bustle that makes up the center of the free world. The "bright lights" and landmarks are icing.

I know that this is an intrepid endeavor....that it may not pay off. But there is a possibilty. A sliver of optimisim of about 5.7%. All I can do is work for this, all I plan to do is work for this.