The Flip Side: A Dream Come True
So, I guess now that things have settled down, and everything is seemingly back to normal, I can write about how my life has changed in the last two weeks. But in a better way...
I celebrated my one year anniversary at my awful job a couple of weeks ago. A job that was only supposed to be temporary. Temporary translating to 3 months at the most. That plus 9 later...
When I didn't get into the film school in London, I wasn't surprised. I was disappointed at the prospect of putting off my dream a little longer, but I tried to spin it positively. At least I could save money for wherever I would end up going. That, however, didn't overshadow the fact I would be someplace where English wasn't the first language, it's common for women to spit into the trash barrels, and entire fish are cooked in the company microwaves. As you can probably guess, my workplace isn't exactly a hot bed for stimulating discussion.
After my mother's illness, I hit a real low. I felt awful at my prospects, my chances, my whatever, at getting into graduate school in the west. My GPA was awful, my writing felt mediocre, and my GRE scores were okay. I completed the applications to three grad schools (Chapman, Loyola, and Cal State-Northridge) anyway. I mailed them off with the awful feeling that I had wasted a lot of money in application fees. And I waited...
Cal State refused me. Chapman wait listed me. And Loyola STILL hasn't answered me. The bottom got a little deeper. I walked around in a funk, declaring my dream dead, that God didn't exist; real Bergman-esque stuff.
And then on that Wednesday, everything changed.
I got home from work, and in my email box was a message from Chapman University's admissions committee. It read as follows:
"Dear Mark,
Congratulations! The selection committee has reviewed the applications of students from the waitlist and you have been accepted into the screenwriting program at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University."
I couldn't read the rest; I started screaming in the middle of the living room, and my sister and mother looked at me like I was a psychopath (which, at this point, I suppose I was). I'm fairly certain my mother has never hugged me tighter than she did at this moment.
Aside from waiting on loans and other financial things, I have locked up a place in Chapman Univeristy's graduate class of 2010, where I will be pursuing my masters in screenwriting. And to be honest, I couldn't be happier about it. Since I was in high school, this is all I could think about, dream about. I've had tunnel vision for 8 years, and it's finally going to pay off.
Now the scary part...living the dream.
As Kanye says...I'm a star, how could I not shine?
Mark
I celebrated my one year anniversary at my awful job a couple of weeks ago. A job that was only supposed to be temporary. Temporary translating to 3 months at the most. That plus 9 later...
When I didn't get into the film school in London, I wasn't surprised. I was disappointed at the prospect of putting off my dream a little longer, but I tried to spin it positively. At least I could save money for wherever I would end up going. That, however, didn't overshadow the fact I would be someplace where English wasn't the first language, it's common for women to spit into the trash barrels, and entire fish are cooked in the company microwaves. As you can probably guess, my workplace isn't exactly a hot bed for stimulating discussion.
After my mother's illness, I hit a real low. I felt awful at my prospects, my chances, my whatever, at getting into graduate school in the west. My GPA was awful, my writing felt mediocre, and my GRE scores were okay. I completed the applications to three grad schools (Chapman, Loyola, and Cal State-Northridge) anyway. I mailed them off with the awful feeling that I had wasted a lot of money in application fees. And I waited...
Cal State refused me. Chapman wait listed me. And Loyola STILL hasn't answered me. The bottom got a little deeper. I walked around in a funk, declaring my dream dead, that God didn't exist; real Bergman-esque stuff.
And then on that Wednesday, everything changed.
I got home from work, and in my email box was a message from Chapman University's admissions committee. It read as follows:
"Dear Mark,
Congratulations! The selection committee has reviewed the applications of students from the waitlist and you have been accepted into the screenwriting program at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University."
I couldn't read the rest; I started screaming in the middle of the living room, and my sister and mother looked at me like I was a psychopath (which, at this point, I suppose I was). I'm fairly certain my mother has never hugged me tighter than she did at this moment.
Aside from waiting on loans and other financial things, I have locked up a place in Chapman Univeristy's graduate class of 2010, where I will be pursuing my masters in screenwriting. And to be honest, I couldn't be happier about it. Since I was in high school, this is all I could think about, dream about. I've had tunnel vision for 8 years, and it's finally going to pay off.
Now the scary part...living the dream.
As Kanye says...I'm a star, how could I not shine?
Mark